What I was Told: verbatim-physical theatre as feminist protest theatre in South Africa

Abstract

Verbatim-physical theatre presents the possibility for women’s stories, not only to be told, but to be heard, interacted and engaged with. This article explores the combination of physical- and verbatim theatre for feminist protest theatre in South Africa. It argues that verbatim-physical theatre as feminist protest theatre presents a mode of storytelling that is challenging and oppositional through embodied and dynamic performances. It further makes the case that South African theatre is built on a long tradition of story-telling, is imbued with inherent physicality and has always been a strong means for political consciousness-raising and education. It is this nature of South African theatre that makes the combination of verbatim- and physical theatre so effective for feminist protest theatre. The article also analyses the creation and staging of What I was Told, a verbatim-physical theatre production telling the stories of women, the stories told to us and the stories that still need to be told.

Keywords:

• Verbatim-theatre
• physical-theatre
• protest theatre
• feminist theatre

Acknowledgements

I also want to acknowledge Dr André K. Gerber for help and guidance with this project.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Graduate School and Post Graduate Scholarship Programme at Stellenbosch University as well as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.