Dr John Kani’s ‘Kunene and the King’ heads to Minnesota, USA

South African actor and playwright Dr John Kani will star in his play Kunene and the King at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 10 October to 8 November 2026.

Kani will reprise his role as Lunga Kunene in the production, which also stars Edward Gero as Jack Morris.

The play will be staged on the theatre’s McGuire Proscenium Stage, with its official opening scheduled for 15 October.

Written by Kani and directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, *Kunene and the King *premiered in the US at Shakespeare Theatre Company in 2025.

The Minnesota production is produced by Octopus Theatricals.

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A South African story of race and reconciliation

Set in South Africa in 2019, 25 years after the country’s first democratic elections, Kunene and the King follows the relationship between two men from different backgrounds.

Morris is a celebrated white classical actor who is diagnosed with terminal liver cancer while preparing to perform Shakespeare’s King Lear. He is assigned Kunene, a black home-care nurse, to assist him.

Their relationship develops as they discuss Shakespeare and confront their different experiences and perspectives. The play explores race, identity and reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa.

The production runs for approximately one hour and 40 minutes without an intermission.

The Guthrie Theater staging runs until 8 November 2026.