Browsing by Department "Department of Drama"
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- ItemOpen AccessAn African Dream Play = Isivuno Sama Phupha : reconstructing the spirit of ubuntu in the contemporary urban 'village' through theatre(2008) Mbothwe, Mandla; Fleishman, MarkMy project proceeds from the question: What might an African Dream Play be for the 21 st Century? Or how might dreams be used to generate content and presentational form as well as to influence the way in which the audience experience or participate in the performance event? My interest in the African Dream Play lies in a belief that it might provide a means of reconstructing the spirit of ubuntu through theatre. It seeks - both in process and presentation - to include in this reconstruction, that which is popularly known as moral regeneration - which I see rather as spiritual regeneration. My contention is that we, and particularly young people, are living in a social and spiritual crisis and the African Dream Play attempts a trans formative intervention within the dynamic fabric of the contemporary urban 'village'-a space of many cultures, languages, ideologies and levels of economic status. This explication sets my practical research and the production Isivuno Sama Phupha in particular, in a theoretical framework and performance historical context. It draws on the theories of Victor Turner, specifically his concepts 'liminality' and 'communitas' and his idea of the social drama. It then traces the evolution of my theatrical research: first through an interest in cultural and religious practices prevalent in the townships around Cape Town and how they might be used to generate material for the theatre and an aesthetics of presentation that could stimulate the communitas experience for both the performers and the audience; then, on to dreams and how they might provide the stimulus for my envisaged theatre by utilizing an experience of their essential liminality.
- ItemOpen AccessAnarchival dance: choreographic archives and the disruption of knowledge(2020) Parker, Alan; Fleishman, Mark; Pather, JayendranThis thesis details a practice-led investigation of the archive, explored through choreography and the creation of three anarchival performances. The research theorises the anarchival as a creative research methodology for archival questioning and epistemological disruption, enacted through the body. Through a critically reflexive thinking-through of choreographic practice, alongside an interpretivist analysis of performance works by six contemporary South African artists, the thesis surfaces specific ways in which an anarchival disruption of the archive facilitates a re-thinking of colonially inherited knowledge systems, implicit in the archive. The research thus frames anarchival disruption within the broader decolonial project in South Africa as a necessary and valuable strategy for developing a decolonial archival praxis. Chapter One positions the archive in relation to poststructuralist and postcolonial critiques and establishes the archive as a system of knowledge production deeply implicated in the proliferation of colonial epistemologies and the subjugation of bodies and embodied ways of knowing. Chapter Two conceptualises the anarchive, through process philosophy and Deleuzian ontologies, as an alternative archive comprised of the virtual traces of the past that the traditional archive excludes. These traces constitute points of contact for creative research and, when engaged with through the body, become sites for recreation and reimagining. Chapters Three, Four and Five each explicate specific approaches to this encounter in creative practice, departing from three forms of archival remains: objects, bodies, and ghosts, respectively. The disruptive effects of these practices are then developed further through the analysis of specific performance works where related anarchival disruption is evident. Chapter Three considers affect as a disruptor of hierarchical divisions between subject and object in Steven Cohen's Put your heart under your feet… and walk!/To Elu (2017) and Dineo Seshee Bopape's Sa koša ke lerole (2017). Chapter Four analyses the blurring of past and present temporalities in Nelisiwe Xaba's The Venus (2009). In Chapter Five, Gavin Krastin's Rough Musick (2013), Sello Pesa's Limelight on Rites (2014) and Igshaan Adams' Bismillah (2014) are each examined as haunted temporalities where the living and the dead co-exist and affect one another.
- ItemOpen AccessBreaking heterosoc, making a queerworld: using a queer directorial aesthetic to re-envision Hedda Gabler(2011) Rademeyer, Philip; Hyland, GeoffreyThis essay explicates the queering of a seminal realist text, Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, by means of a queer directorial aesthetic. Using queer theory, the heterosexual matrix (built on a rigid gender binary) and the nuclear family are posited as the crux of heteronormativity, which is the assumption and expectation that subjects are heterosexual.
