Department of Drama

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Applying indigenous knowledge resources in children’s play-crafting in Southern Nigeria : practice-led research using Ibibio folk narratives
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-03) Inyang, Idaresit Ofonime; Pretorius, Mareli Hattingh; Kruger, Marie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of the study is to investigate the possibility to use play-crafting as a form of educational drama to renew the interest of Ibibio children in their Indigenous Knowledge Resources. The educational and moral function of these materials were eroded by colonialism and is further weakened by globalisation. The primary activity in this practice-led research is therefore an educational project carried out with a group of approximately 50 Ibibio children, aged between 9 and 12 who are pupils of selected primary schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Chapter two analyses the available indigenous knowledge resources, namely proverbs, folktales, storytelling, myths, folksongs, traditional games, riddles, and legends and the oral tradition in which these resources are embedded. Chapter three analyses constructivism, participatory learning and play as important components in this practice-led study, which employs play-crafting as a learning method. Constructivism with Dewey as important figure perceives learning as interactive and engaging as learners can be coconstructors in the process of knowledge making. Constructivism emphasizes collaboration, problem solving and the experiences of the learners. This school of thought challenges the formal or traditional educational philosophy that emphasizes the transfer of fixed body of knowledge from educators to learners in a highly formalized context involving a top-down release of knowledge by an educator to the educated. The cognitive constructivism theory of Bruner and Piaget, Vygotsky’s social constructivism and Von Glaserfeld’s radical constructivism theories are also relevant to this study. Participatory learning as voluntary and active involvement in learning as seen in the philosophy of Freire rests on the same principal. Play is important to this study as many Scholars advocate play as an important means of learning as it serves as an interactive space and a form of social enculturation, cultural practices and knowledge transmitter. Play is not only an enjoyable and spontaneous activity of young children, but it also contributes significantly to children’s learning and development. Play therefore forms the bases for play-crafting as an educational drama activity which combines constructivism and its related participatory learning. Chapter four looks at the three different approaches to education drama: Creative Drama and Playmaking, Drama-in-Education and the integrated approach, which combines these approaches. The objective of Creative Drama and Playmaking is to give each child an avenue of self-expression, guide the creative imagination and to provide a controlled emotional outlet. Drama-in-Education uses drama as a teaching and learning medium. The practice-led fieldwork as described in chapter five followed the combined approach by incorporating storytelling, improvisation and role-playing as creative tools in play-crafting. The findings in chapter six points to the effectiveness of adapting Ibibio indigenous knowledge resources by means of play-crafting in teaching traditional values and social skills to young children in selected schools in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Through various levels of investigation, a field experiment and extensive analysis, this study is able to establish that the application of indigenous resource could transform the learning experience for children with optimal benefit to the child and society.
Exploring some of Cicely Berry’s voice and language exercises for a directing concept of Athol Fugard’s Sorrows and Rejoicings
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Hofmeyr, Zoettje; Kruger, Marie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to explore how using voice practitioner and writer, Cicely Berry’s, exercises and language strategies on sound and text, could lead to finding a directing concept for the play Sorrows and Rejoicings by Athol Fugard. The expectation was to discover a layered and interesting interpretation of the text by using a more sound-based approach which relied less on visual aspects such as décor, scenery and lighting effects. The research consisted of both a production of the play with a student cast and this thesis, which articulates the full rehearsal process of working on the play with Cicely Berry’s ideas as a clear framework. A qualitative approach was used for the first part of the thesis which involves an overview and discussion of Berry’s career and work. Her various books on voice training and working with actors and directors are also referred to. Then a full Practice as Research approach was followed to find a coherent structure and concept for the production process and performance. Cicely Berry’s exercises were selected and adapted throughout the process by myself as director to explore this South African text and to encourage the actors to bring to the life the personal sound of the characters, as well as create their physical environment through using sound imaginatively. The production revealed that Berry’s many exercises and strategies allow a more open approach to the text and that, within the realism of the language, a poetic and heightened quality was found that led to exploring the characters and their emotional and physical landscapes in a deeper way. Improvisation on these exercises led to concrete ideas for stronger characterisation, active and imaginative use of voice, song, and chant to enhance the themes and atmosphere, a more open and fluid use of space and the essential aural and visual concept that worked well for the production. The centrality of Berry’s approach puts the text first and as a director one then also has the freedom to explore and improvise on the exercises as they are needed. It was found that one needs to use many of the exercises and to repeat some of them at different stages of rehearsals, in different ways, to fully benefit from them. As they are open-ended and not prescriptive in their potential outcomes these strategies are very useful for a director and actors in exploring a text, in order to find a creative interpretation that is stimulated by the words and images. In this way an awareness of the sound potential in language becomes more important than relying largely on visual aspects.
