A messiah triumphs over apartheid

Not seen in the Los Angeles area since 1982, “Woza Albert!” has lost none of its impact or urgency. Created at the height of bloodshed and turmoil of South Africa’s apartheid regime, this watershed performance piece from Johannesburg’s Market Theatre ushered in a new era of social commentary and threw an international spotlight on the physical and psychological consequences of apartheid for the country’s black population.

That oppressive system has been replaced, but its troubled legacy endures, and the piece provides moving, cautionary insight into the broader dangers of relegating any population to second-class status.

A two-performer combination of drama, song, dance and mime, “Woza Albert!” is an energetic and surprisingly uplifting parable about the Second Coming, set in South Africa circa 1981. With minimal props and costume resources, the tall, athletic Sello Maake Ka-Ncube, who plays nine characters, and the equally versatile Errol Ndotho, who plays 12, evoke a rich portrait of that troubled society, from the bricklayers, street musicians and beggars whose very freedom of movement depends on having the appropriate permits to the tyrannical police and government officials who treat them as subhumans.

The accents and bearing are perfect, but it’s the intense physicality of the performances that draw us into visceral experience: the foul prison rations they spit out in disgust, the painful haircut performed with the wrong tools in an open field.

Co-presented by Lit Moon Theatre Festival and the UC Santa Barbara Arts and Lectures program, the production sports an impeccably authentic pedigree. Sello, who also directs, performed in the second-generation Market Theatre cast; now based in London, he currently plays Mufasa in the West End production of “The Lion King.”

In this story of a latter-day exploited, persecuted messiah who ultimately triumphs in a celebratory resurrection of heroes in the struggle against apartheid (“Woza” means “rise up” and Albert refers to Albert Lutuli, the first of the resurrected martyrs), what makes the piece memorable is the joyful exuberance and unexpected humor with which it depicts even the most harrowing hardships, in the process transcending them.

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‘Woza Albert!’

Where: Center Stage Theatre, Paseo Nuevo Mall, Santa Barbara

When: Tonight, 9 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.

Ends: Sunday

Price: $25

Info: (805) 963-0408

Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes