SOUTH AFRICAN

THEATRE
WITH SPECIFIC AGENDA

PRE -1994
 South african theatre
WITH SPECIFIC AGENDA
1. Workshop Theatre
2. Protest Theatre
3. Workers Theatre
4. Community Theatre
5. Educational Theatre
6. Satirical Revue
 Reading

Observation: I nterviews
(Research)
Observation of people’s lives

Personal Experience
1. Workshop Theatre

Directors (Structure/ Theme)

Creation process

I mprovisation: Actors (I mprovise)

“Audience” (Advice & criticism)

Director
Aim =polished theatrical perf ormance
Selection:
The Group
Aim=political statement or record of action

Repeating scenes until set

Recording: Scribe taking notes
Audio/ video recording
 1. Workshop Theatre
Advantages
1. Anyone can create or act in a play even if they could not read or write.
2. No script is needed.
3. It is reasonable to stage as costumes, props, lighting and scenery are kept to
a minimum.
4. No special venue is required. Generally an arena acting space is used.
5. The audience can surround the actors informally – they do not even need
chairs.
6. Special effects are created by the actors themselves using musical, vocal and
movement skills.
7. Costs are kept very low.
8. There is not one director
9. Everyone participating in the play plays a part in the creation process.
10. The play can be about something that happened recently.
11. The play structure is as varied as the talents of the group.
 1. Workshop Theatre
Form and Structure
1. It is episodic.
2. It makes use of a repeated formula.
3. It is often multi-lingual.
4. Scenes are often linked by song, dance or physical
movements.
5. The actors make extensive use of physicality and
vocal work (reminiscent of Grotowski) to create a
dynamic, energetic performance.
6. Dramatic skills include storytelling, dialogue,
monologues, songs, dance, music and narration.
7. The audience is often encouraged to participate in
singing, dancing and contributing ideas when called for.
 1. Workshop Theatre
Structure and Features
STRUCTURE FEATURES

Episodic Long t ime-span

Narrat ive f orm Localit y changes

WORKSHOPPED
PLAY

Series of climaxes Mult i-lingual

(Not j ust one)

Linking devices
 Social Pr oblem Polit ical Abuse Conser vat ion I ssue

This topic must be taught in conjunction with notes given

AI M: Eff ect a change – I DEA dominates

ST RUCT URE FEAT URES

Episodic Many localit ies

2. Protest Theatre

Music
Songs Linking St rives f or an
Dances Devices emot ional r esponse
Sound eff ect s

PROTEST
T HEAT RE
Superfi cial or “Poor ”
st ereot yped t echniques
char act er s
Spar se innovat ive
set s use of pr ops
Simple plot s
mime & light ing
vocal eff ect s dispensable

METHOD:
f r equent ly uses
Wor kshopping
 3. Workers’ Theatre

Aims
Education, Mobilisation and Conscientisation
Purpose
* Make workers aware of their situation and the
issues that confront them.
* Create worker solidarity.
* Educate workers in ways to take action in order to
change their situation.
* Raise money for strikers.
* Empower all workers (literate or not) equally to
understand issues
* Resolve the issues presented.
 3. Workers’ Theatre cont.
Theatre in the workplace

* Finds a common expression, not reliant on language, ideal

for illiterate people.
* Uses techniques of mime, story telling, casual language
and humour.
* Gets across a serious and potentially contentious message.
* Shifts between realist and non-realist performance styles.
* Multi-lingual, multi-cultural audiences
* Relies on a few performers
* Portable and flexible in terms of staging, costumes and
props.
* Celebrates life as it is, focuses on relationships between
people in a specific community.
* Shows that differences between people does not
necessarily mean that one party is weaker than the other
 Workers’ Theatre cont.

Examples of plays:
- Ilanga Lizo Phumela Abasebenzi (the sun
also rises)
- The Dunlop Play
-The Kwa-Mashu Street Cleaners’ play
- The Clover Play
_ The Long March
 4. Community Theatre

* Social involvement and interaction are

important
* In third world countries, where many of the
population are illiterate, drama and theatre
often replace books as a means of educating
and informing the community on issues that
concern them.
* Examples of community theatre
-Winterveld Squatters Camp project
-Kode Kobenini ma Crossroads? (How long
Crossroads?)
 4. Community Theatre

The three stages in community theatre

1. Conscientisation: role playing is used to
establish the needs and problems of the
community and create awareness of them.
2. Social action: Experts (nutritionists,
psychologists etc) help the actors to dramatise
scenes showing how to solve, or cope with the
problems.
3.Politicisation: These scenes educate
communities about the underlying causes of
their situation and are intended to lead to social
change.
 5. Educational Theatre
*This type of theatre is usually initiated by an outside group who wish
to teach people in general about specific concerns

*It need not be political in nature and covers a wide range of topics
from teaching people to read and write, to making people aware of
the dangers threatening rhino

Examples:
The Twisisa (understand) project at Gazankulu. To teach people to
read and write and develop basic skills needed to cope with life in an
industrialised society.
Beachwise. It was commissioned in the 1990’s by the Durban City
Council to educate people who had never been to the beach before.
Previously beaches were segregated and many Black people had
never visited the beach before. These performances educated the
audience about safety, hygiene and generally how to behave
responsibly at the beach.
Voter education was essential in the run up to South Africa’s first
democratic election in 1994.
 Environmental theatre
* Uses the same basic process and principles of Educational
Theatre – it is a particular form of Educational Theatre

* Focus on conservation and environmental issues to educate

people about the preservation of the environment and wildlife.

* Productions are generally workshopped and involve movement

and verbal dynamics ,using very few props or make up.

Examples:
Kwamanzi
Horn of Sorrow
Elephant of Africa
 6. Satirical Revue
The Satirical Revue

AIM: To entertain through using satire

FORM: A series of unrelated “skits” or “sketches” based on topical people/

events
It can include singing and dancing, but need not.

Examples: Pieter-Dirk Uys, Mark Banks, Robert Kirby and J o’burg

Follies,Ben Voss and J ohn van De Ruit with ‘The Mamba Series’
 6. Satirical Revue
Satire uses ridicule, irony and sarcasm to
expose and discourage vice and folly.

 Ridicule: Mocking, making fun of a person or thing.

 Irony: Saying the opposite of what you mean to
make fun of something.
 Sarcasm:A bitter or wounding remark.

Superficially satire seems to be purely amusing but it

has a deeper purpose. It mocks politics, individual
silliness, hypocrisy, artificiality, relationships, sex,
religion and bad manners amongst other human
follies. Audiences laugh at what they see on stage as
it mirrors their own foolishness and the idiocy of those
around them.