A Haunting Woyzeck

Woyzeck. By Georg Büchner. Version by Daniel Kramer. Directed by Lara Foot. Cast Thami Mbongo, Chuma Sopotela, Rob van Vuuren, Bongile Mantsai, Mdu Kweyama, Zoleka Helesi, John Ndouma and Appollo Ntshoko.

Where: The Baxter Golden Arrow Studio

From: Until September 11.

By Marianne Thamm
Georg Büchner was 23 years old when he died in 1837 leaving behind Woyzeck, a fragmented and unfinished morality play, based partially on a real story, and which has now become one of the most-performed texts in German theatre.
The play is essentially about a soldier, a poor, working-class everyman, who because of his lack of agency is exploited at every turn driving him eventually to insanity and criminality.
Just how much he is accountable or to blame for his actions is only one of the layers explored in this dense text.
Woyzeck is not an easy play. It is a searing tragedy with a rather grim protagonist. It is also a play about class, the wretchedness of poverty, moral collapse, love, sex, betrayal and murder.
So, it can all pack quite a punch if it the right registers are sought and found and if the tale is wrapped around a meaningful theatrical idiom.
The play has been performed and interpreted differently across the globe from Iceland, London and Australia in 2005 where the story was framed by the dark, maudlin music of Nick Cave and Waren Ellis, to an Elvis Presley soundtrack (in a 2006 London production) to setting it in modern-day Iraq (a 2004 version in New York) to reworking the character as a miner in apartheid South Africa in the memorable and award-winning Handspring Puppet 1992 production of Woyzeck on the Highveld.
Director Lara Foot has set her reading of the tragedy somewhere in war-torn Africa. The pan-African references are there not only in the uniforms but the Congolese laments, beautifully sung by John Ndouma, and that thread through the story.
The piece, performed in the context of the dismal poverty we continue to live with in South Africa, the high levels of gender and general violence and the grand narrative that our “moral fibre” has somehow unravelled, becomes chillingly appropriate and spins this tale into all manner of interesting political spaces.
Leopold Senekal’s set and Patrick Curtis’s lighting transports us to what feels like a feverish, sweaty and claustrophobic, subterranean bunker where the delirium madness and mayhem slowly unfolds.
The fragmentary nature of the Büchner’s text is initially distracting but the superb ensemble acting from this strong cast soon draws you into an emotional rollercoaster.
Thami Mbongo is a deeply moving Woyzeck, bumbling, runt-like, eager to please, at turns bewildered, angry and finally lost to himself and the world. Less successful but still always watchable is Chuma Sopotela as Marie, Woyzeck’s common law wife and mother of his son.
While Marie too is a victim of circumstance, she cuckolds Woyzeck with the company’s drum major (a towering and consistently brutish performance by Bongile Mantsai). Sopotela’s portrayal is too much the Madonna and too little the wily, scheming survivor.
Rob van Vuuren as the arrogant, self-righteous Captain gives a wonderfully pitched performance, a cross between something out of a Carry On comedy and Apocalypse Now.
As the showman, Van Vuuren is menacingly magical. Entering the stage in a sort of vaudeville costume and to Tom Waits’ poignant, God’s Away on Business, he captures the chilling, trippy insanity of it all.
Ina Wichterich’s choreography, Bongile Mantsai’s music too cohesion to the fragments and forge it into a searing whole.
There are too few places in the theatre where atomised levels of human existence are explored this explicitly. Foot’s Woyzeck forces us to do just that. It is a play that lingers for days afterwards, provoking different connections and understandings. If you like your theatre challenging and your actors daring…go see this.
ends

Chuma Sopotela

Evokatief, oprulend Afrikaaps

Afrikaaps. Deur Deborah Steinmair vir Die Burger.

Die gladde Argitekbekke, almal kunstenaars in eie reg, praat oor hul moedertaal. Die gesprek is evokatief en opruiend. Dit sluit beeldmateriaal, musiek en dans in. Dit begin om ’n vuur, met die Khoe-San se stories en rieldanse onder die maan. ’n Hoogtepunt is Jitsvinger se vertelling oor ’n reënmaker. Jitsvinger oftewel Quintin Goliath is ’n rap-reus. Hy is eenvoudig hipnoties, die ritme van sy woorde sal my oprui tot in die voorste linies. Sy lang hande skets elegante landskappe. Hy lyk soos ’n besoeker van die planeet van bidsprinkane. Hy is ’n ambassadeur van ’n beskawing heelwat ouer en meer gesofistikeerd as ons s’n.

