No-Good Friday

In No-Good Friday, employment—both seeking jobs and retaining jobs—is a major source of racist oppression in the lives of Black South Africans living under apartheid. Under apartheid, money and power are concentrated among the White South African minority, meaning the country’s Black majority mostly seeks jobs from White employers. This situation creates a power dynamic in which White South Africans decide what opportunities Black people get. In the play, for example, a talented Black saxophonist named Guy goes looking for a job as a musician at a White-controlled hotel—only to be told he can apply as a “kitchen boy” instead. Despite Guy’s skill at his instrument, White people have ultimate say over whether Guy succeeds as a professional musician. The play also emphasizes how White South Africans control not only which jobs Black South Africans get, but also whether Black people keep their jobs. Another Black character, Pinkie, faces a dilemma when a White employee at the office where he works accuses him of making a mistake that he didn’t make: Pinkie’s White boss orders him to apologize to the White employee or be fired, and Pinkie has to decide whether he is willing to apologize for something he didn’t do merely because his White boss refuses to believe or even listen to Pinkie’s “side of the story.” Thus, the play uses Guy and Pinkie to illustrate how employment—an economic necessity—coerces Black job-seekers and employees into encountering and accepting racist treatment from White South Africans.