In times of intolerance and polarization, Samson, a young man on a hero’s mission, channels the anger of the oppressed population and wreaks terror on the people he blames for their oppression. As the body count rises, he is educated and ritually castrated by Delila – an enemy agent. His brutal punishment in the authorities’ detention centers drives him to a suicidal act of devastation …
Brett Bailey rips the popular biblical myth of Samson and Delilah from its religious context and transplants it into a dystopian contemporary landscape of unbridled capitalism, human displacement, xenophobia and violence. He challenges us to reflect on the historical injustices and repressed anger that so often underlie inhumane acts of terror.
Brett Bailey’s Samson is a deeply moving musical theater production with stirring electronic music composed by one of South Africa’s hottest musicians, Shane Cooper. The work includes opera, choral singing, a tight ensemble and exhilarating video scenography.
“My interpretation brings the biblical story into the 21st century and places it in the context of my engagement with migration, xenophobia and racism, nationalism, insurgency and colonial and neoliberal politics.” (Brett Bailey)
The production premiered in South Africa in 2019, played at the Festival d’Avignon and the GREC Festival in Barcelona in 2021, in Nanterre Amandiers, France, in January 2023 and at the International Theater Festival of Kerala, India, in February 2023
Samson was awarded Best Musical Theater Production and Best Director at South Africa’s national theater awards, the Kyknet Fiestas, in 2020, as well as being nominated for Best Production, Best Design and Best Costumes. The play was one of the six winners of the worldwide music theater competition NOW! 2021.
WRITER / DIRECTOR Brett Bailey | MUSICAL DIRECTOR / COMPOSER Shane Cooper | PERFORMER:INTERIOR Apollo Ntshoko, Cebolenkosi Zuma, Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi, Marlo Minnaar, Zanele Mbizo, Thukela Maka, Zimbini Makwetu | LIVE MUSIC Nkosenathi Koela MUSIC Shane Cooper, Jonno Sweetman, Mikhaela Kruger | CHOREOGRAPHY Elvis Sibeko | SCENOGRAPHY Brett Bailey, Tanya P. Johnson | VIDEOGRAPHY Kirsti Cumming | LIGHT DESIGN Kobus Rossouw | MANAGEMENT TECHNICAL PRODUCTION/ RE-LIGHTER Nicolaas De Jongh | SOUND DESIGN / SOUND ENGINEER Carlo Thompson | STAGE MANAGEMENT Miliswa Mbandazayo | PRODUCTION Barbara Mathers (Third World Bunfight) INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION Quaternaire – Felicitas Willems & Sarah Ford
Brett Bailey is a South African director, visual artist and artistic director of the theater group Third World Bunfight. He has worked throughout South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Haiti and Europe. His iconoclastic and celebrated works take various artistic forms: installations, performances, plays, operas or musical performances. They tirelessly question the dynamics of the post-colonial world, such as Big Dada, Ipi Zombi, Orfeus, Sanctuary or Exhibit B. His works are performed throughout Europe, Australia, Africa and Latin America and have received numerous awards. In 2019, he was appointed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.
