Download or read book A Century of South African Theatre written by Loren Kruger and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-28 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Theatre is not part of our vocabulary”: Sipho Sepamla's provocation in 1981, the year of famous anti-apartheid play Woza Albert!, prompts the response, yes indeed, it is. A Century of South African Theatre demonstrates the impact of theatre and other performances-pageants, concerts, sketches, workshops, and performance art-over the last hundred years. Its coverage includes African responses to pro-British pageants celebrating white Union in 1910, such as the Emancipation Centenary of the abolition of British colonial slavery in 1934 organized by Griffiths Motsieloa and HIE Dhlomo, through anti-apartheid testimonial theatre by Athol Fugard, Maishe Maponya, Gcina Mhlophe, and many others, right up to the present dramatization of state capture, inequality and state violence in today's unevenly democratic society, where government has promised much but delivered little. Building on Loren Kruger's personal observations of forty years as well as her published research, A Century of South African Theatre provides theoretical coordinates from institution to public sphere to syncretism in performance in order to highlight South Africa's changing engagement with the world from the days of Empire, through the apartheid era to the multi-lateral and multi-lingual networks of the 21st century. The final chapters use the Constitution's injunction to improve wellbeing as a prompt to examine the dramaturgy of new problems, especially AIDS and domestic violence, as well as the better known performances in and around the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Kruger critically evaluates internationally known theatre makers, including the signature collaborations between animator/designer William Kentridge, and Handspring Puppet Company, and highlights the local and transnational impact of major post-apartheid companies such as Magnet Theatre.
Download or read book Forays into Contemporary South African Theatre written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-11-11 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the years that followed the end of apartheid, South African theatre was characterized by a remarkable productivity, which resulted in a process of constant aesthetic reinvention. After 1994, the “protest” theatre template of the apartheid years morphed into a wealth of diverse forms of stage idioms, detectable in the works of Greg Homann, Mike van Graan, Craig Higginson, Lara Foot, Omphile Molusi, Nadia Davids, Magnet Theatre, Rehane Abrahams, Amy Jephta, and Reza de Wet, to cite only a few prominent examples. Marc and Jessica Maufort’s multivocal edited volume documents some of the various ways in which the “rainbow” nation has forged these innovative stage idioms. This book’s underlying assumption is that creolization reflects the processes of identity renegotiation in contemporary South Africa and their multi-faceted theatrical representations. Contributors: Veronica Baxter, Marcia Blumberg, Vicki Briault Manus, Petrus du Preez, Paula Fourie, Craig Higginson, Greg Homann, Jessica Maufort, Marc Maufort, Omphile Molusi, Jessica Murray, Jill Planche, Ksenia Robbe, Mathilde Rogez, Chris Thurman, Mike van Graan, and Ralph Yarrow.
Download or read book Theatre Change in South Africa written by Geoffrey Davis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-04-27 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 1997. Can South African theatre continue to maintain its autonomy and exercise its critical role? Can one rethink form and find new content? Can a concept of post-protest theatre be developed? How might theatre contribute to post-apartheid soceity? These are just of the questions addressed in this book. The real and present difficulties South Africian theatre is facing, as well as possible future orientations, are clearly shown, at one of the most complex moments of political transition in the history of the South African society. The authors include contributions from playwrights, actors, visual artists, poets, directors, administrators, critics and theatre academics. Their comments and thoughts portray the active process of reflection and reappraisal, redefining their artistic and political aims, searching for new and vital theatrical forms.
Download or read book Theatre in Transformation written by Wolfgang Schneider and published by transcript Verlag. This book was released on 2019-02-28 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are artists seismographs during processes of transformation? Is theatre a mirror of society? And how does it influence society offstage? To address these questions, this collection brings together analyses of cultural policy in post-apartheid South Africa and actors of the performing arts discussing political theatre and cultural activism. Case studies grant inside views of the State Theatre in Pretoria, the Market Theatre in Johannesburg and the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, followed by a documentation of panel discussions on the Soweto Theatre. The texts collected here bring to the surface new faces and voices who advance the performing arts with their images and lexicons revolving around topics such as patriarchy, femicide and xenophobia.
