10/14/2021 0 Comments The Island Athol Fugard Script Pdf
2One of the most important and, in the words of Mary Benson (1997, 118), "politically potent" anti-apartheid theatre pieces from this time, which came to play a central role in the struggle against the apartheid state, was a work created by the actor-duo Percy Mtwa and Mbogeni Ngema. Especially in the latter part of the 20th century, against the backdrop of the Sharpeville Massacre and the Soweto Uprising, the performance of drama texts became one of the central means of artistic resistance in South Africa, as a number of playwrights, directors and actors, from different strands of society, created powerful theatre productions which confronted the realities of life under the apartheid regime head-on. The realities of apartheid, the struggle for freedom and the promise of a better tomorrow indeed engendered, in the words of John de Gruchy, an "explosion of art in all its many and different variations" as it was recognised that the arts can speak a liberating language, and help bring about transformation and hope in a country desperately in need thereof (De Gruchy 2009, 199, 206).When considering this explosion of artistic activity during the apartheid years, it is interesting to see that one art form which, in particular, rose to prominence amidst, and in response to, the atrocities committed in South Africa at the time, is that of theatre.Balthasar believed that drama can be regarded as a "promising point of departure" for theology, since it not only helps us to better understand and respond to the drama of earthly existence as it plays out on the world stage, but because it can also point towards, illuminate and express something of the divine drama of salvation, which finds its highpoint in the dramatic events of the life, death and resurrection of Christ (Balthasar 1988, 9-12 Nichols 2000, 21-46 Oakes 1994, 212-49). I will then offer a brief theological engagement with Woza Albert! by making use of Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar's theological dramatic theory, as developed in his five-volume work, Theodrama. This historical investigation is followed by an exploration of what transpires in the play. It goes on to retell the narrative of Christ's life, death and resurrection, as found in the gospels, so that it takes place in South Africa in the 1980s.This article begins by investigating how Woza Albert!, with its retelling of the Christ-narrative in a modern idiom, originally came about. This play, first performed in 1981, provocatively asked what would happen if the second coming of Christ would occur during the apartheid years.He later recalled: "We just made theatre. Simon would also regularly rent the dining-rooms of student communes in Parktown and turn them into make-shift theatres (Simon 1997, xiii). They began presenting spur-of-the-moment performances in parks, storefronts, private homes, community centres, and church halls, especially in the townships (Schwartz 1988, 83). After the apartheid authorities closed down Dorkay House, given the potentially dangerous political activities that were taking place inside, Simon and others decided to take the productions they were developing to the streets. At first, Simon, together with contemporaries such as Athol Fugard, David Phetoe, Corney Mabaso, and Zakes Mofekeng, staged politically defiant productions, with multi-racial casts, at a venue called Dorkay House-an old factory building in Eloff Street, Johannesburg, which was the home of the Union of South African Artists.Convinced of the evil of apartheid, Manim initially attempted to challenge the political status quo from within by, for example, finding ways to stage multi-racial productions in front of multi-racial audiences at the Arena Theatre. Manim was the head of drama at the Performing Arts Council of Transvaal (PACT) and managed the experimental Arena Theatre in Doornfontein, Pretoria. 3Around this time, Simon met and befriended Mannie Manim, a gifted theatre-maker, with whom he co-founded a new theatre company. There is even an anecdote of them performing some of their productions in someone's backyard, so that political prisoners, who were under house arrest at the time, could watch from over the fence (see Schwartz 1988, 16).
![]() ![]() As they started looking for such a venue and explored options such as "a brewery, several nightclubs, old barns, an abandoned cinema and even a synagogue" (Schwartz 1988, 19), Manim received a tipoff that the old Indian fruit market, in an area called Newtown, was to be demolished by the Johannesburg municipality. While this approach was effective and drew much attention, they nonetheless realised that they would eventually need a more permanent venue in which to rehearse and perform. Productions were staged in unconventional spaces at unconventional hours, and the multi-racial audiences were mostly notified of performances by word-of-mouth. ![]() When they had a rough draft, they decided to meet with Barney Simon, as they felt he had the expertise and the theatre-space at the Market Theatre to help bring this production to life.
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