South Africa Theater Tradition - Essay Example

South Africa Theatre Actor, The South African Theatre tradition was strongly influenced by the apartheid that ate into the society during the mid-twentieth century. Though the theatre originated in the depiction of folk and fairy tales of the indigenous South Africans, which was performed around fires, with a small audience in villages, the colonization of the country had a strong impact on modern theatre, as we know it today. Much of the attempt at plays and dramas in the 20th century in South Africa was a direct attack at apartheid and the denial of black creativity in the theatre world ruled by the English people. These plays acted as a resistance movement and were influenced by the freedom struggle led by Nelson Mandela and his National Congress. The plays were a form of expressing the frustrations of the common man and in the late 1970s, even the women of South Africa produced plays that specifically revolved around their predicament living under a discriminative government. ‘Wathint' Abafazi, Wathint' Imbokodwe – (You Strike the Woman, You Strike the Rock)’ was one such movie that depicted the role of women in a country that was racked by violence. Many plays also concentrated on the plight of domestic workers in South Africa and the exploitation and harassment they faced from their British, white employers. Plays by even English playwrights like Lewis Sowden (The Kimberley Train), Basil Warner (Try for White), David Herbert (A Kakamas Greek), and Athol Fugard (The Blood Knot), addressed the apartheid and attacked the injustice of it. Popular among the African playwrights was Kente, who treated his village audiences with his strong dramas like ‘The Jazz Prophet’, ‘Sikalo’ etc. Actors like Percy Mtwa and Mbongeni Ngema were legendary in their response to the system around them, while playing out Kente’s ‘Mama and the Load’. Prison was a strong theme in many plays of South African theatre in the late half of the 20th century. We can see a strong influence of the events of the real world in the drama of South Africa. The theatre tradition has come a long way from mythological depictions to contemporary criticism and protest against an unjust system. The 1970s and 80s were the peak years of freedom struggle in the country and many prominent leaders were being sent to prison to snuff out the growing resistance. While the plays of the first half of the century reflected the discrimination against the natives of a country by their colonial invaders, the second half saw the plays acting as an outlet for the frustrations of the people at the constant repressing of their struggle for freedom. This was a direct result of cultural dilemma faced by the African people. In the absence of work and influences from abroad, South African theatre makers were forced to draw on their own resources, and they did so with huge creativity and singular success (www.southafricainfo.com). Any attempt at acting out a South African play should be looked at from the angle of racial discrimination and apartheid When plays are acted out today, the mental make-up of the actors like Mtwa and Ngema and their struggle against apartheid have to be studied carefully, so as to depict characters in the South African plays. When such a drama is acted out in a village hall in the 21st century, South Africa is an independent state, the actor has to understand the time and struggles of the original playwrights who put their mental anguish to words. The countrymen are free to express their creativity today, but the nation is facing problems of unemployment and poverty. When an actor is playing a drama from the 20th century, he has to remember he is playing it in 21st century South Africa, which is uncertain about it’s identity and wrought by crime and violence. Creativity took a back seat as the makers of the new South Africa tried their hands at democracy. In such a situation, it is important to skillfully portray the emotions of the people who were victims of apartheid, who went through that entire struggle to make their country a free one for the coming generations. Such plays could be trip down the memory lane for many, but for the current generation, you can turn it even educational. The entertainment value has to be maintained, but it is also an opportunity to tell the story of a by-gone era in the history of South Africa. You will be presenting your play at the National Festival of Arts in Grahamstown. You have to bear in mind that this has been the stage for South Africa’s emerging dramatists for the last 27 years and have seen the growth of many famous playwrights and actors. It is rarely going to be a selective audience; the viewers will span the entire length and breadth of the country and would attract many international visitors too. As an actor, you can perform the role of an apartheid-ridden South African citizen when you really understand the small incidents and acts of discrimination that the countrymen had to go through when they were a colony of the British. Just the mere fact that many of these plays were banned at the very festival you are going to play, will show the kind of frustration the artists went through during those times. The National Theater of 1947 also did not allow participation from the native citizens of the country; it was an exclusive club for British entertainment. A website on South African information says about the theatre in the country, “In black areas all over the country theatre groups came and went, many of them snuffed out by the political harassment and sometimes the indefinite detention of their participants. The Theatre Council of Natal (TECON), which was founded in 1969, died with the arrest of three key Black Consciousness leaders who were active in it. The People's Experimental