Download or read book New South African Plays written by Beverley Naidoo and published by Aurora Metro Publications Ltd.. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of six plays dealing with the new South Africa, published in 2006 to celebrate 10 years of democracy post-apartheid. Plays about racial conflict, the impact of AIDS, power and corruption, the legacy of the past and female identity. Reprinted 2012, 2019. The Plays The Playground by Beverly Naidoo “...it floats on a haunting, echoing raft of traditional South African harmonies that make watching it a joyful experience as well as a thought-provoking one...” Time Out Critics’ Choice – Pick of the Year Taxi by Sibusiso Mamba: Edinburgh fringe first winner “a superbly written and produced play... A fine piece of work that’s refreshingly free of cliches.” Daily Mail, Pick of the Week Green Man Flashing by Mike Van Graan “...This finely crafted drama tears at the heart and soul of our democracy, and rips at the underbelly of corruption and political power through its astute writing...” Star Tonight Rejoice by James Whylie “... the cruellest irony of all is left until the end... the same one which has spelled the death of Rejoice... And millions more.” Friends of BBC Radio 3 What the Water Gave Me by Rehane Abrahams “tales that retrieve ancient magics and reveal contemporary terrors...” Cape Times To House by Ashwin Singh: Finalist in the 2003 PANSA (Performing Arts Network of SA) Festival of Reading of New Writing (the country’s foremost playwriting contest) “To House is an important piece of theatre; in it people voice opinions that are uncomfortable and edgy. The cathartic and therapeutic value of hearing these things said aloud in a public place is part of our essential healing process and proves, once again, that art has the ability to go where angels fear to tread.” Daily News, Durban
Download or read book Explorations in Southern African Drama Theatre and Performance written by Patrick Ebewo and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In spite of the rich repertoire of artistic traditions in Southern Africa, particularly in the areas of drama, theatre and performance, there seems to be a lack of a corresponding robust academic engagement with these subjects. While it can be said that some of the racial groups in the region have received substantial attention in terms of scholarly discussions of their drama and theatre performances, the same cannot be said of the black African racial group. As such, this collection of twelve chapters represents a compendium of critical and intellectual discourses on black African drama, theatre and performance in Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, and Swaziland. The topics covered in the book include, amongst others, ritual practices, interventionist approaches to drama, textual analyses, and the funeral rites (viewed as performance) of the South African liberation icon Nelson Mandela. The discussions are rooted mainly using African paradigms that are relevant to the context of African cultural production. The contributions here add to the aggregate knowledge economy of Southern Africa, promote research and publication, and provide reading materials for university students specialising in the performing arts. As such, the book will appeal to academics, theatre scholars, cultural workers and arts administrators, arts practitioners and entrepreneurs, the tourism industry, arts educators, and development communication experts."
Download or read book African Theatre written by Christine Matzke and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2020 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compelling inside views of what characterises opera and music theatre in African and African diasporic contexts.
Download or read book Kunene and the King written by John Kani and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2021-04-09 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'What lies beneath the apparent simplicity of Kunene and the King is a lot of moral, political and existential depth. This is testimony to the brilliance of John Kani.' – EUSEBIUS McKAISER South Africa, 2019. Twenty-five years since the first post-apartheid democratic elections. Jack Morris is a celebrated classical actor who has just been given a career-defining role and a life-changing diagnosis. Lunga Kunene is a retired senior male nurse from Soweto now working for private patients. Besides their age, they appear not to have much in common. But a shared passion for Shakespeare soon ignites a 'rich, raw and shattering head-to-head' (The Times) as the duet from contrasting walks of life unpack the racial, political and social complexities of modern South Africa. Kunene and the King is a vital play that combines the magnificence of classic Shakespearean comedy, tragedy and history to reflect on a new yet deeply wounded society.
Download or read book Black South African Women written by Kathy Perkins and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-01-16 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first anthology to focus on the lives of Black South African women. Includes the work of, and interviews with, award-winning and emerging authors. Contains 6 full-length and 4 one-act plays.
Download or read book Dream of the Dog written by Craig Higginson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2010-04-27 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, shortly after the millennium. Patricia and Richard Wiley, an elderly white couple, are packing up to leave the farm they’ve sold to developers. Their preparations are interrupted by the arrival of a young man – ‘Look Smart’ – who used to be one of the black workers on their estate until he disappeared fifteen years ago. The day before Look Smart left, something terrible happened on the Wileys’ farm. But everyone has a different memory of the dreadful event and their own role in it. As the different accounts of their shared past are unravelled, they are all forced to confront their own versions of the truth – with shocking ramifications for their lives today. Dream of the Dog is a richly textured and complex story of South Africa’s emerging democracy, and its continued negotiation with its past in order to find a workable identity for its future. Critically acclaimed in South Africa, this new play takes an unflinching look at the twin mantras of the post-Mandela age – reconciliation and forgiveness – as it asks whether black and white can ever live together peacefully.