- ItemOpen AccessBreaking my silence as a 'trained' dancer in post-apartheid South Africa(2020) Jones, Danielle-Marie; Baxter, Veronica; Job, JackiThis research is a personal reflection and a self-study of two performances that have taken place over the course of two years. My Medium Project titled, When Memories Break, set out to navigate ways of decolonising oppressive dominance and investigating the ramifications of indoctrination in dance. In 2017, during my Honours Degree in Dance Studies at the University of Cape Town, I created a poster-painting with a fellow #FeesMustFall artist-activist. This poster-painting, entitled, Amputation, was introduced at UCT School of Dance' Confluences 9: Deciphering decolonisation in Dance Pedagogy in the 21st Century in Cape Town, South Africa. Since then, Amputation has become a personal credo that I have carried with me in my Practice as Research field of study. In 2018, as part of my Minor Project, I not only highlighted my memories and experiences in Classical Ballet, but also included my memories of other informal1 dance influences. The purpose of this essay is therefore not to depict ballet as a current colonialist art form but rather to draw attention to what it represented during the years of colonialism, apartheid, and the aftermath of that. It is against this background that I explore the issues related to the relationship I have with my dance training to date. As a performer-researcher, I will use my living experience as a case study. This article provides a perspective from a performer-researcher's position using selfreflexivity as a research methodology. My conclusion supports the notion that self-reflection in the quest for decolonisation in dance by performer-researchers is important for the evolution of a more democratic society.
- ItemOpen AccessBreath-Body-Self : an exploration of the body as a site for generating images for performance making(2016) Matchett, Sara; Fleishman, MarkThis thesis investigates the body as a site for generating images for purposes of performance making. It is a methodological study that draws from various traditions, methods and somatic practices, such as yoga, Fitzmaurice Voicework®, the Sanskrit system of rasa, body mapping and free writing. The study specifically focuses on interrogating the relationship between breath and emotion, and breath and image, in an attempt to make performance that is inspired by a biography of the body. It explores the relationship between body, breath and feeling and how this impacts on the imagination in processes of generating images for performance making. It further investigates whether breath can be experienced as an embodied element that is sensed somatically by performers, and in so doing act as a catalyst for activating memories, stories, and experiences held in the body of the performer. The potential of breath as impulse as well as thread that connects imagination, memory, body, and expression, is investigated. Using the conceptual framework of somaesthetics, the study draws from theories of the body, neuroscience and cognitive philosophy to support its claims. Through the disciplinary framework of somaesthetics, as an embodied philosophical practice, it is suggested that the performer cultivates a heightened awareness that makes possible what is being proposed as a process of performance making. It draws on my experience as a lecturer of theatre in the Department of Drama at the University of Cape Town as well as on my experience as a maker of performance with The Mothertongue Project, a women's arts collective I co-founded in South Africa in 2000. My work with The Mothertongue Project, emanates from a particular ideological position in the world that is informed by the context in which I locate. South Africa has some of the highest rates of rape and sexualised violence against women in the world. The result is a society where women's bodies, in particular, are constantly under threat of being violated. In summary, this thesis explores the relationship between a particular kind of performance making process for a particular kind of work within a particular kind of context. It seeks to provide women with the tools and space to speak back to the social context they inhabit. The choice to include a creative project as a case study alludes to the synergetic relationship between theory and practice. One that is cyclical; one that speaks directly to the method of image generation for purposes of performance making that is being proposed, where the route between breath, body, emotion and image, maps a circular trajectory.
- ItemOpen AccessBreathing space : cross-community professional theatre as a means of dissolving fixed geographical landscapes(2005) Matchett, Sara; Banning, YvonneIn this paper, I investigate the idea of cross-community professional theatre as a means of dissolving fixed georgraphical landscapes. Key to this is the synergy between mainstream and community theatre, out of which this idea emerges. I explore how theatre facilitates conversations across differences. 'Differences' encompass questions of geographical, class and racial divides as well as the ideological differences between mainstream and community theatre. Cross-community professional theatre involves working with people from different communities around specific issues. Professional actors work alongside non-professional actors from communities to create a piece of theatre. Community members are involved in the process as well as in the performance. Cross-community refers not only to the exchange between professional actors and non-professional actors, but also to the idea of theatre providing a framework for conversations between different communities.