Om Jitsvinger en Blaq Pearl (Janine van Rooy) te sien dans is ’n grootse oomblik. Ligvoets soos elwe trippel die lenige hemelbesem en petite sanger-digter met die kaalgeskeerde kop hand aan hand. Hulle is omgeef van ’n lig wat niks met verhoogbeligting te doen het nie. Hulle lyk soos avatars, soos welwillendheidsbesoekers uit die buitenste ruim. Hulle gooi die taal soos fakkeldansers, laat haar huppel, trance- en breakdance. Blaq Pearl se verhoogteenwoordigheid is eweneens betowerend. Sy liefkoos woorde of vuur hulle af soos pyle. Sy het ’n aangrypende stem.

Die kunstenaars doen hul ding voor ’n verligte, koepelvormige skerm. Daarop word soms filmmateriaal geprojekteer, soms koerantopskrifte en soms dans net hul skaduwees fratsagtig verleng op die wit skerm. Moenier Adams en Bliksemstraal poets die planke blink met hoogs aanskoulike hip hop en breakdance-maneuvers. Hulle gangsta walk, grind, krump, pop, neck-o-flex, strobe, turf, top rock, body glide, belly swim, boomerang, jackhammer en slaan jou asem weg met die boogaloo, skêr, helikopter, koffiemeul, lugstoel en eierklitser.

Adams sing soos ’n engel. Jazz-pianis Kyle Shepherd streel ook die oor. Hip hop-aktivis Emile Jansen beweeg soos ’n ingewing. Shane Cooper skep atmosfeer met die basviool. Die produksie onder regie van Catherine Henegan is in jou gesig en laat jou nadink. Op die skerm reken ’n Kaapse Vlakte-skoolkind dat hulle baie goed sou doen in Afrikaans as die taal van hul klasse en handboeke die taal was wat hulle by die huis praat.

Afrikaaps se tema is nie nuut nie: daar wás al produksies oor Afrikaans se Kreoolse slawewortels. Tog gebeur daar iets raar en wonderlik voor ons oë: talentvolle individue se sinergie kry vlerke en vat lug soos ’n pluimsaad. Die taal dans verruklik soos ’n papiersak in ’n windvlaag. Vergeet van sotlike politici – sluit aan by hierdie party.

By die Baxter tot 24 April

Jitsvinger

Words to inspire

Georgina Selander attended the second Baxter Storytelling Festival and found magic in the simplicity of the word.

April 1 saw the gathering of some of South Africa’s finest storytellers for the Baxter Storytelling Festival. The event, which was previously held in 2005, provided the opportunity for children and adults alike to enjoy narratives, legends and African folklore tales.

Acclaimed director, Janice Honeyman, who recently received the Fleur du Cap Best Director award in honour of her 2009 direction of I Am My Own Wife, headed the list of storytellers. Four venues within the Baxter Theatre Centre were used, with time slots allocating performances for varying age groups.

The Storytelling Festival bore witness to the power of storytelling to both enchant and teach. Children sat spellbound as tales, equipped with dynamic vocal expression, acting and animalistic imitations, came to life before them.

Lee-Ann van Rooi, a talented performer whose repertoire spans the fields of television, radio, theatre and film, began the morning with a rendition of Tony Ross’ Mrs Goat and Her Seven Little Kids.

Van Rooi, who was the 1999 winner of an Avante award for best supporting actress in the sitcom Fishy Fêshuns, captivated a group of 60 odd 4-6 year olds. The humorous story, which related the plight of a ‘mother goat’ trying to protect her kids from a scheming ‘big bad wolf’, was a refreshing take on the well-worn ‘don’t talk to strangers’ scenario.

Van Rooi’s quick change from a kid quaking in fear, to the gruff-voiced and burly ‘big bad wolf’ filled the room with giggling. Despite the evident amusement, the story was underpinned by a stark but relevant message. “It’s contemporary. I’m a mother and with 2010 coming up, child trafficking is on my mind” said van Rooi.

Another memorable performance was an African folklore tale by Zoliswa Kawe. Kawe, who has been involved in the arts industry since 1993, heads the youth-orientated company, Ncuthu Mazangwa Productions.

