‘A rain a fall but the dirt it tough’: scholarship on African theatre in South Africa

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the politics of representation that have bedevilled the criticism of African theatre. Representation must be understood as meaning more than the ‘reflection’ of the historical experiences of black people in dramatic narratives. It entails the institutional politics that inform all aspects of the creation and reception of performance, including criticism. What is striking about much of the scholarship is the implicit or explicit salience of race as a political factor. The intractable problematic is how we are to understand the articulation between race and class and its bearing on identity formation. How are these factors and concerns encapsulated and expressed in the aesthetics of African theatre? And how have scholars institutionalised their arguments, patented theatre practitioners, by making selective recourse to history, notions of authenticity and a morally charged search for relevance?