Theatre of testimony: an investigation in devising asylum

Maedza, P. (2013)

Book (monograph)

The use of testimonies in performance is enjoying increased artistic and critical popularity on contemporary world stages and has a long and rich tradition on South African stages. Both internationally and locally, emerging and established playwrights working on migration and refugee issues are seeking to incorporate the testimony of asylum seekers into their work. This necessitates a need to critically reflect on the influences that shape and structure the staging of testimonies. This study argues that increased migration and the mounting number arrivals of asylum seekers on South African shores, has motivated at times violent interaction between host communities and the new arrivals. These incidents have inspired a distinct trend of testimonial performances around the concept of asylum. This dissertation uses Narrative analysis to read examples of contemporary theatre of testimony plays that examine this phenomenon. The study examines how playwright positioning informs the structuring of asylum testimonies on stage in addition to contextualising the ethical and moral complexities the playwright's positionality places on their practice. Through three case studies, the study interrogates how playwright positioning informs notions of authorship, authenticity, truth, theatricality and ethics. The study further investigates the challenges speaking for 'self' and speaking for the 'other' place on testimonial playwrights. Chapter One explores the use of testimony in the documentary theatre tradition. The chapter defines terms and associated terminologies in fact-based theatre to explore the insights various epistemologies reveal about the development and evolution of the documentary tradition to its multiple contemporary manifestations. Chapter two outlines the methodological frame that informs the reading of the body of work under investigation. Chapter Three presents the first case study The Crossing, (2008) which is an autobiographical work written and presented by an asylum seeker Jonathan Nkala. The chapter investigates how the playwright's positioning informs the structure of the testimony and concludes by examining what the testimony itself communicates about the asylum condition. The study argues that the testimony forecasts the escalation of violence against migrants and asylum seekers. Chapter four problematizes the work of a playwright who used testimonies solicited from survivors, perpetrators and witnesses of the 2008 mass violence against foreign nationals in South Africa in The Line (2012) by Gina Shmukler. The chapter concludes by interpreting the mass violence presented in the testimonies as constituting acts of genocide. Chapter Five is a critical and reflexive analysis of the researcher's own practice in devising a play Asylum:Section 22 from the testimony of asylum seekers. The chapter explores the devising and creation process from interview to writing. The chapter also examines the significance of the site of testimony production in the dramaturgical choices.

• South Africa
• asylum
• theatre

• All authors: Maedza, P.
• Date: 2013
• Publisher: S.l.: s.n.