Kawe, or ‘Mamma Zozo’ as she introduced herself to the group of children, focussed her story on an African hunter and his pet bird. The hunter, who is unwilling to free his bird from her cage, quickly notices her sense of despair and longing for freedom. Desperate to rectify her troubles, he travels the world in search of companionship for his bird.

After encountering several groups of animals, he comes across a flock of birds. Puzzled as to why they assume death on his arrival, the hunter returns home and relates his story to his bird. The bird finds inspiration from this tale and feigns her own death. As the hunter opens her cage to bury her, she flies away and sings to her former master from the treetops. The story equally resonated with a compelling message. “I believe that if you love something, you should let it go. If it’s yours, it will come back to you,” said Kawe.

Nkosinathi Gaar, a UCT honours graduate of theatre-making, coupled with Janice Honeyman to deliver two of her self-written stories. The first depicted the tale of a young Mozambique boy, Arlindo, who uses the power of his marimba playing to ward off the menacing ‘bully boys’ that have long since troubled his neighbourhood.

The second was a story of a young farm girl, Grietjie, who learns to play the violin from a 78 year old farm worker, Oom David. Destined to become an apple-picker like the generations of women before her, Grietjie deviates from this path and follows her true vocation as a musician. Both stories reflected the transformative power of the imagination, and the ability of dreams to guide and inspire.

Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi who has been involved with community projects as a theatrical performer and who was the 2007 nominee for a Fleur du Cap Best Performer award, completed the day with a lively African legend. His mythical explanation of why ivory is a devastatingly sought-after commodity, left many a child and parent silently enthralled. His fluid replications of a slothful elephant, a puffing, cantankerous rhinoceros and a rotund, wading hippopotamus were remarkable.

In a post-modern world that is increasingly aware of gender, religion, ability and culture differences, storytelling is a craft that disregards these constructions that make for both a diverse and divisive world. It is also a learning tool, teaching youths the importance of expression, articulation and listening, and often instilling a poignant moral value. Through an entertaining form, stories like these can surpass barriers of communication and provide an effective mirror of difficult or unspoken social issues.

In the fast-moving, technology-driven world of the 21st century, we are quick to forget the power of simple communication. The performances of these 16 narrators brought about a sense of nostalgia for increasingly outdated forms of entertainment – a glimpse of the world without television, play station, i Pods or other ‘must-haves’ of today’s consumer generation.