- ItemOpen AccessBringing dance into the realm of theatre : Making sense differently for actors and audiences(2014) Kweyama, Mdunyiswa; Fleishman, MarkThis study investigates what happens when dance is introduced into the realm of theatre. Firstly, it looks at how the audience relates to the combination of dance and text. Secondly, it questions whether dance contributes to the actors’ experience of creating a play. To explore these questions, two productions were created. The first was an adaptation of an existing play text that had already been performed in a realistic style; and the second was based on a novel, a text that was not originally written for performance, but which was adapted. The study argues that the presence of dance allows the audience to understand a play more viscerally, rather than only intellectually. Furthermore, it finds that adding the physicality of dance helps actors access emotions in a different way than working with only a script would allow them. The study draws on the theories and practices of a number of theatre practitioners such as Antonin Artaud, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Eugenio Barba, and dance choreographer Pina Bausch. It also focuses on Mathew Reason and Dee Reynolds’s theorizing of ‘kinesthetic empathy’as well as Josephine Machon’s theory of ‘visceral performance'.
- ItemOpen AccessChains of memory in the postcolony: performing and remembering the Namibian genocide(2018) Maedza, Pedzisai; Baxter, Veronica; Lentz, CarolaThis research project is an interdisciplinary investigation of the memory of the 1904-1908 Namibian genocide through its performance representation(s). It lies at the intersection of performance, memory and genocide studies. The research considers the role of performance in remembering, memorialising, commemorating, contesting, transmitting and sustaining the memory of the genocide across time and place. The project frames performance as a media through which history is narrated by positioning performance as a complex interlocutor of the past in the present. This claim is premised on the assumption that the past is not simply given in memory ‘but it must be articulated to become memory’ (Huyssen, 1995:3). The research considers commemoration events and processes as fruitful performance nodes to uncover the past as well as the politics of the present. It makes the case that while the Namibian genocide has so far been denied official or state acknowledgement, it is chiefly through the medium of performance that the genocide memory is remembered, contested and performed. The project offers a variety of perspectives on the relationship between genocide violence, memory and space by focusing on what is remembered, how it is remembered and by paying attention to when it is remembered. The research contributes to an understanding and reconstruction of memory and performance of the Namibian genocide on two fronts. Firstly, as a cultural phenomenon and secondly, as a form of elegy and memorial in contemporary times. These insights contribute to the emerging body of scholarly work on performance and the cultural memory of the Namibian genocide. The project also charts avenues of inquiry in the production and transmission of memory across time and generations, within and beyond Namibian national borders. It pays close attention to performance’s contribution to the formation of cultural memory by exploring the conditions and factors that make remembering in common possible such as language, images, rituals, commemoration practices, exhibitions, theatre and sites of memories. Through examining the specific role of performance as a medium of cultural memory of the Namibian genocide the study considers ‘memory as performing history’ (Shuttleworth et al., 2000:8). The research interrogates how contemporary artistic performance representations and interpretations from within and outside of Namibia inform the way societal history and the present are presented and remembered. Performance becomes an aperture to investigate the enduring contemporary role of the memory of the Namibian genocide as well as its simultaneous reconfiguration. This enables the project to investigate how memories circulate across time and place - transnationally and across generations. This cross-border and transgenerational reflection is essential to understanding how the Namibian genocide has and is articulated, circulated, structured and remembered through performance in the postcolony.
- ItemOpen AccessChallenging the structures of power : an introduction to Citizen Theatre(2007) Jusa, John; Weare, ChristopherIn this paper I explore and develop the notion of Citizen Theatre. Chaper 1 sets the contextual background that influenced my theory and practice. I examine the theory of structures of power as expounded by Magaisa (2006), and how it is applicable to Zimbabwe, In this chaper I briefly refer to the history of the liberation struggle and the current situation in Zimbabwe as a way of tracing the development of propaganda that informs the structures the power in Zimbabwe.
