Staging, Style & Synopsis Flashcards
Who wrote Woza Albert!?
- Percy Mtwa
- Mbongeni Ngema
- Barney Simon
What was the creation process used to create Woza Albert!?
- workshop theatre
When and where was the play first performed?
- Market Theatre Johannesburg
- 1981
What is the style of Woza Albert!?
- protest theatre and poor theatre
What does the succession of small scenes of black life during apartheid show?
- the absurdity of racial oppression
What does the succession of small scenes of black life during apartheid also illuminate?
- the logic of a plot in which South Africans seek the return of a saviour, Morena
- who fulfills the biblical prophecy that Jesus Christ will return
What does the title of the play refer to?
- the deceased leader of the ANC and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Albert Luthuli
- and symbolizing biblical prophecies that the dead will rise to join Jesus Christ when he is resurrected
What does Morena do at the conclusion of the play?
- raises Luthuli from the dead as Jesus miraculously raised Lazarus in the New Testament
- summons other prominent past leaders
Who else does Morena summon from the dead?
- Robert Sobukwe
- Lilian Ngoyi
- Steven Biko
Why does Morena raise these prominent past leaders from the dead?
- to rise and make South Africa a “heaven on earth” for black people
- by addressing the atrocities of apartheid
How is the play deliberately presented?
- using only basic resources
What is the style of the play?
- improvisatory, rough and ready style
What do we rely on to bring the scenes to life?
- the skill of the actors
What is there that is cause for more informal staging techniques?
- an immediacy
- that using more formal staging techniques might now allow
What is the relationship between the actors and the audience like?
- it is direct and it is given major importance
What is the style of theatre of Woza Albert! called?
- poor theatre
Who wrote about the style of poor theatre?
- theatre practitioner Jerzy Grotowski
How is the stage set?
- sparsely set
- with 2 tea chests
- and a suspended wooden plank with nails that hold the ragged clothes that the actors use for character transformations
What do the actors wear for use in scenes in which they portray white characters?
- pink clown noses held with elastic bands around their necks
What do brief chronological scenes throughout the play reveal?
- a thematic unity
How is a thematic unity revealed?
- as the two characters demonstrate the types of relationships and encounters that exist within South African society
What do the successive scenes of transforming characters from inmates to train-hoppers demonstrate?
- South Africans’ reduced quality of life
- and their desires for freedom and personhood
What are the contrasts between the prison inmates and train-hoppers?
- though they are the same people
- the inmates debate the merits of protest strategies versus religious perseverance
- the train-hoppers debate religion and the possibilities of Morena returning
What do the interviews of international figures and local South Africans aim to do?
- these interviews mock modern media and television strategies of sensationalizing events for the sake of ratings
- while the locals reinforce the hopes and desires of an oppressed body of people