ends

Storyteller Zoliswa Kawe

A tender but searing indictment of the New SA

Owen Sejake and Sean Taylor in Althol Fugard's The Train Driver

Play: The Train Driver
Writer: Athol Fugard
Director: Athol Fugard, co-directed by Ross Devenish.
Cast: Owen L Sejake and Sean Taylor
Design: Saul Radomsky
Where: The Fugard Theatre, Caledon Street, District Six.
When: Until April 11.
By Marianne Thamm
As a writer, Athol Fugard has never shrunk from the reflection in the mirror. For over half a century he has mined the spiritual, emotional and political landscape of this country, probing and exposing the undercurrents that have shaped our existence.
The Train Driver, Fugard’s latest work which enjoyed it’s world premier last week, continues this tradition and is a deceptively simple but devastating critique of post-apartheid South Africa.
It is also classic Fugard; two isolated characters in a desolate setting grappling with ghosts of the past, present and the future.
This play was inspired by the true story of a young woman, Pumla Lolwana and her three children, Lindani, Andile and Sesanda, who died on the railway line between Philippi and Nyanga in Cape Town in December 2000.
Fugard has moved the action to his beloved Eastern Cape and the catalyst here is an anonymous young black woman who, with her baby strapped to her back, steps in front of a passenger train driven by the white Afrikaner, Roelf Visagie.
Visagie is haunted by the desperate act, which has forced him, for the first time, to confront and “see” the lives of fellow black South Africans.
The play takes place in 2001, a year after the tragedy as Roelf sets off in search of answers and perhaps absolution. He ends up in a dusty graveyard outside Motherwell where Simon Hanabe, “an old African man” as Fugard describes him, is tasked with burying the nameless dead.
Interestingly, in the Bible it is Simon of Cyrene who is forced to carry the cross of Jesus as he was taken to be crucified at Golgotha (place of the skulls) and Fugard’s references here are not as casual as they would appear.
Fugard’s Simon, who lives in a rusty lean-to, is unsentimental about the people he buries. For him they are a job, an income and the fact that he places bits of junk on the mounds of dry earth is not so that their memory can be honoured, but so that he does not dig where he had already placed a body.
These two men are a metaphor for the past. They are bound in a fashion by the different psychic scars apartheid has dealt them.
But Visage, the scales now fallen from his eyes, seeks to restore not only the humanity of the nameless fellow black South Africans who have died, but also his own. And it is Simon who is forced to bear, for a while, Roelf’s “cross”.
Interestingly, Fugard has opted to leave Simon strangely unformed. We know only where he grew up, that he once had two dogs and that his Xhosa name is Andile.
The woman, Red Doek, and her baby who “drags” Roelf “into her kak”, represents the poverty-stricken black masses of post-apartheid South Africa, an underclass that exists largely unseen, at the margins of society.
It is this inequality and wretchedness that Fugard is forcing us to confront and acknowledge in this play.
In a stirring monologue in scene five, Roelf finally confronts the dead woman’s ghost and explains; “most of us white people got no idea about what it’s like, because our world is so different! We always think we know – like Lorriane my wife – she thinks she knows everything about you people…and I did as well…but the truth is we don’t”.
He tells her that he does not know how it must feel to live without hope.
“Because you did, didn’t you? That is why you did what you did, because you didn’t believe anymore that good things were going to happen to you and your baby.”
The Amagintsa or young, armed thugs with knives who stalk Simon and finally Roelf, are Fugard’s faceless harbingers of the future. They care for neither Simon nor Roelf, they have no respect for the past or the present and in the end it is they who symbolically have the last word.
With The Train Driver, Fugard offers a potentially horrifying vision of the future, a view that he has already explored in his 2008 play, Victory.
But, as always, there is much unexpected gentle humour and the detail and depth of Fugard’s language is what beguiles. Both Sejake and Taylor offer utterly convincing and moving portrayals as Simon and Roelf, men, bound by historic and social currents beyond their control.
Saul Radomsky’s beautifully realised set not only brings the physical location of the play vividly to life but also reflects the barren internal landscape of the characters.
The Train Driver is as important a work as Fugard’s earlier plays and collaborations, which dared to confront, provoke and offend.
It is essential theatre viewing.

ends

Transforming Theatre in the Western Cape

There was not a single black recipient of a Fleur du Cap Theatre Award this year. Writer, activist and theatre strategist, Mike van Graan, attempts to unravel various historical and structural threads that have contributed to this unacceptable “lack of black”.

In response to numerous calls for debate, Fleur du Cap Awards sponsors, Distell, are in the process of organising an “imbizo” for Western Cape theatre practitioners. We will keep the community informed of developments and possible dates.

Below is Mike’s reflection on the awards.

Introduction

The thirty-first Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards ceremony was held on Sunday 21 March 2010, the same day that marked 50 years since the Sharpeville massacre when 69 people were shot dead by police for protesting against the denial of their political rights and human freedoms.

Fifteen years after the birth of the non-racial democracy for which those 69 people died, not a single category at the prestigious Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards was won by a ‘person of colour’ i.e. all the categories were won by ‘white’ people.

This unleashed a storm of anger and bitterness in some theatre circles, not dissimilar to the controversy about alleged racism provoked at the Naledi Theatre Awards two years ago when Lebo M, then a co-producer of The Lion King, accused the judges of overlooking the black actors in that musical.

That controversy placed the Naledi awards in jeopardy, scared off sponsors and – however the controversy was resolved – had the potential to devalue or compromise the awards, as in future, if many black performers won awards, it would be regarded as politically correct, bowing to pressure not to be seen to be racist and on the other hand, if black people were under-represented on the winners’ podium, the awards would be seen to perpetuate apartheid’s inequities and as an affirmation of those who benefited from apartheid.

The Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards face similar pressures.

Awards – and award ceremonies – are fraught with emotion as they are one of the few forms of recognition for those involved in an industry that delivers little in the way of sustainable work and income.  In the heat of the moment, strong emotions were expressed, lashing out at the predominantly white panel of judges, the apparent collective influence of white Afrikaans-speaking judges on the panel, the alleged bias towards the Afrikaans and/or conservative image of the sponsors, the lack of theatre credentials of judges on the panel, etc.

These kinds of controversies can either damage the credibility of the awards – which would be a great pity – and alienate the sponsors, or it could allow for a period of reflection that could lead to actions and strategies that would improve the theatre sector – including the awards, but of which the awards are but a symptom – as a whole.

