Dr John Kani Receives A Prestigious International Award
Dr John Kani Receives A Prestigious International Award. He is one individual who constantly puts us up there on the world map. Through his work as an actor, John Kani has received many accolades. The multi-award winning renowned actor, director, and playwright is one of the most internationally recognized talents to come out of this country.
77 year old Dr Kani, has added another international accolade to his already highly decorated hat. He was recently honored with the Pragnell Shakespeare Award, a prestigious international accolade. He has been rewarded for his play, Kunene and the King, which is set on post-apartheid South Africa. The play used Shakespeare’s King Lear as a reference point.
The Pragnell Shakespeare Birthday Award is an international award funded by Pragnell the Jeweller of Stratford-upon-Avon. It is presented annually on the occasion of the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations luncheon in Stratford-upon-Avon. Anyone working in any field of Shakespearian endeavor, including theatre, criticism, or in Shakespearian scholarship is eligible.
“Congratulations to John Kani who has been recognized with this year’s Pragnell Shakespeare Award! Normally we’d have the Birthday Luncheon to toast his achievements — online this year, but we hope to welcome him back to Stratford-upon-Avon soon,” the Shakespeare Institute shared the good news.
Dr Kani has always bee about the awards and accolades. On 20 February 2010, he received a SAFTA Life Time award. He has also received the Avanti Hall of Fame Award from the South African film, television, and advertising industries, an M-Net Plum award and a Clio award in New York. Other awards include the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation Award for the year 2000 and the Olive Schreiner Prize for 2005. He was voted 51st in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004.
In 2006, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Cape Town. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University appointed him an honorary Doctor of Philosophy in 2013.
In 2016 Kani received the national honour of the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver, for his “Excellent contributions to theatre and, through this, the struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa”.
In 2020 he was awarded another honorary doctorate by the University of the Witwatersrand. The main theatre of the Market Theatre complex in Newtown, Johannesburg, has been renamed The John Kani Theatre in his honour. Talk about a talent recognized.