Download or read book The Drama of South Africa written by Loren Kruger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-11 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicles the development of dramatic writing and performance from the time South Africa was established to post-apartheid. Investigates the impact of sketches and manifestos, and the oral preservation of scripts that could not be written.
Download or read book Drama for a New South Africa written by David Graver and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "... a solid addition to international drama." --Library Journal Going beyond the parameters of conventional literary drama, these seven new plays express life issues in post-apartheid South Africa--Islamic fundamentalism, women's rights, ecology, Afrikaans culture and the new multi-racial life of the inner city. While theater rooted in the anti-apartheid movement was rich and vibrant, it was also singleminded in focus, obscuring the diversity of South African culture now brought to life in these works.
Download or read book Monarchs Missionaries and African Intellectuals written by Bhekizizwe Peterson and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2021-08-01 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much of the work in the field of African studies still relies on rigid distinctions of ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’, ‘collaboration’ and ‘resistance’, ‘indigenous’ and ‘foreign’. This book moves well beyond these frameworks to probe the complex entanglements of different intellectual traditions in the South African context, by examining two case studies. The case studies constitute the core around which is woven this intriguing story of the development of black theatre in South Africa in the early years of the century. It also highlights the dialogue between African and African-American intellectuals, and the intellectual formation of the early African elite in relation to colonial authority and how each affected the other in complicated ways. The first case study centres on Mariannhill Mission in KwaZulu-Natal. Here the evangelical and pedagogical drama pioneered by the Rev Bernard Huss, is considered alongside the work of one of the mission’s most eminent alumni, the poet and scholar, B.W. Vilakazi. The second moves to Johannesburg and gives a detailed insight into the working of the Bantu Dramatic Society and the drama of H.I.E. Dhlomo in relation to the British Drama League and other white liberal cultural activities.
Download or read book The Theatre of August Wilson written by Alan Nadel and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-05-17 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive study of August Wilson's drama introduces the major themes and motifs that unite Wilson's ten-play cycle about African American life in each decade of the twentieth century. Framed by Wilson's life experiences and informed by his extensive interviews, this book provides fresh, coherent, detailed readings of each play, well-situated in the extant scholarship. It also provides an overview of the cycle as a whole, demonstrating how it comprises a compelling interrogation of American culture and historiography. Keenly aware of the musical paradigms informing Wilson's dramatic technique, Nadel shows how jazz and, particularly, the blues provide the structural mechanisms that allow Wilson to examine alternative notions of time, property, and law. Wilson's improvisational logics become crucial to expressing his notions of black identity and resituating the relationship of literal to figurative in the African American community. The final two chapters include contributions by scholars Harry J. Elam, Jr. and Donald E. Pease
Download or read book African Theatre written by Martin Banham and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributions to this volume in the African Theatre series make clear that the role of women in the theatre across the continent has changed as control is mainly held by literate elites and women's traditional standing has been lost to men.
Download or read book In Township Tonight written by David Bellin Coplan and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David B. Coplan's pioneering social history of black South Africa's urban music, dance, and theatre established itself as a classic soon after its publication in 1985. Now completely revised, expanded, and updated, this new edition takes account of developments over the last thirty years while reflecting on the massive changes in South African politics and society since the end of the apartheid era. In vivid detail, Coplan comprehensively explores more than three centuries of the diverse history of South Africa's black popular culture, taking readers from indigenous musical traditions into the world of slave orchestras, pennywhistlers, clergyman-composers, the gumboot dances of mineworkers, and touring minstrelsy and vaudeville acts.
Download or read book Trends in Twenty First Century African Theatre and Performance written by Kene Igweonu and published by Rodopi. This book was released on 2011 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trends in Twenty-First Century African Theatre and Performance is a collection of regionally focused articles on African theatre and performance. The volume provides a broad exploration of the current state of African theatre and performance and considers the directions they are taking in the 21st Century. It contains sections on current trends in theatre and performance studies, on applied/community theatre and on playwrights. The chapters have evolved out of a working group process, in which papers were submitted to peer-group scrutiny over a period of four years, at four international conferences. The book will be particularly useful as a key text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in non-western theatre and performance (where this includes African theatre and performance), and would be a very useful resource for theatre scholars and anyone interested in African performance forms and cultures.