Sizwe Banzi is Dead Flashcards
1
Q
A
2
Q
Origins and Background
A
- Athol Fugard, John Kani, Winston Ntshona
- Effects and consequences of pass laws
- The serpent players (mixed race theatre group banned in white areas)
- Black men from the SP were arrested, 3 sent to R. Island
- John Kani: Worked at Ford Motor Company; Kani and Ntshona acted as Fugard’s “servants” to bypass apartheid laws
- SP GOALS: To create art that reflects the daily lives of black people in SA
3
Q
SOPOCO
A
- Apartheid - system of legalised racial oppression and segregation
- White minority in power
- Black homelands given self governing status (empty political gesture)
- Black resistance (Biko - Black identity and dignity w/ BCM)
- Black trade unions - strikes and demands for better orking conditions
- Passlaws, dompas, to segregate the population
- SHARPEVILLE
4
Q
Intentions
A
- Incite political action - a protest against pass laws
- Raise awareness (SP)
- Create solidarity and a sense of community
- Resistance to dehuminisation - communicates strong message of identity - BCM
5
Q
Workshopping
A
- Township plays by SP enabled collaborative creative process
- Democraic, immidiate, topical, relevant, varied
- Acccessible (did not require literacy)
- Poor Theatre approach to staging - no complex staging needed; cost effective
- Bypassing censorship: single master script
- Flexible lines with a single core plot
- Documents history, shatters apartheid propaganda and perception
6
Q
Style and Genre: Protest Theatre
A
- Protest against political order of Aprtheid
- Creates voice
- Encourages audience to re-evaluate thinking
- Displays frustration of those represented on stage
- Focuses on what should be unlearnt
- Theatre for CHANGE
- Satirical, angry and defiant tone
7
Q
Poor Theatre in SBID
A
- Intimate a/a relationship
- Stripping of spectacle
- Pure theatre experience
- Elevates actor as Actor God
- PT staging approach
8
Q
Monologues: Improv and transitions
A
- Stylized monologue
- Opening monologue (improvised) reading and commenting on a newspaper, topical issues, relevant (indicates themes)
- Styles’ life story and opinions reflects the results of Apartheid and how it has shaped his mind to think
- Sizwe’s letter to his wife = transitions story
- Buntu’s monologue: “Am I not a man?” - message of identity, dehumanisation, and the individual
9
Q
Township Theatre
A
- Townships used for preformances
- Vibrant, dynamic, energetic, didactic
- Audience = engaged
- Ranges of ages
- Commentary from audience
- Addressed audience directly
10
Q
Setting
A
- Time: 1970’s
- Place: New Brighton, PE
- 3 locations: Photo studio, Buntu’s house, Streets
- Each setting emphasises the limitaions of movement of black people.
11
Q
Structure
A
- No divisions of acts or scenes
- non-linear; jumps in time
- Identifible exposition, inciting incident and climax
- Scenes are punctuated and linked by Sizwe’s letter to his wife
12
Q
Identity
Themes and Symbols
A
- Quest for changing identity
- Styles: forges a new identity as a photographer and records his clients identities so they are not lost to history
- Pride and dignity in identity
- Sizwe: more complex identity; his pasbook defines his identity, but it has dissapointed him. He assues the idenitity of a dead man to avoid returning to transkei
- Sizwe believes his identity is fixed in his name
5.True identity = knowing who you are, not a name or a NI number
13
Q
Importance of family and community
Themes and Symbols
A
- Styles’ beief: photo’s link families through generation
- Sizwe comes to PE to support his family
- Buntu treats Sizwe like family
- Styles tells us stories of community
14
Q
Limitations and opportunity
A
- Limited by racism, but serve as an opputunity for change
- Styles unfulfilled by his job at the FMF (limitaion) to he starts his own business as a photographer (opportunity)
- Sizwe’s passbook limits him, assumes new identity (opportunity)
15
Q
Death and Burial
A
- The birth of a dead man’s identity
- Funeral parlour next to photography studio
- Cockroaches in studio
- Death defines life in the context of a passbook and the identity of a dead man
16
Q
Dreams and Hope
A
- Styles calls Sizwe a dream when he walks in
- Studio name = theatre of dreams; a fantasy that elevates the oppressed
- Explores the deepest dreams of a black man in he aparthheid: clean passbook, stable sob, secure family
17
Q
Sub-themes
A
Masculinity, manhood, existentiality (authenticity, sense of self)
18
Q
Symbols
A
- Passbook
- Photographs
- Robert Zwelienzima
- A name
- NI number
- The letter
- Father’s Hat
19
Q
Preformance Space
A
- Actord represent themselves and the people hwo are oppressed
- Found space: brings protest intetion to target audience
- Imtimate and direct interaction with audience - breaks 4th wall
- DISTANCE: Play within a play, shifts distance and intimacy with emotional scenes = stronger message
20
Q
Acting style
A
- Styles: Heightened physicality
- Buntu: naturalistic
- Multu-rolling
- Realism
- Mime
- Actor God
- Strong images
- Audience interaction
21
Q
Sound
A
Idiophones
22
Q
Set
A
- Minimal set (PT)
- suggest environment
- streets = empty set
23
Q
Styles
Characters
A
- Owner of photography studio, former Ford worker
- Courageous, ambitious, charismatic
- Enjoys photography and recording the history of people
- “Theatre of dreams” - he is hopeful
- Opens and closes the play
- Pride in identity, authenticity, survivour
24
Q
Sizwe (Robert)
A
- Protagonist
- Went to PE to support his family
- No work permit for PE; told to retur to ciskei
- Naive and moralistic in his name and identity
- When he takes the pcture with Styles, he is accepting his new identity
- It is not easy for him to accept this identity, but he does
25
Q
Buntu
A
- Generous activist
- Lets Sizwe seep on his couch
- Convinces Sizwe to assume identity of a dead man
- Educated
