The national black theater of Sweden, NBTS, was started in 2018 by award-winning director Josette Bushell-Mingo. An artistic platform for recognizing and paying homage to performing arts and culture from the African continent. Now the first performance is played at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Vällingby

- It is important for Afro-Swedes to see themselves. To know that you are someone and understand that you are worth something. That African culture is fantastic and has existed since man came. But NBTS is for everyone. It's important to see stories from everywhere, to understand who you are, "Josette Bushell-Mingo tells Culture News.

"A play that everyone should see"

Since its start last year, NBTS has worked with workshops and manuscript courses, only now comes the first piece. Woza Albert! is as well known to a South African as Miss Julie is to a Swedish.

- I chose it because it is a play that everyone should see, about a time that is difficult to understand that it could even exist. It's about terror, humiliation, political resistance, about apartheid - but also about hope and the dead who come back to help us, says Josette Bushell-Mingo.

In the play, a black Jesus returns to apartheid South Africa. The two actors on stage together perform 40 roles in some 20 scenes that show how people in the country handle the situation.

- It's a comic play, a mix between Monty Python and Waiting for Godot in combination with the rich African storytelling technique, says Josette Bushell-Mingo.

Debuting as an actor

Aurelia Dey is a dancehall artist and debuts in Waza Albert! as an actor.

- I play 16 different roles, yes I thank you. Actor debut and you just drive straight in. It is Swedish with three different dialects, xhosa, zulu and English with a few different dialects as well, says Aurelia Dey.

- The first time I read the script I didn't understand everything, or anything at all. But every time you read it you get a new aha experience. It's such a brilliantly written script, she says.

What does Woza Albert say! about society today?

- It shows that things have not changed. There seems to be a desperate need to say "check out how far we have come". But the play shows that the brutality that existed within apartheid has only become more subtle. The word is gone but the structure remains. Some scenes could have been written today, here in Sweden, says Josette Bushell-Mingo.

Woza Albert! is played at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Vällingby, Stockholm until January.