In Cry Havoc, we see Mary Sibande's avatar Sophie dressed in purple, accompanied by a pack of red dogs. The piece is a companion to the sculpture Let slip the dogs of war. The titles of these works come from a line in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar—"with a monarch’s voice Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war, that this foul deed shall smell above the earth"—spoken by Marc Anthony as he kneels of the dead body of Caesar and vows revenge on his assassins. In this sculpture, Sibande is showing Sophie transitioning from her Purple phase—which casts Sophie as a revolutionary figure of protest, evoking the Purple Rain protests in South Africa—to her Red phase, inspired by blood and anger.