- ItemOpen AccessChosi Ntsomi! making a Xhosa theatre identity by adapting Nongenile Masithathu Zenani's folktale about a rite of passage for Xhosa girls(2012) Tshazibane, Mfundo; Morris, Gay; Hyland, GeoffreyInspired by the performativity of Xhosa cultural belief systems, my study aims to develop dignified theatrical roles for African women. This essay explores the potential of perceptions of Xhosa cultural women, configured in oral storytelling, as a means towards developing a base for Nguni theatre. This explication speaks to the capacities of African women models in re-shaping an ancient storytelling tradition for the development of South African theatre. The focus is on the recordings of a late matriarch, Nongenile Masithathu Zenani's storytelling sessions in Xhosa and the possibilities these present for a post-apartheid and postcolonial South African theatre stage. This research traces the boundaries set by the Xhosa culture, first on women, and secondly on performance. It unlocks the meaning and the significance of traditional song and dance, space, audience and stage properties, and the actual and potential uses of each of these aspects in making an Nguni classical theatre. The explication develops a vocabulary for theatrical performance derived from a rural South African perspective and explored in an urban setting. It establishes commonalities between the stories - narrated and performed - and the audience, concerning issues pertaining to (Xhosa) womanhood in post-apartheid South Africa.
- ItemOpen AccessCollaborating in No man's land : an enquiry towards creating an environment for 'equal' collaboration between international partners in an applied theatre project(2009) Streek, Katy; Morris, GayThis dissertation is an enquiry towards creating an environment for 'equal' collaboration between international partners in an applied theatre project. As a direct case study, I used my master's fieldwork project, No-man's land, a theatre project involving performers from South Africa and The Netherlands. The problematics of international exchanges in which people, resources and art works are brought together over long distances, generates issues around power, culture and the performing arts which demand attention from project partners. The term 'No Man's Land' isthe metaphor developed throughout this dissertation in order to conceptualise the space of collaboration, as well as the mentality such a collaboration necessitates. The focus here is on international collaboration projects within the field of applied theatre that have the potential to unite artists from different backgrounds to explore issues of mutual interest through theatre processes and performances.
- ItemOpen AccessCollaborative conversations: The Mothertongue Project in profile(2005) Matchett, SaraIn June 1999, over a cup of chai in a monsoon-filled Mumbai kitchen, writer, performer and director Rehane Abrahams asked me whether I would consider directing her in a piece that she was writing. According to Rehane, the piece was a seminal work that would mark a transition into a new way of being for her. On our return to Cape Town the following year, we began working on the production. While filling out funding application forms, we were suddenly confronted with the question of what to call ourselves. The production had to be attached to an organisation. Initially, we wanted to call the production Mothertongue, as Rehane felt that if she had had access to her mother's tongue in the form of stories when she was younger, her life might have panned out differently. In coming up with a name for our organisation, we decided that the name Mothertongue was better suited to an organisation and that What the Water Gave Me would work as a title for the production, because of its elemental nature.
- ItemOpen AccessComplex associations : facilitator, host and refugee, a 'round-about' way of drama for inclusion(2013) Hughes, Shannon; Baxter, Veronica; Morris, GayThis dissertation focuses on the use of drama as a method of fostering inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers living in host communities. It examines two theatrically based studies simultaneously facilitated over a six month period between July and December of 2012 and explores the two programs from the stage of conception to conclusions regarding their effectiveness in tackling issues related to social exclusion, xenophobic sentiment and violence.The study approaches the topic from three social perspectives considering the position of refugee, host and facilitator and parallels these positions in order to highlight relationship structures which both prevent and assist in the fostering of inclusion and/or coexistence. The study further examines how the interactions help to develop the programs and how the use of theatre can bridge societal gaps; with a unique focus on environments where host and refugee find themselves in a non-encounter position due to the potential for violence. The research methodology stems primarily from grounded theory and brings together elements of symbolic interactionism, pedagogy, sociology, psychology and applied theatre. The method looks at increasing and facilitating communication about and between host and refugee through exploration in applied theatre and intends to increase social understanding between the parties by challenging participant’s stereotypes of the other.
- ItemRestrictedConsidering directors and directing in South Africa(Taylor & Francis, 2006) Morris, GayThis article attempts to address why this focus issue was pursued by the South African Theatre Journal and will begin to investigate what studying directing in our local context has to offer us. Considering the contributions to this issue, two key themes have been identified and are developed below. The first is couched within modernist and popular conceptions of the director: that person most able to seize the moment, find the truth of a play and fuse play script - and probably playwright's vision - cast and staging to make a coherent theatrical production which resonates with its audience. The emphasis in this conception is on the director's capacities not only as a key textual interpreter but also as a canny manager: that person who can find the resources, financial and infrastructural support, and also artistic or public following to realise a vision. The second theme locates the director in a post-World War II, globalised and post-modern consciousness in which incontrovertible truths seem much harder to identify, nationalist agendas are often controversial, moralities easily contested and local issues reactive or responsive to global trends. In this context, the director's collaborations within artistic communities, openness to many possible interpretations, and engagement with differences of language, culture, or creed are almost inevitable. In an international, capitalist-driven economy, the director has little assured status, but must rather negotiate spaces and places where theatre will both attract an audience and allow the audience its own space within the theatrical event.
- ItemOpen AccessConsidering rhythms of emotional proximity: an alternative approach to directing theatre in a violent society(2015) Herbst, Rone; Stopford, ClareThis inquiry is concerned with realistic representations of violence on stage within a South African context. Inside this broad frame I focus on why this directorial approach is a problem and I propose a possible solution in a directorial intervention with mise-en-scène, which attempts to regulate the audience's emotional immersion and distance through theatre apparatus. This notion is supported both by Psychological research into the problem of violence in South Africa, and by Theatre and Performance studies, with author Lilie Chouliaraki (2013) arguing for the "in-between" of theatre as a means to approaching violence. Conceptually, I propose working with theatre apparatus in a spatial triad, which is located within Peter Brook's ideas around an "empty space", the post-Brechtian according to David Bennett, which is concerned with both distance and emotional immersion, and the spatial trialectics of Henri Lefebvre and Edward Soja, who argue for the insertion of a "thirdspace" in order to counter the limited workings of binaries. This conceptual frame translates into praxis in the form of theatre apparatus such as interruption and disruption of the narrative, working with metaphor and gesture, "playing" with time, duration and repetition and working towards moments of extreme intensity before a pause is inserted into the action. I propose these apparatus as the findings of a series of Practice as Research projects which formed part of this study, and as the tools for my final Thesis Production. This project will take place in November, 2015 in the form of an adaptation of a novel, where my objective will be to create a rhythm of emotional audience involvement. My aim is to test whether the apparatus I have discovered in this study are able to regulate the emotional proximity of the audience to the violence on stage, hopefully providing an alternative approach to working with violence in an already violent society.
- ItemOpen AccessCreating and inhabiting heightened theatrical landscapes(2006) Muftic, Sanjin; Hyland, GThis essay charts the theoretical background to my approach as a director with regards to creating and inhabiting Heightened Theatrical Landscapes. Primarily it deals with the role of the director as the actor's guide into to an extended space where the actor is the audience's envoy into the unlived human experience. It is a supporting document to my final production of The Possibilities by Howard Barker and it forms a partial fulfillment of an MA degree in Theatre & Performance as undertaken from the position of a director. The essay focuses particularly on the director's role whilst creating with the actors in rehearsals for a production. Firstly, I identify the term “Heightened Theatrical Landscape” and associate it with the works of other theatre practitioners, drawing particularly from the writings and productions of Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski and Howard Barker, and specifically inspired by the latter's Theatre of Catastrophe. I will stipulate the major characteristics of a Heightened Theatrical Landscape with respect to the requirements for the space, actor, audience, and theme. Secondly, I explain how I as the director prepare the foundation for the Heightened Theatrical Landscape, where I will place myself alongside director Peter Brook, and his theories on the director's role. In order for the actor to inhabit the Heightened Theatrical Landscape, I put forward David Rotenberg's acting system as my main director's tool for the process. After a short analysis of the actor's requirements towards inhabiting the Heightened Theatrical Landscape, I will discuss some of the main concepts of the system and give examples of its proposed application to my production of The Possibilities. My analysis will focus on why I believe this system is successful and how it shifts the role of the director into serving as a guide for the actor in placing himself in the Heightened Landscape. As my work is primarily with young actors, I will then articulate a need for methods of working with actors which address vocal and physical training in order to develop a form for the Heightened Theatrical Landscape. I firstly put forward a vocal method, as developed by Cicely Berry, to guide the actor towards the work on the text of this landscape. Consequently, I will introduce my understanding of Anne Bogart's Viewpoints as a complement to Rotenberg's system which addresses the actor's use of the body. I will clarify the principles that are shared between Viewpoints and Rotenberg's acting system before describing the application of Viewpoints within The Possibilities. Lastly, I reiterate my understanding of the combined theories of Rotenberg and Bogart, and how they form the main component of my directing toolbox which will become evident in my production of The Possibilities.