This article is to contribute to that reflection and I write this as a ‘person of colour’ and as an interested party whose work has been both recognised (with nominations and awards) and overlooked, as well as an independent theatre maker whose work has benefited from Distell’s generous sponsorship.

Trends

How many awards should ‘persons of colour’ win out of the 18 categories for the awards to have greater credibility? Does it matter that the ‘persons of colour’ are (for want of better descriptions), ‘coloureds’ or ‘black Africans’, or is it a case of as long as more ‘persons of colour’ are recognised?  Is it legitimate to expect that 15 years after 1994, the number of ‘persons of colour’ winning awards should steadily increase rather than decrease?  Does the fact that the awards are located in the Western Cape – run by the DA as opposed to the ANC – contribute (consciously or unconsciously) to the judges feeling less pressure to do the politically correct thing and make awards to ‘persons of colour’?  (Was it just a poor coincidence – for our still race-obsessed society and the semiotics of race – that the DA’s Helen Zille and Dan Plato were both part of the ceremony handing out awards that went only to ‘white’ people?)

To answer some of these questions, it is necessary to look at the following trends over the last while, and then try to interpret them:

1. In the 12 years from 1978-1989 (from when Distell took over the sponsorship of these awards to the unbanning of the ANC, PAC and other political formations), four ‘persons of colour’ won awards out of a total of 86 awards made in that time (5%).  Two of the four awards were made in the Most Promising Student category with one of these Most Promising Students winning another award in the Best Supporting Actor Category a few years later i.e. three persons winning a total of four awards between them.

While this may be attributed to apartheid’s impact on theatre at the time, it does not explain the lack of recognition given to ‘persons of colour’ performing in plays that challenged the apartheid system, plays that were generally performed on the stages of the Baxter Theatre.  The plays – and those associated with them – that garnered awards during that period were overwhelmingly European plays rather than South African works, hinting perhaps at the political conservatism of the judging panels of that time.

The question is whether that politically conservative culture has continued post-1989.

2. In the five years 1990-1994 (from the freeing of Nelson Mandela to the first elections), persons of colour won 3 out of a total of 43 awards (7%),with no person of colour winning awards in 1990, 1991 and 1992.

In the next five year period 1995-1999, 6,5 awards – out of a total of 53 (12%) – were made to persons of colour (0,5 means the award was shared between a ‘person of colour’ and a ‘white’ co-writer for example).  In that period, only in 1997 did no ‘person of colour’ win an award.

The five years from 2000-2004 were the golden period for ‘persons of colour’ who picked up 11,5 awards out of a total of 59 (19%), and in no year during that period did a ‘person of colour’ not win an award.

While each five-year period till the end of 2004 showed an increase in the number of awards won by ‘persons of colour’, just about doubling from the first five-year period to the next and then again to the next, the last five years – 2005-2009 – have witnessed a marked step backwards with only 8 awards out of 82 (10%) going to ‘persons of colour’.  The situation is even worse when one considers that the total number of awards in the last five-year period increased from 59 in the previous five-year period to 82, so that not only did fewer ‘persons of colour’ win awards in the last five years than in the previous five years, but their percentage of the total awards available dropped by almost 50%.

In summary, in the twenty years since 1990, ‘persons of colour’ have won 29 Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards out of a possible total of 237 i.e. 12%.

2009 (with the awards being made in 2010) was the third time since 1994 that no ‘person of colour’ won an award, the two other years being 2005 and 1997.

3. Of the twenty-nine awards won by persons of colour, 7 were won by ‘black Africans’ (24%), 20 by ‘coloureds’ (69%) and 2 (7%) by ‘Indians’.  ‘Whites’ would have won 88% of the total awards available in the last twenty years.

The demographic composition of the Western Cape is ‘black Africans’: 27%; ‘Coloureds’: 54%; ‘Indians’: 1% and ‘Whites’: 18%.

Ideally, what should the Awards reflect?  The demographics of the Western Cape region?  The demographics of the country?  The demographics of those working in theatre in the Western Cape?  The demographics of those working in theatre nationally?

4. ‘Black Africans’ have been most successful in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, picking up five of “their” seven awards in these categories in the last fifteen years.

Categories in which ‘persons of colour’ have been most successful in the last 20 years are Best Supporting Actor: 5; Best New Script: 4,5; Best Supporting Actress: 4; Best Actor: 3 and Best Actress: 3.

