The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary South African Theatre
Edited by Martin Middeke, Peter Paul Schnierer, & Greg Homann
This volume considers the variety of theatre forms and the work of playwrights and theatre makers producing work in democratic South Africa. It offers an overview of theatre pioneers and theatre forms in Part One, before concentrating on the work of individual playwrights in Part Two. Through its wide-ranging survey of indigenous drama written predominantly in the English language and the analysis of more than 100 plays, a detailed account is provided of post-apartheid South African theatre along with its engagement with the country’s recent history.
Methuen Drama
“The Methuen Drama Guide brings compelling theatre and performance from the past twenty years under scholarly study, and the editors gather an impressive array of primarily South African scholars and theatre practitioners to reflect on themes and aesthetics emerging in more than a hundred plays … The Methuen Drama Guide offers a rare, well-curated glimpse into some of the most exciting contemporary work in South African theatre of the past twenty years. A long overdue contribution to postapartheid theatre scholarship, it is accessible to those with little knowledge of the topic and rewarding to those more knowledgeable.” – Theatre Survey
“I would strongly recommend this anthology for any course on South African Theatre as it brings together analysis that point to a rich diversity of emergent playwrights, issues and methodologies in the context of contemporary theatre and performance in South Africa.” – Yvette Hutchison (University of Warwick)
“The Methuen Drama guide to Contemporary South African Theatre is much more substantive than a guide: it is a salutary lesson in the power that theatre has in giving voice to the individual.” – Amy Bonsall (Platform, Vol. 10, No. 2, Theatre and Crisis)
INTRODUCTION (Greg Homman, Martin Middeke and Peter Paul Schnierer)
PART I OVERVIEW ESSAYS
1. The Pioneers (Sarah Roberts, University of the Witwatersrand, S.A.)
2. Contemporary Collaborators I: Kentridge, Handspring, Taylor (Jane Taylor, University of Leeds, U.K.)
3. Contemporary Collaborators II: Magnet Theatre (Yvette Hutchison, University of Warwick, UK)
4. Physical-Theatre (Robyn Sassen, Johannesburg, S.A.)
5. Popular Community Theatre (Emma Durden, Durban, S.A.)
6. The Theatre-Makers in One-person Format (Veronica Baxter, University of Cape Town, S.A.)
PART II PLAYWRIGHTS
7. Athol Fugard (Dennis Walder, Open University, UK)
8. Reza de Wet (Anton Krueger, Rhodes University, S.A.)
9. Paul Slabolepszy (Adrienne Sichel, Johannesburg, S.A.)
10. Zakes Mda (Kene Igweonu, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK)
11. Lara Foot (Loren Kruger, University of Chicago, USA)
12. Mike van Graan (Brent Meersman, Cape Town, S.A.)
13. Craig Higginson (Michael Titlestad, University of the Witwatersrand, S.A.)
14. Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom (Muff Andersson, University of South Africa, S.A.)
15. Brett Bailey (Kevin Wetmore, Loyola Marymount University, USA)
16. Pieter-Dirk Uys (Mervyn McMurtry, University of KwaZulu-Natal, S.A.)
17. Fatima Dike (Miki Flockeman, University of the Western Cape, S.A.)
18. Yael Farber (Marcia Blumberg, York University, Canada)
19. Emerging Playwrights and Significant Plays (Greg Homann, Independent Academic)
20. Aubrey Sekhabi: an interview, with Greg Homann (Independent Academic)