- ItemOpen AccessCreating resonance in emptiness with visual theatre : how the metaphorical potential of puppets, objects and images in theatre can be used to explore the constructed nature of reality and the complexity of the self(2007) Younge, Janni; Fleishman, MarkThe aim of this explication is to set my practical theatre research, and the production Dolos in particular, in a theoretical framework and performance historical context. Since the central theme of Dolos is the construction of reality and the consequent attachment to aspects of the self, my study draws on the ideas proposed by Phenomenology and Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophy.According to these two philosophical systems, the concept of reality is subjective and relative. This leads me to question the functioning of meaning-making in artistic practice. Metaphor is explored as a vehicle for the meaning-making process and for the creation of resonant experience in theatre and performance. The production style of Dolos is one that I have defined as Visual Theatre, a theatre of puppets, objects, visual and theatrical images. Visual Theatre is examined in the context of theatre as an artistic medium; it is then contextualised in terms of its 20th development through the Century; and definitions are offered of the major elements at play within Visual Theatre. A series of interviews conducted with five creator/ directors from four South African companies working in the general terrain of Visual Theatre is used to contextualise current practice in South Africa and to locate my own work. The interviews are used to establish trends of thought around the object/puppet and its relationship in theatre to constructed reality. The views of these practitioners on their own creative process as well as my observations about their practical work are used as examples throughout.
- ItemOpen AccessA 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, DavidThis 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.
- ItemOpen AccessA critical documentation of Mavis Taylor's teaching of improvisation(1994) Calburn, Caroline; Morris, GayThis study documents Mavis Taylor's teaching of Improvisation at the University of Cape Town and provides a critical analysis of the improvisational methods she uses in the training of actors. It places her teaching within the wider field of improvisation understanding the importance of knowledge of 'self for the craft of acting. There is discussion around the role of the imagination and spontaneity in actor-training, and debate is raised regarding the concepts and practice of sensory and emotional memory training. The significance of teaching structure and form as a method for students to manipulate the medium of improvisation is argued, proposing that the creation of alternative meanings and 'realities' is the essence of acting.
- ItemOpen AccessDeveloping comic text/s : representations and presentations of Jewish cultural identity through the integration of stand-up and domestic comedy(2005) Kowen, Jacqueline Therese; Weare, ChristopherThis written explication deals with the integration of the forms of stand-up comedy and domestic comedy in order to create a comic text. The comic text explores issues regarding the presentation and representation of Jewish cultural identity. The integration results in both the experienced and imagined truths of the playwright to become present on stage. These were points of enquiry in the writing, directing and performing of DRIVEN: A COMEDY IN 70 MINUTES, which opened at The Intimate Theatre, Orange Street, Cape Town on the 23 November 2004. The Introduction deals with defining key terms and forms to be used and discussed in the thesis, informing the reader of the writer's purpose in creating comic text by integrating stand-up and domestic comedy. In the first chapter the generating of comic text is explored. The generating of comic text is achieved by using the comic persona. The comic persona is developed using identity, outside voice. Once the comic persona is in place it is possible to: create an authentic stage persona for the stand-up comedian and to create a 'theatrical climate' consisting of plot, characters, themes and narrative storylines. In the second chapter the idea of pastiche (borrowed elements) is explored in terms of its impact structurally and stylistically in the writing, directing and performing of DRIVEN. Structurally this impact is evident via the use of 'pastiching' the structure of situation comedy (sitcom) and stylistically through the use of Yiddish and the influence of other comedians' performance styles on the comic persona. The third chapter delves into the way Jewish cultural identity is represented through stand-up comedy and Jewish cultural identity is presented through domestic comedy. The stand-up comedian, through persona, audience relationship and other devices associated with the form, becomes the representation of Jewish cultural identity. Characters, story and situation, through the use of both comic traits (elements associated with Jewish cultural identity) and stereotypes, become the presentation of Jewish cultural identity.