Theatre in a New Democracy

THEATRE IN A NEW DEMOCRACY Some major trends in South African theatre from 1994 to 2003 Johann van Heerden Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Drama and Theatre Studies) at the University of Stellenbosch Promoter: Prof. T. Hauptfleisch March 2008 2 DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this dissertation is my own original work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it at any university for a degree. Signature: ..................................................... Date: ............................................ Johann van Heerden Copyright ©2008 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved 3 Abstract Following the socio-political change in South Africa after the democratic elections of 1994 the relationship between the state and the arts changed markedly. Whereas, under apartheid, the white population groups benefited greatly from government support for the primarily Eurocentric cultural heritage and the arts, the new South Africa recognised a multi-cultural and multi-lingual population whose every human right was protected under the new Constitution. Under the new government priorities shifted and this resulted in a transformation of the state-subsidised Performing Arts Councils and generally in the financial dynamics of the arts and culture sector. During the first decade of democracy an arts festival circuit emerged which provided opportunities for specific population groups to celebrate their cultural heritage and also for new independent theatre-makers to enter the industry. After the demise of apartheid there was no longer a market for the protest theatre that had become a hallmark of much South African performing arts in the 1970s and 80s and the creative artists had to discover new areas of focus and find alternative creative stimuli. This dissertation identifies and examines a number of major trends that emerged in the professional theatre in post-apartheid South Africa during the first decade of its new democracy. 4 Opsomming Ná die sosio-politieke ommeswaai wat in Suid-Afrika gevolg het op die demokratiese verkiesing in 1994 het die verhouding tussen die staat en die kunste aansienlik verander. Terwyl die wit bevolkingsgroepe in die tyd van apartheid grootliks bevoordeel is deur staatsondersteuning, vir hoofsaaklik Eurosentriese kulturele erfenis en kunste, het die nuwe Suid-Afrika ‘n multi-kulturele en veeltalige bevolking erken wie se gelyke menseregte streng deur die nuwe konstitusie beskerm word. Onder die nuwe regering het prioriteite aansienlik verander en een van die gevolge daarvan was ‘n transformasie van die staatsgesubsidieerde Uitvoerende Kunsterade en ‘n algemene verandering in die finansiële dinamiek rondom die kunste en in die kultuursektor. Tydens die eerste dekade van demokrasie het ‘n aantal nuwe kunstefeeste ontstaan en dit het geleenthede gebied vir bepaalde bevolkingsgroepe om hul eie kulturele sake te vier en te beoefen en dit het ook moontlikhede geskep vir nuwe onafhanklike teaterkunstenaars om die veld te betree. Ná die einde van die apartheidsbeleid was daar nie meer ‘n mark vir die protesteater wat so ‘n belangrike rol gespeel het in die Suid-Afrikaanse uitvoerende kunste van die 1970s en 1980s nie en skeppende kunstenaars moes nuwe fokusareas asook alternatiewe skeppende prikkels ontdek. Hierdie verhandeling identifiseer en ondersoek ‘n aantal belangrike stromings wat na vore gekom het in die beroepsteater in post-apartheid Suid-Afrika gedurende die eerste dekade van die nuwe demokratiese bestel. 5 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 Introduction 8 1.1. Preamble 8 1.2. Problem statement and focus 9 1.3. Methodology 12 1.4. A word on the time frame 17 SECTION I MAJOR TRENDS IN THE THEATRE ENVIRONMENT 19 CHAPTER 2 The changing relationship between the State and the Arts 20 CHAPTER 3 Transformation of Performing Arts Councils into playhouses 26 3.1. Introduction 26 3.2. Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal (Pact) - The State Theatre 27 3.3. Cape Performing Arts Board (Capab) – Artscape 37 3.4. Natal Performing Arts Council (Napac) – The Playhouse 39 3.5. Performing Arts Council of the Free State (Pacofs) – Sand du Plessis 41 3.6. Theatre industry representative bodies by the end of the decade 43 CHAPTER 4 More equitable state funding of the arts 46 4.1. Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST) 46 4.2. Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) 51 4.3. National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) 53 CHAPTER 5 The emergence of an arts festival circuit 55 5.1. Introduction 55 5.2. Before 1994: The Grahamstown Festival 56 5.3. A focus on Afrikaans 58 6 5.4. A focus on “indigenous” African culture 64 5.5. The festivals are where the audiences are 65 5.6. Evolution of the “festival play” 67 5.7. An annual cultural fix for some, a party for others 68 5.8. Arts festivals: an “interim phase” or “final convulsions” or 70 sustainable? CHAPTER 6 Independent commercial theatres 72 6.1. Introduction 72 6.2. The emergence of smaller commercial independents 73 6.3. Bigger, established commercial independents adjust their business 77 6.4. Evolution from protest theatre to cultural institution 80 6.5. Adjusting to the new South Africa while developing and cultivating 82 the arts 6.6. Moving from the arts and culture industry to the entertainment industry 84 6.7. Conclusion 90 SECTION II MAJOR TRENDS IN THEATRE PRACTICE 92 CHAPTER 7 Post-anti-apartheid theatre 93 7.1. Introduction 93 7.2. Reconciliation in a newly desegregated but still divided society 95 7.3. Dealing with the present, while looking at the past 112 7.4. Let me tell you my story... 