Subalternity and the negotiation of a theatre identity : performing the postcolony alternative Zimbabwean theatre

The present study investigates the field of theatre practice that I have chosen to call alternative Zimbabwean theatre through a detailed study of four plays and reference to several others all first performed and written between 1980 and 1996. The study interrogates the interweaving and juxtaposition of divergent performance forms and styles on stage created by the contact between western dramatic theatre, indigenous theatre and cultural performances. This contact results in the formation of a third space for theatre which is a creative area of ambivalence, sameness, difference, conflict, struggle, mocking and celebration. The study specifically scrutinises this intersecting area as it obtains in alternative theatre and examines the forces at work in producing the nature and identity of syncretic theatre. Between 1980 and 1996, the nature and identity of alternative theatre changed significantly. This thesis investigates these changes, movements, shifts, conflicts and appropriations and the context within which they took place.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Drama

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Ravengai, Samuel

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Morris, Gay
• Garuba, Harry

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14316

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14316