Opera, installation, theatre and music combine in a visceral exploration of black anger in the face of white oppression in Brett Bailey’s theatrical version of the story of Samson, the iconic biblical story of a strongman humiliated by a woman’s haircut.

As Brett Bailey, the prominent South African theatre director explains, his aim was to revive the story in a contemporary landscape of savage capitalism, anti-immigrant trolling and political polarisation, where one person’s free speech is another’s castration. 

An early fascination with the ritual and the rural, and the forgotten black history of his native South Africa took a political turn in the late 1990s, during which time Bailey began to examine inequality and corruption within his country in the wider context of a history of colonialism. Key works include Medeia (2003), Orfeus (2006), Macbeth (2014) and Sanctuary (2017). 

Bailey’s role as a white creator representing the black experience met with controversy after his live installation Exhibit B was forced to close down at London’s art centre the Barbican in 2014, following accusations of exploitation and racism. The experience forced the director to interrogate his own intentions and approach when working with black artists, seen by protesters as voiceless and passive in a white man’s tableau, a modern version, it was implied, of the human zoos of the 19th century.

Samsó thus marks an overtly collaborative project with black artists, led by acclaimed choreographer and dancer Elvis Sibeko as Samson. A return to the more active medium of theatre empowers performers, driven by a relentless live electronic score composed by Shane Cooper. Repressed rage derived from historical injustices, sustained xenophobia, alienation and humiliation builds up into acts of violence. 

In 2020 the piece was awarded Best Music Theatre Production and Best Director and nominated for Best Production, Best Design and Best Costumes at South Africa’s national theatre awards.