No ‘person of colour’ has ever won the Best Director category.  Similarly, no ‘person of colour’ has won any of the technical – costume, props, lighting, set, etc – categories (these technical aspects have accounted for the increase in Award categories over the last five years, hence the decline in the percentage of the share of overall awards by ‘persons of colour’) and only one – Adam Small – has been presented with a lifetime achievement award.

5. A final point to be noted about trends is that 4 ‘persons of colour’ are repeat winners so that the 29 awards of the last 20 years are spread over 25 people.

Further analysis needs to be undertaken into the number of plays staged during the years that were eligible for nominations, the total number of nominations (this year 7 ‘persons of colour’ were nominated out of 56 – 12%) to determine further trends e.g. what plays are being produced, how is the casting allocated, how many roles and related opportunities are available for ‘persons of colour’, the compositions of earlier judging panels, etc, but the broad conclusion that may be drawn from these trends is that theatre in the Western Cape is out of step with – and is, in fact, way behind – the broader trends of social transformation within South African society.

The question is, who is responsible for this?

Is it the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards judges? Is it theatre managements for what they choose to stage in their theatres?  Is it directors for how they cast plays?

Is it writers for what they write about and the characters they include in their plays?  Is it the educational institutions for how they train students?  Is it government and other parastatal agencies e.g. provincial and national arts councils because of their funding policies?

Is it private sector sponsors for wanting to be associated with a certain kind of theatrical expression?  Is it the politics of the region?  Is it the theatre community itself that is not doing enough to change things but is happy to complain when things don’t materialise as they believe they should?

Is it arts journalists who vary in their knowledge and understanding of theatre, and play an influential role in educating the public and choosing ‘winners’?  Is it the public who demand certain forms of theatre?

A comprehensive analysis will probably reveal that all these elements – and others – have some bearing, some more – and more directly – than others on the theatre sector in the Western Cape and ultimately on the winners of Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards, as the awards – as with most awards – generally reflect, rather than cause, what is “out there”.

Theatre and transformation

As in most sectors of our society, so in the arts generally and in theatre in particular, the emphasis has been on demographic transformation rather than structural transformation.

While we have seen plays from Gauteng and some of them have won Fleur du Cap awards e.g. Nothing but the Truth, how many productions from the Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, North West, Eastern Cape, Mpumulanga and even KwaZulu Natal do we see on our stages, let alone featured in the Fleur du Cap – or Gauteng’s Naledi Theatre Awards – nominees list?

The structural problem is about the maldistribution of resources, infrastructure and expertise inherited from apartheid, and perpetuated now.

Notwithstanding the White Paper’s declaration that ‘everyone shall have the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community and to enjoy the arts’, since 1994, the Department of Arts and Culture now funds three theatres from the national purse in Gauteng, and none in the country’s 5 poorest provinces.

Nearly 40% of the R168 million to be spent on theatres this year, will go to Gauteng’s three nationally-subsidised theatres, the State Theatre (R34m), Market Theatre (R22m) and Windybrow Theatre (R8m).  Since its inception, the National Arts Council has allocated in excess of 40% of its grants to Gauteng projects, with the collective total for the country’s 6 poorer provinces, being less than 15%.

We have shifted from a human rights approach that required serious public intervention to correct the distortions of our apartheid past, in favour of a creative industries, market-driven approach where, at our theatres and festivals, more than 70% of the market collectively is still ‘white’, with their preferences determining the fare provided.

Our theatre community has never been this racially divided. More than 40 new Afrikaans theatre productions are created annually, but they are hardly seen in the subsidised or commercial theatres of the country and tend to be staged largely at Afrikaans festivals.

A few of these productions do make it to theatres, but proportionally few in relation to the rest of the plays that are generally staged in the country’s theatres, mainly in English.

Yet, in the last five years, three Afrikaans plays have won the Fleur du Cap ‘Best New Script’ category, including Altyd Jonker, Die Generaal and Die Naaimasjien which has raised the question of the influence of the Afrikaans-speaking judges on the Fleur du Cap panel, or the image preferences of Distell as the sponsor (which has no influence on the judging, but to which the judges may genuflect).

But simply having ‘persons of colour’ on the judging panel does not mean that works by ‘persons of colour’ will necessarily be favoured (in the same way that simply by being an Afrikaans-speaker, doesn’t mean that one cannot appreciate the quality of work in another language).

