Ikasi and other plays

Gha-Makhulu Diniso

Description

Ikasi and other Plays by Gha-Makhulu Diniso is a collection of three one person plays; the first two, Ikasi and Igazi, were written and performed by him in the early 1990�s; the third, Ekbog, is a product of the more recent period. As critic Adrienne Sichel notes, his theatre is best described as a theatre of defiance for many of the evils he satirizes relate to both the Apartheid regime and to the New South Africa: governmental and corporate arrogance and corruption facilitating a morass of greed and individualism at both a personal and public level. The language and techniques used are popular and surreal in equal measure; importantly Diniso has remained true to his native community, Sharpeville, a highly politisized township co-habiting uneasily with Vereeniging, well known as a conservative white town some hundred kilometers south of Johannesburg.

Sujets

• Littérature Africaine
• Littérature Africaine
• Drama

Informations

• Publié par: Botsotso Publishing
• Date de parution: 23 novembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781990922442
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

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IKASI

IGAZI

E K B o G

Three plays by

Ga-Makhulu Di-niso

Botsotso Publishing

PUBLISHED IN 2008 BY BOTSOTSO PUBLISHING BOX 30952, BRAAMFONTEIN, 2017

Email:[e-mail] Website:www.botsotso.org.za

©in the text: Di-Niso Ga-Makhulu

ISBN 978-0-9814068-5-5

We Would like to Thank the National Lottery Development Trust Fund for its support.

Acknowledgements

Cover and text design

Katherine Finlay

CONTENTS

Ikasi /8 Igazi /47 Ekbog /24

By Adrienne Sichel

Gamakhulu Diniso’s plays and theatre making have tended to slip under the radar of the researchers and theatre academics. One explanation could be that he has been based in Sharpeville, away from the creative strongholds of Soweto and Johannesburg. This distance from the main hub of protest theatre, so powerful in the 1970s through to the 1980s and mid 1990s, enabled this basically self-taught actor, writer and director to develop his own highly distinctive signature. This geographical isolation didn’t prevent Gamakhulu Diniso from absorbing cer- tain selected influences and incorporating them into his own storytelling. His his- tory as a son of Sharpeville, from the age of two, two years before the massacre in 1960, is etched in the spirit of ingenuity and survival. After receiving certified visual art training at Rorke’s Drift in 1976 and 1977 his art teaching career in Soweto, and as an illustrator in Johannesburg ,changed direction in 1979 where he converted an abandoned men’s hostel room into an art school which was subsequently combined with teaching and creating drama. Busang Thakaneng Theatre (loosely translated as: bring back people of the same age) served a dual purpose: it provided children arts education after school and served as a crucible for Diniso’s playmaking. This venue was thefirst of two thea- tre spaces he created. The second was the Gibson Kente (KENTE) Theatre, in 1996, in the Sharpeville Resource Theatre across the main road from the original theatre and school. His own theatrical training was derived from attending workshops in Soweto (at Funda Centre in Diepkloof chiefly with Matsemela Manaka and Maishe Maponya) and in Johannesburg with Zakes Mda at Wits University. Diniso’sfirst play “Do or Die”, a two-hander (performed with Msanelo Mntambo – PLEASE DELETE THESE FOUR WORDS) for their Dukuza Azanian Players, was typically performed at po- litical rallies held by the National Council of Trade Unions. This was during the State of Emergency declared by President PW Botha in 1985. “Do or Die”, which recreated the manoeuvres of exiled guerrillas, also featured at the landmark, one- off Amfest theatre festival, held AT The Wits Theatre centre, in 1988. “Do or Die”, in which the actor’s leopard crawled on concrete, was performed in the then open air Amphitheatre. Diniso’s politics were, and still are, rooted in Black Consciousness. Yet his solo work was not didactic. Any preachiness was redeemed by his satiric tactics. The 1980s, when Diniso started creating and performing his own plays, was prefaced by the groundbreaking 1970s which unleashed Black Consciousness Theatre and seminal projects such as Workshop ‘71. While political oppression and bannings took its toll on many theatre makers and collectives’s there were significant move- ments and works which were not only performed nationally but internationally. Among them was “Woza Albert!” influenced by Grotowski’s Poor Theatre style which co was created by the actors Mbongeni Ngema and Percy Mtwa with direc- tor Barney Simon at The Market Theatre. Diniso admits to being impressed by this

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