Die funksie van musiek in die musiekblyspel en die kabaret
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-03) Esterhuysen, Etienne; Kruger, Marie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Empirical studies have shown that music has a determinable effect on human emotions. In this study, the function of music is analysed in terms of how it functions in the musical and the cabaret as genres. A broad overview regarding the development of these two genres shows how music is incorporated in these two genres through the ages. A further analysis regarding structural elements show how music is used in the musical to develop action and character, whilst also portraying how music supports the sosio-political onset of the cabaret. These functions are practically applied to My Fair Lady (1956) as text for the musical and applied to Die Kortstondige Raklewe van Anastasia W (2010) as text for the cabaret. In these two texts, chosen songs are analysed in terms of how the music functions in these two genres. In conclusion, a summary of how music functions in these two Musical Theatre genres is given by referring to the results discussed in this thesis. In the results are found a better understanding of how music functions in these genres to heighten the aesthetical and dramatic values of a theatre production. Music also heightens the emotional experience of the staged production.
“Griekeland” to “Platteland”: appropriating the Euripidean Medea for the contemporary Afrikaans stage
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-04) Albertyn, Maria Adriana; Kruger, Marie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Euripides’s Medea have been staged a number of times in the new South Africa. This study’s purpose is to provide a practical example of a rewritten Medea set in a contemporary Afrikaner community. The political climate and gender views employed in the Euripidean Medea are analysed and compared to that of the new text. The themes in the Euripidean Medea are analysed as well as possible themes in the Afrikaner community to provide the new text with contemporary social trends in the white Afrikaner community. The style of the Euripidean Medea is analysed and adapted in the new play to create a style that can be accommodated in contemporary South African theatre. Appropriating Medea in an Afrikaner community will hopefully provide future theatre-makers with a narrative of the practical process of appropriation from which more universal principles on the practice can be derived as the play has never been fully rewritten in Afrikaans to create an authentic play.
Poësie performances : ‘n ondersoek na die moontlikhede vir poësie performance
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012-03) Borstlap, Mari; Kruger, Marie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Poetry performance as a universal phenomenon is a performing art form. The aim of this study is to explore the diverse nature of this art form. The different types are investigated according to their nature and the reasons provided as motivation for the way in which these types are presented. This study focuses on the following types: poetry found in ritual, poetry readings, poetry recitals, poetry as part of word art (woordkuns), sung poetry, the verse drama and drama’s based on poetry. Under each of these categories relevant examples of each type are discussed. A background study which is primarily focused on a brief overview of the history of poetry performance in relation to its origin and development serves as an introduction and foundation for the study. Hereupon the different types of poetry performances, with relevant and contemporary variations as examples, are being compared to each other with the aim to elucidate the main similarities as well as differences between these examples. As part of the research of poetry performance, a practical project exploring the specific nature of dramas based on poetry was executed. This drama, called Ontslape, shares various comparisons as well as differences with other examples of contemporary drama’s based on poetry. It also shares similarities with word art (woordkuns). Although it is possible to distinguish between certain types of poetry performance, it however also appears that some types overlap in more than one way and therefore the conclusion can be made that poetry performance as a phenomenon consists of various possibilities.
