This article aims at showing how Mtwa, Ngema, and Simon‘s play Woza Albert (1981) presents identity as performative, not fixed and static. I argue that the play helps deconstruct the idea that identity is given. As the contact with oppression generates different reactions and, therefore, different possibilities and multiple layers of identity, this play offers new alternatives for understanding Black identity rather than racialized categories of black and white. These alternatives are achieved through dramatic actions as well as through the existential transformational moments that take place throughout the performance. The play emphasizes the idea that there is a possibility for the Black identity to exist beyond racist categories through highlighting the importance of being human and achieving oneself. Therefore, the play profoundly presents socio-political and racial-existential dimensions that help concretize and universalize Black identity.

In this article, I argue that Elkanah Settles strong engagement in the political debates of the Restoration period resulted in a tendency to implement more allegories and symbolism in his works. His early successes as a talented playwright enticed him to become more involved in pamphleteering and playwriting to support his political views. The article clarifies that the representations of Muslim characters in The Heir of Morocco were heavily influenced by the contemporary politics of Restoration England. Remarkably, the image of the Muslim character operated in the contemporary political scene, as it was employed by a Whig propagandist like Settle, to convey and code certain political sympathies. The article shows how this strategy enabled Settle to reach a wider range of spectators, evade government censorship, and even to be adopted by major royalist theatre companies like The Kings Company.