Theatre (PET) was formed in 1973, but disintegrated when several of its leaders were arrested and charged with treason”. (www.southafricainfo.com, 2006) But many plays and theater groups managed to survive despite the suppression from the authorities. Playwrights were ready to face even imprisonment rather than give up their writing and producing. Prominent among such writers were the likes of Gibson Kente and Maishe Maponya. Kente’s play ‘Mama and the Load’ was a powerful backlash at the racial discrimination of South Africa in the 1970s. When it was originally played in the village halls of South Africa, with the actors touring in small buses, with simple roughly painted backdrops and rustic costumes that Mtwa and Mbongeni took their first step to fame by initiating a discussion on what would happen if Jesus revisited Earth and came to apartheid Africa. This concept was later made into a play and movie by the two actors, showing daily scenes of racial discrimination and how the people and Government of South Africa react to the peacemaking efforts of Jesus Christ. When you are going to perform this play ‘Woza Albert!’ in the National Festival, you need to go back a few decades. The actors-turned-producers then had interviewed the townspeople on their hardships and the daily life. The play is all about the life of the common people of South Africa. As you know, you will need to play at least two or three roles of citizens coming from different walks of life. The play sketches the reactions of people to the arrival of Jesus Christ; reactions from a vendor, barber, servant, manual laborer, soldier etc. The manual laborer of South Africa then has minimal living conditions and is on the verge of starvation. He would be sacked if he tried to be independent. And the situation of the servant is no better; he has to serve the British in their homes and offices and has to suffer abuse. ‘Woza Albert!’ is a plea to rise up, to come to life again – that is what an actor has to convey during the entire course of the play. His every gesture and action should be a strong call to rise against injustice. The play ends with a plea to the late Albert Luthuli, the leader of the National Congress and to other heroes who fought racial discrimination. The message comes across strongly – God cannot help unless you help yourself. Lucky Ngema from Broadway THE LION KING fame says about ‘Woza Albert!’, "The play carries a message of hope to South Africa, but also to other poor countries that someday someone will tell them that they can overcome whatever problems they have." The entire success of the performance will depend on the way you can express the cruelty of the situation humorously. For example, you can use the original make-up used by the actors, where the clowns’ noses were painted pink to denote that they were blacks. This included even the president. From the humorous depiction in the first half, you need to take a serious tone in the second half, when Morena, alias Jesus Christ is trying to make peace and do away with injustice and apartheid. The interviews of the common people and their reaction to the news of the arrival of Morena, should be your basis; it shows the real situation of apartheid Africa of the 1970s. The significance of the play is that it is based on real life interviews and incidents that were taking place in South Africa. Nelson Mandela and many prominent leaders were getting imprisoned; in the play, you have Morena welcomed and imprisoned by the Government. Almost all the interviews depicted in the play are based on real life answers given by the people of South Africa; Mtwa and Ngema met South Africans from all walks of life and recorded their frustrations on the life they were leading. The servant and the soldier, the manual laborer and the vendor, the common man in a South African village – the actor has to really get into their skin and know the suffering and poverty to depict that in the performance. The key is the expressions and the gestures that convey more meaning than words can ever do. Here you have a play that has its strong roots in the resistance movement of South Africa. The director, the actors and the audiences were all victims of a racially discriminative government. Many times, their attempts at dramatic representation was suppressed and banned. This added fuel to the fire, and more plays were written and produced. The incidents of injustice and racial discrimination can be linked to the different ethnic clashes that happen around the world today. It will give you a realistic idea of what the producers went through while trying to explore their creativity and also make their views heard and their protests felt. The play can still mean a lot to people who take suppression and discrimination in their stride, waiting for external forces to bring about change. The message of the play is still very contemporary, and you need to bring that across in your performance. Revolution can often start from one person, or a small group; you need to make history by fighting injustice and discrimination. A 2006 New York Times review of the play says, “Beneath its amiable exterior, obviously, there is a powerful 'protest play'. Some of its techniques and observations might seem naive to outsiders , but it is clear that the message is getting through powerfully to the local audience. And if some of the depictions seem exaggerated, Mr. Mtwa and Mr. Ngena go through the streets of Johannesburg and Soweto pointing out how their portrayals are firmly rooted in everyday realities”. The very fact that it is still worth New York Time review shows the relevance of the play in the 21st century. Bibliography “Woza Albert!, South African Play”. New York Times 27 Nov. 2006 “South African Theatre”. www.southafricainfo.com 6 Oct. 2006 Read More