Browsing by Author "Haynes, David"

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    A critical biography of Rosalie van der Gucht : investigating her contribution to education in South Africa with special reference to speech and drama
    (1989) Morris, Gay; Haynes, David
    This study attempts to explore the ways in which Rosalie Van der Gucht influenced and contributed to Speech and Drama education during the second half of this century in the Cape. The writer takes the view that although Van der Gucht was not particularly original in her work - dramatically, socially or politically - she had an impact which is still felt in the Cape Province and beyond, because of her outstanding qualities as a leader, teacher and play director; effected through her special skills as a communicator. The chosen form is a critical biography, which makes it possible to investigate the impact of Van der Gucht's initiatives within the contemporary context. Given that there are only a handful of books which deal with the theatre of this period in the Cape, and they contain few specific references to Van der Gucht; the chief sources for this topic were unpublished written material, and interviews with Van der Gucht's past students, colleagues, friends and relations. Of special importance were Van der Gucht's unsorted collection of papers (bequeathed to the Human Sciences Research Council), the Little Theatre Press Cutting books and the University of Cape Town Archives. In Chapter One the formative influence of her parents, her education, and her first working years in England prior to the Second World War are traced. The following six chapters cover, decade by decade, the period from 1942 to 1971 when Van der Gucht was at the University of Cape Town, training aspirant Speech and Drama teachers, actors, and students taking general Arts degrees. Her influence upon the teacher and actor training courses, including a scrutiny of curriculum developments, is examined; as is her membership of the South African Guild of Speech Teachers and her foundation and leadership of Theatre for Youth which aimed to reach young people beyond the University. Chapter 8 covers the years after her retirement from the University, when she launched upon a second career as a play director, and attempts to pinpoint the chief characteristics of her directing. Chapter 9 deals with the events leading to her death in 1985 - which shed new light on Van der Gucht as a person. The conclusions drawn from this study pertain to Van der Gucht's quality as a person and teacher. The writer takes the paradoxical view that this woman of British origin and education; was, first and foremost, an educator of the traditional kind found in Africa: an oral educator, who used oral material, verbal communication and social situations to inspire and direct those with whom she worked to greater efforts for the benefit of their society, themselves and the discipline of drama. The study is intended to be a useful historical resource for students of drama and the theatre in South Africa.
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    Workshop Theatre in South Africa in the 1980s : a critical examination with specific reference to power, orality and the carnivalesque
    (1991) Fleishman, Mark; Haynes, David
    This study attempts to critically examine the form of theatre practice which in South Africa has become known as workshop theatre focussing on the period of the 1980s. It examines the history of the form; the process by which it is made; and the kinds of plays it produces. The examination is centered around three philosophical concepts: discourse and power as understood within poststructuralist critical theory; orality and the oral tradition; and the carnivalesque as it is conceived of in the writing of Mikhail Bakhtin. Chapter One is a general introduction to the dissertation. In Part I of the study, it is argued that workshop theatre forms part of a power struggle within the field of theatre practice in South Africa because it is essentially an oral form. Chapter Two describes the rise of authorship within the European theatre practice in the seventeenth century resulting in the marginalisation of the improvisatory 'carnival' tradition, and suggests that it was this literary tradition of theatre practice that was imported to South Africa as part of the British colonial project. Chapter Three examines the indigenous oral performance forms that pre-existed the arrival of the literary theatre in southern Africa with particular reference to the Nguni oral narrative. Similarities are indicated between these oral forms of performance and the carnivalesque forms of the European tradition. Chapter Four traces the gradual involvement of members of the non-hegemonic group in theatre practice in South Africa from a predominantly literary practice limited to a select few participants to oppositional practice involving larger numbers across a wide range of social contexts. It is argued that workshop theatre facilitated this movement because it is an essentially oral form and incorporates popular carnival elements first introduced in the theatre of Gibson Kente. Part II of the study it is argued that workshop theatre is itself a site of numerous power struggles. Chapter Five examines the workshop process with specific reference to the role of improvisation. It is argued that improvisation potentially frees the performer to participate in the meaning-making process but that the extent of this participation is limited by struggles for power within the workshop group. Chapter Six examines the product of the workshop. It is argued that there is a dominant form of workshop play produced in the 1980s and that this form displays many oral and carnivalesque elements. It is further argued that there are movements away from this dominant form towards more literary forms and styles as a result of changes in the make-up of the workshop group and its relationships of power. In Chapter Seven the conclusion is drawn that workshop theatre reflects the current struggles within the South African social and political body, and that it continues to be a relevant form of theatre practice in South Africa because it diffuses strong centres of authorial power and presents possibilities for radical participatory democracy.