125 7.5. History through new eyes 140 7.6. Dancing to a true African beat 142 7.7. Life in a new democracy 151 7.8. Sexually explicit and proudly gay 171 7.9. A focus on social challenges in a new social order 177 7.10. A trend towards self-censorship 196 7.11. Post-anti-apartheid theatre 198 7 CHAPTER 8 Dealing with new financial challenges 200 8.1. A trend towards commercialisation 200 8.2. An increase in the number of independent theatre managements 203 8.3. Training for a career in a more commercial arts environment 205 CHAPTER 9 Cultural integration, township and community theatre 205 9.1. Too soon for cultural integration or to “celebrate our diversity” 205 9.2. Support for township theatre dwindles 211 9.3. Community theatre groups shift focus to skills training 215 CHAPTER 10 Adjusting to the theatre of a new democracy – trends illustrated by some 218 prominent theatre-makers 10.1. Introduction 218 10.2. The more things change, the more they stay the same... 219 10.3. English and Afrikaans continue to dominate the professional stage 220 10.4. Indigenous cultural treasures remain largely unmined 221 10.5. Liberation brings an inward focus 227 10.6. Theatre becomes show Business! The artist becomes a brand 232 10.7. The box office subsidises “real writing” 235 10.8. There is life after the Performing Arts Councils 238 CHAPTER 11 Conclusion 243 BIBLIOGRAPHY 247 8 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. Preamble South Africa became a democracy after the general elections held on April 27, 1994. This date and the resulting inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president mark the formal termination of legalised apartheid and symbolise the end of the old and the beginning of the new South Africa. The socio-political transformation, called a “peaceful revolution” by many, had an impact on every area of life in the Republic, including arts and culture. Of course this transformation – and the accompanying influences – did not occur magically in 1994, but was the result of a process set in motion much earlier – notably through the series of negotiations that took place after F.W. de Klerk and his new government accepted the inevitability of change and began talking to the various role players. Towards the end of 1993, on the eve of these first free elections, Ian Steadman, then co-editor of the seminal academic journal South African Theatre Journal (SATJ) reflected on the past year and commented, “...the entire social, cultural, economic and political fabric of the society has been analyzed, debated and reshaped - if only in theory. Part of this exercise has included some serious soul-searching on the part of the academic and university community, an attempt to come to terms with the future” (Steadman, 1993: 1). This was shortly before the elections. In May 1994, just after the elections, Temple Hauptfleisch, the other co-editor of SATJ at the time, noted, “In the socio-political history of South Africa we are past the multi-media and super-hyped events of 27 April and 10 May1 and have entered a more quietly expectant (and rather amusing) period of settling in, last minute horse trading, and rather awe-struck confrontation with promises to deliver” (Hauptfleisch, 1994: 1). Clearly the decade selected to be covered in this study was entered into with great expectations on all levels of the South African community – social, political, economic and cultural. Certainly, as the two authors point out, in the theatrical world the expectations of change were extremely high – both eagerly awaited and greatly feared, depending on the individual’s perspective and position in the greater arts system. 1 Inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first state president of the newly democratic South Africa. 9 Some of the questions that immediately arise are: what has happened to those expectations? To what degree has the theatre managed “to come to terms with the future”? What happened about the “promises to deliver” in the cultural life of the new Rainbow Nation? It was an attempt to obtain answers to questions such as these that initially prompted this study. 1.2. Problem statement and focus While the majority of developments in South African theatre for the period 1652 to about 1994 have been covered by a whole range of authors, developments over the first decade after the socio-political transition following the first democratic elections in 1994 have hardly been documented in any coherent fashion, though widely, albeit in sporadic fashion, discussed by the various media.

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