Towards a new public space: performance culture in 1980s South Africa

Abstract

Going as far as to discuss political violence and funerals alongside poetry and theatre, this article adopts an inclusive approach to culture and explores the changing nature of performance in 1980s South Africa. Focusing initially on trade unions and worker culture, before widening the discussion, it is shown that those marginalized by apartheid society were able to work at the boundaries of established genres to perform messages of mobilization that simultaneously created temporarily liberated areas inscribed with new forms of authority and agency. The article considers poetry by Alfred Qabula and Mzwakhe Mbuli; new developments in theatre; and political events and argues that each, by blurring the distinction between the performer and the audience, similarly acted as popular tools of communication. They replaced the literary imaginary of previous decades and created new public spaces.

Keywords:

• performance
• theatre
• poetry
• public space
• workers
• violence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For the relationship between democracy and public space, see Mitchell (2003) and Gordimer in Barnard (2007, 44).

2. Though the O'Malley Files (2014) discuss FOSATU's decline and COSATU's subsequent rise at length, the number of members for each remains hard to determine.

3. Examples include Workshop ’71, Fugard's Serpent Players, and Kente's musical theatre.

4. Saths Cooper was the first name on the charge sheet. The others were Strini Moodley, Aubrey Mokoape, Mosiuoa Lekota, Nkenkwe Nkomo, Zithulele Cindi, Muntu Myeza, Pandelani Nefolovhodwe, and Kaborane Sedibe.