From the reviews of Magnet Theatre’s production of Ingcwaba Lendoda Lise Canke Ndlela directed by Mandla Mbothwe, ‘white’ reviewers (some of them Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards judges) have raved about the piece, its poetic Xhosa language, the theatricality and the performances.  On the other hand, at least one critic ‘of colour’ – a Fleur du Cap judge too – gave the piece a resounding thumbs down in his review.

It is possible that this piece receives a number of nominations – and awards – in next year’s Fleur du Cap Awards as a result of the mainly ‘white’ members of the judging panel rather than the judges ‘of colour’.

Judging theatre and selecting award-winners is more complex than simply concluding that this or that group of judges did or didn’t like particular works because of their cultural biases.  But it would make a huge difference to the future credibility and texture of the Fleur du Cap Awards to have a number of strong, informed, committed and confident ‘black African’ voices on the panel.

Problematising ‘transformation’

Transformation has become a dirty word.  Generally, the last 15 years have provided us with a practice of transformation that seeks to

1. change the demographics of the governance, management and staffing of public, corporate and NGO entities better to reflect its relevant country/province/ city demographics (language, sexual orientation, disability, but mainly in terms of ”race”/ colour and gender) and
2. economically empower those who were prejudiced on the basis of colour and gender by the apartheid economy and social and educational system

Key strategies used to achieve these ends have been

1. the appointment of formerly disadvantaged individuals to key governance and management posts
2. fast-tracking such appointments where necessary by providing preferential access to skills training, opportunities to acquire experience, mentorships, etc
3. ‘black’ economic empowerment schemes through corporate equity schemes, preferential contracting opportunities, directorships for formerly disadvantaged individuals, etc.

Some of the positive outcomes of these strategies are

1. the growth of the ‘black’ middle class and with it the growth of markets for various goods and services (including creative goods and services like theatre)
2. greater ownership and investment in institutions, companies and entities by ‘black’ people so that there is greater collective responsibility for these
3. the normalization of race relations

Some of the negative consequences include

1. compromising the sustainability and/or effectiveness of corporates, institutions and entities through demographically-correct appointments but without the requisite skills, experience or support being in place
2. disempowerment of historically disadvantaged individuals by giving them positions and status without real power and responsibility
3. resentment and increased racism where individuals believe others have been appointed above them on the basis of race and/or when individuals believe they are being undermined or disrespected because they are viewed as ‘affirmative action’ appointees, leading to organisational dysfunction, inertia and ineffectiveness
4. loss of support for an institution/company/entity by its primary (‘white’) constituency when it deems its interests to be compromised by affirmative action, ‘black’ economic empowerment, etc

The best practices of transformation have

1. appointed historically disadvantaged individuals who have the requisite expertise and experience to strategic positions and/or have ensured that such individuals have the best available support structures in place so that they are set up to succeed rather than for failure
2. actively put in place programmes (educational, social, psychological) for all relevant stakeholders to be aware of, to commit to and ultimately to embrace the benefits of the transformation process
3. resulted in the normalization of race relations and eliminated or reduced the racist practices, behaviour and attitudes

In transforming the theatre industry in the Western Cape, we need to apply ‘best practice’ models.

These would include

1. providing opportunities – with the necessary financial, infrastructural and other support – for individuals from historically disadvantaged communities to acquire skills, experience and practice as directors, writers, lighting designers, set designers, etc through mentorships, residencies, and other means

2. creating regular opportunities for those active within the sector to meet and dialogue about the challenges and ways for these to be addressed, and to disseminate their findings/conclusions more broadly within the sector

3. providing financial and other incentives for theatre managements, directors, writers, etc to provide opportunities for developing requisite expertise among those from historically disadvantaged communities

4. identifying potential judges for the Fleur du Cap panel and providing them with the necessary theoretical, material and other support required to do the work properly

5. meeting with a range of players – the theatre community, provincial government structures, private sector sponsors, etc – to agree on a pragmatic and comprehensive plan to help transform the theatre sector in an effective, sustainable manner with detailed outcomes and time frameworks

Conclusion

The 2010 Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards have served as a reminder to the Western Cape’s theatre community of the challenges facing the sector – not simply the awards, but the broader theatre sector which is generally reflected in the nominations and awards.  It is up to the theatre community – and in particular – those who would like to see changes to the status quo, to do something about it.

Mike van Graan