The Toltec teachings and performance training : complementary practices of exploration
(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010-12) Prigge, Lanon Carl; Du Preez, Petrus; Kruger, Marie; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study aims to discuss the complementarity of Western performance training and the Toltec Teachings. It is motivated by a recognition that performers in training might often have to develop their own means to training „system‟ post-study, especially in environments where limited opportunities exist to share in group contexts, such as Jerzi Grotowski‟s Theatre Laboratory or Eugenio Barba‟s Odin Teatret. The solution of self-study (study of the self by the self) is explored in answer to this challenge. Owing to the fact that theatre commentators and practitioners often reference the need to look to alternative models or „forms of civilisation‟ for support and illumination, the potential of the Toltec Nimomashtic System - a self-motivated system for studying the self - is considered as a potential „other‟ in this regard. This study takes into account that complementarity implies both similarities and differences between the two paths in question, and considers how these might offer support to the challenge of self-study in particular, as well as the context of performance training more generally. Comparisons are made between Western performance training and the Toltec Teachings with reference to theory (ideology), aims and outcomes, and practice (methodology). Such comparative analysis reveals that sharing the characteristics of mystery, resistance and paradox enhances complementarity. This suggests that both the way of the performer and the Warriors Path are paths of exile and exclusion. They have in common a defiance of social convention and a bias toward the non-ordinary or extra daily. This is evidenced most specifically through the pursuit of presence as a state defined by absence. Perception, as a central determinant of presence, is positioned in relation to discoveries in modern physics and Barba‟s (in Christoffersen 1993: 159) synergistic „traveller of speed‟ concept, as a means to elucidation. Investigation of specific Toltec ideas and methods that offer perspectives on destructuring the ego and the worldview it sustains, are seen to support Grotowski‟s via negativa as a process of eliminating blockages that impede effective expression, as well as Barba‟s (Christoffersen 1992: 80) „refusal of culture‟ as a negation or deformation of daily behaviour. Compatible approaches to shifting perceptions of the self by the self, in order to achieve the shared outcome of presence, thus consolidate the overall complementarity of the two paths.
Towards an integrated theory of actor training : conjunctio oppositorum and the importance of dual consciousness
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Swart, Rufus; Kruger, Marie; Allain, Paul; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The proliferation of Western actor training methods in the past century had mainly been derived from the groundbreaking research undertaken by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and Constantin Stanislavski at the Moscow Art Theatre, as well as their students Michael Chekhov, Vsevolod Meyerhold and Evgeny Vakhtangov. Poor translations of their original Russian texts have however meant that many of the principles they discovered were compromised due to misinterpretations. Yet, the ‘system’ of Stanislavski, a veritable repository of these theories, served as a template for acting teachers ranging from former American Group Theatre members such as Stella Adler, Morris Carnovsky, Robert Lewis, Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg, and the Polish director Jerzy Grotowski, to formulate their own distinctive techniques. The result has been a challenge to traditional notions of actors as impersonators to a more holistic view of actor-performers; versatile, multi-skilled artists willing to reveal themselves through sincere disclosures to an audience, as the theatre poet Antonin Artaud advocated they should. Although this interrogation of the essential nature of the 2,600 year old art of Thespis was necessary, there is a danger that its core tenets may have been marginalised in the process, a setback which might further delay the formulation of its own science. This research was undertaken to identify the core principles of the actor’s art that distinguish it from the other performing arts, as well as to determine how these might best be conveyed to student actors in a contemporary context. Employing the ‘system’ as a guide, in particular its ‘work on oneself’ process, which refers to an actor’s personal training, as opposed to ‘work on a role’, which relates to characterisation and performance, the theories of the abovementioned practitioners were examined and compared to Stanislavski’s to ascertain if they contributed to the further evolution of the art. Once an integrated theory of training emerged it was then tested in praxis, working with different groups of students during a three year period. This thesis documents the findings of both the literary research, based on an analysis of texts related to actor training, and those derived from ‘real-world’ applications of these theories in an Higher Education environment. A key aim of the study was thus to determine whether a ‘work on oneself’ form of training could be offered in the formal education sector, despite its psychological implications, and how this might be approached in a ‘healthy’ manner. A selection of audio-video recordings done during the empirical investigation accompanies the thesis in order to substantiate its theory.

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