Over the next thirty years, Kani and Ntshona periodically performed in productions of the play.
In an unusual move, Kani and Ntshona were named co-Tony Award nominees (and eventual co-winners) for Best Actor in a Play for both The Island and Sizwe Banzi Is Dead. The Broadway production, presented in repertory with Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, opened on Novemat the Edison Theatre, where it ran for 52 performances. It was next staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London, with John Kani and Winston Ntshona portraying John and Winston respectively. In order to evade the draconian censorship in South Africa at the time (plays dealing with prison conditions, etc., were prohibited), the play premiered under the title, Die Hodoshe Span. The play was first performed in Cape Town, at a theatre called The Space, in July 1973. Later scenes include a play within a play, as Winston and John perform a condensed two-person version of Antigone by Sophocles. This is designed to exhaust the body and the morale of the prisoners. It opens with a lengthy mimed sequence in which John and Winston, two cell mates imprisoned on Robben Island, shovel sand in the scorching heat, dumping the sand at the feet of the other man, so that the pile of sand never diminishes. Tensions arise as the performance approaches, especially when one of the prisoners learns that he has won an early release and the men's friendship is tested. The play draws parallels between Antigone's situation and the situation of black political prisoners. One takes the part of Antigone, who defies the laws of the state to bury her brother, and the other takes the part of her uncle Creon, who sentences her to die for her crime of conscience. They spend their days performing futile physical labor and nights rehearsing in their cell for a performance of Sophocles' Antigone in front of the other prisoners. It focuses on two cellmates, one whose successful appeal means that his release draws near and one who must remain in prison for many years to come.
The apartheid-era drama, inspired by a true story, is set in an unnamed prison clearly based on South Africa's notorious Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held for twenty-seven years. The Island is a play written by Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona. Poster for the 2000 Royal National Theatre production
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