I'm not going back to the Township; Re-imagining 'trauma' as tragedy.

Hlongwane, Thapelo

I'm not going back to the Township; Re-imagining 'trauma' as tragedy.

Thesis / Dissertation

2023

Abstract

In the place of wound, healing must take place. But how do you heal if you're presently living in a wound? How do you heal if you have lost touch with the other? This research responds to trauma through the tragic form of theatre, it understands tragedy as a means in performance to try to foster healing using the practice of performance as a mode of research. It argues that as a practice, theatre making in the South African context is affected by traumatic experience and to engage with trauma, requires social and historical relations to be considered. The research focuses on how African oral traditions, modern poetics and music might be used as a process of re-imagining the tragic form and utilising it to better understand how theatre making can hold space and safely lead the process of healing without re-traumatizing the participants.

Keywords

Theatre and Performance

Reference:

Collections

Masters

Full item page