In Australia, I almost became a counsellor. At the end of each performance there would be a queue of sobbing people backstage. They all wanted to explain why they left South Africa.

If we'd lived in England or America we'd have told stories abut our lives and nobody would have called it protest theatre. But the reality of South Africa was the arrests and detentions and oppression - we could not escape that, so we decided to take it on.

I had to look at white people as fellow South Africans and fellow partners in building a new South Africa.

Our job as artists, we believe, is not to make changes in society. We don't have the ability to do that. We reflect life. We are the mirror of the society to look into. Our job is to raise questions, but we have no answers.

This is the problem I have: I write a play and I give it to a director and they say, 'I'll do it one condition: if you play the role.'

When I tell a story, I have to tell it honestly.

It dawned on me that theatre is a powerful weapon for change.

I understood the whole purpose of Truth and Reconciliation, and I supported it 100 per cent, but I couldn't deal with it myself.

Every time there is a movie that tells a South African story, it is done by someone who must be taught the right way of pronouncing 'Sawubona.' Enough is enough.

I did 'Sizwe Bansi is Dead' for 34 years.

My love, my passion, my everything is this continent of Africa. I have always celebrated African humanity.

All over the world, there is someone sitting in a cell because he or she is not allowed freedom of expression.

Very rarely in the life of an actor and a performer do you do something you truly believe in, do you do something you are absolutely proud of.

That's the beauty of art: art is universal.

In 'Lion King,' the music is brilliant. The CGI is amazing.

I write about the human condition, as a South African. I sometimes see South Africa with the spectacles of the past and there will then be a political content in my writing.

'Sizwa Banzi' is the life of the black man. We look at it, laugh at it, re-examine it, but we do not change it.

When the situation politically became intolerable within South Africa, we used the arts as a weapon for change.

I come from a long line of storytellers.

Working with my friend Sir Antony Sher is truly one of the highlights of my career as an artist.

Other theaters exist here solely to entertain the white audience and keep South Africa on a par with what's going on in the West End or Broadway. The Market concerns itself with theater of this country, for this country.

I still remember the moment when my teacher, Mr. Budaza, walked into class and said, 'Today we are going to study 'Julius Caesar,' one of Shakespeare's most important plays.'

I started to get my doctorate, not to be called 'doctor.' Those are just little things you get to get recognition.

I must concentrate all my efforts in the attainment of freedom for my people.