Through the shattered looking-glass of the S.A. committed playwright : a semiotic study of two plays of the 80's

Abstract

The idea of freedom is central to the concept of South African committed plays of the 70's and 80's. How this idea is realised depends not only on the socio-economic and political context of the playwright, but also on his ideology which influences his whole outlook on life. What the playwright perceives reality to be, is withdrawn from the world, contemplated and reworked, and returned as a literary/performance text. As a result of this withdrawal from the world, the text is then not a simple mimetic reflection of reality, but a codified reflection on reality. The first chapter focuses on the theoretical framework which I have used to analyse Woza Albert! and A Place with the Pigs, namely semiotics. This approach is fundamental for the analysis of any play as it not only studies the performance text, but the dramatic text through which the playwright's ideology is manifested. As ideology, therefore , plays a significant role in both semiotics and the process of realisation of the dramatic text, the second chapter is solely devoted to ideology and the writer’s task as he perceives it within his broad sociocultural framework. The third chapter• offers a brief overview of plays written from 1704 till the 1980s which have freedom as central theme. The development from agit-prop to plays which explore the human condition beyond the confines of political sloganeering emerges from this study. Two plays which seem to have transcended the boundaries of political propaganda are Woza Albert! and A Place with the Pigs. The concept of freedom is manifested differently in each play in accordance with the playwright's ideology, and they are, therefore, not comparable in the direct sense of the word. Woza Albert! is written from an Afro-centred ideology and freedom is ultimately seen as liberation from the physical oppression represented by the white government in South Africa. The characters look outwardly for salvation which takes the form of the advent of Morena. Once they have achieved freedom physically, they are liberated emotionally. A Place with the Pigs investigates man's freedom from his own illusions of fear. Freedom, therefore, comes from within and circles out to liberate him in every aspect of his existence. This dissertation, therefore, aims to study plays which have moved beyond the confines of reality, to planes of more unrestricted "universality". They have shattered the looking-glass of reality to reveal more than man is often prepared to show, which is neither easy nor comforting.