I.D.

An enthralling drama about the man who killed Hendrik Verwoerd, President of South Africa and the architect of South African apartheid. Written by the acclaimed actor and author of Year of the King.

I.D. tells the true story of how Demetrios Tsafendas came to assassinate Verwoerd. Of mixed parentage, but classified as White , Tsafendas is unable to marry the woman he loves because she is classified as Coloured . Sickened by this injustice and goaded by his monstrous alter ego, Tsafendas stabs Verwoerd on the floor of the House in full view of his wife, his bodyguard and a chamber full of MPs.

Antony Sher’s play I.D. was first performed at the Almeida Theatre, London, in September 2003 with Sher in the role of Tsafendas.

The play was inspired by the book A Mouthful of Glass by Henk van Woerden.

‘A first play that is as arresting as it is original… striking stuff’
- The Times