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about
Reimagining Tragedy from Africa and the Global South (RETAGS) is a project that proposes to take a concept – tragedy - from the very beginnings of theatre in its European manifestation and therefore of the discipline of Theatre Studies which is decidedly European, and to reimagine it from a perspective in Africa that is at once directed at the complex challenges of our global postcolonial present and towards our possible futures both inside and outside of the discipline.
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Through my research and my teaching of students in the university for the past 30 years, I have encountered the numerous adaptations and stagings of ancient tragedies by major writers and theatre-makers across the African continent – Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi, Femi Osofisan, J.P. Clark (Nigeria), Efua Sutherland, Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana); Ebrahim Husssein (Tanzania), Sylvain Bemba (Congo Brazzaville), Saad Ardash and numerous others (Egypt), Athol Fugard (South Africa); Trinidad Morgades (Equatorial Guinea) - and in the Afro-diaspora – Aimé Césaire (Martinique), Félix Morisseau-Leroy (Haiti), Kamau Brathwaite (Barbados), Derek Walcott (St Lucia). I have also been inspired by the concept of African Tragedy as outlined by Soyinka. I contend that there is something about these plays and their playing that appeals to African theatre-makers, performers and audiences without having had the space to contemplate in any depth, why this might be the case or how it might have put tragedy to use in specific ways. The project I am proposing here will create this space through an extended interrogation of this vast body of work produced in the theatres of Africa. Furthermore, it will use performance methodologies as analytical tools to gain purchase on the complex realities of the colonial aftermath by investigating current events in the postcolony beyond the theatre, through the “prism of tragedy”. Importantly, the project will also make space to challenge the Eurocentric biases and preconceptions of Theatre Studies in two respects: first by shifting, and thereby challenging, the perspective from which it operates and the assumptions that align with this predominant perspective; and second, by challenging its predominant methodologies by engaging art practice as a mode of research in a central way alongside other more conventional research modes and methods.
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In summary then what is being proposed with this research is a project that will radically reorient thinking about theatre by shifting its dominant perspectives; re-read the postcolony through the frame of tragedy rather than romance; explore the relevance of tragedy for a young generation today; while adopting a methodology rooted in art practice and consolidating that methodology and its application across the various hemispheres.
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- Prof. Mark Fleishman
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Academic Team For the Re-imagining Tragedy from Africa and the Global South project:
Principal Investigator: Mark Fleishman
Co-investigator: Mandla Mbothwe
Postdoctoral Fellow: Olalekan Balogun
Administrator: Raezeen Wentworth
Documenter and online developer: Jayne Batzofin
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MARK FLEISHMAN
Writer, director and academic, Mark Fleishman is currently the director of the Centre for Theatre Dance and Performance Studies at the University of Cape Town and Co-Artistic Director of Magnet Theatre. Mark is an award-winning director and has directed most of the nearly 40 Magnet Theatre productions since The Show’s not Over ‘Til the Fat Lady sings in 1991. Most recently he directed Jennie Reznek in her solo show I Turned Away and She was Gone and the 6th cohort of Magnet trainees in Friederich Durenmatt’s The Visit. He also functions as a writer, not only of theatre texts but has published many academic articles, mainly on South African theatre and is an internationally respected theatre academic.
MANDLA MBOTHWE
Mandla Mbothwe is an acclaimed South African playwright, researcher, director, art teacher and theatre practitioner. A previous Artistic Director at the Steve Biko Centre and former Creative Manager at Artscape Theatre Centre, he has created theatre productions of high quality, in South Africa and abroad, dealing with cultural and historical themes. Some of his noteworthy work includes Isivuno sa maphupha (Harvesting of dreams), Ingcwaba le ndoda lise cankwedlela (The grave of the man is next to the road), Umyenzo we zandi (Eden of sounds), Inxeba lo mphilisi (The wound of a healer), Voices of Women, Ukutshona ko Mendi (The sinking of the Mendi), Biko’s Quest, G7: Okwe Bokhwe, Biko-Rising Iyazika and many others.
The theatre stalwart has won several awards including the Handspring Puppetry Award for Best Visual Theatre (2010), Fleur du Cap Award with Mark Fleishman and Jennie Reznek for Innovation in Theatre (2010), Fleur du Cap Award for Innovation in Theatre (2013) and Eastern Cape Arts & Culture Award for Outstanding Contribution in Drama (2013). Mbothwe is a Founder and Artistic Director at Mud and Fire Parables. Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, Co-Artistic director at Magnet Theatre and co-Artistic director at Mbothwe and Doni Collectives.
LEKAN BALOGUN
Lekan Balogun is a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies (CTDPS), University of Cape Town, South Africa, where he is working on the Andrew W. Mellon funded project, “Reimagining Tragedy in Africa and the Global South” (RETAGS). Lekan has previously taught Playwriting, Acting & Directing, Cultural and Gender Studies, and Special Authors (African & Non-African) at the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts (Distinction) in Theatre Arts. He was awarded his PhD (with full doctoral scholarship) in Postcolonial Shakespeare (Adaptation/Appropriation) and Intercultural Performance at the School of English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New
Zealand. He also won a Visiting Fellowship of the Moore Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway, in 2018/2019. Dramatist, theatre director and playwright, Lekan has written plays in Nigeria addressing social issues including For Heroes and Scoundrel, Moremi, Beyond the Sunset, Alaafin Kanran, The Mote in the Eye, for the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC), the National Troupe of Nigeria and the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP). His international collaboration includes being part of the New Writing in Drama Project 2007—2009, by the Royal Court Theatre, London on which he wrote Farewell and Dirty Circle, and attended an International Playwrights’ Workshop/Performance at the Royal Court, Sloane Square, London with support from the British Council, Nigeria, the Arts Council England, and the Genesis Foundation, UK. Lekan was co-writer, Power Play by FLINN Theater, Germany, and has been commissioned to write and produce many plays by several professional theatre companies.
RAEZEEN WENTWORTH
Raezeen Wentworth completed her Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2013. Her majors included Physical Theatre, Writing and Directing. During her time at Wits, she had the privilege of directing and devising both text based and physical theatre work. Raezeen has been part of a practice-as-research work called When we are naked directed by Khayelihle Dominique Gumede. A chapter based on this work is published as part of an international volume, ‘Social Work Beyond Borders, Social Work Artfully’ (McMaster University Press: Canada). Raezeen has performed in a performance art piece called 30 minutes of Amnesia scene 2; as part of an exhibition called Sleep in for the Gifted directed by Khayelihle Dominique Gumede; exhibition by Kemang Wa Lehulere at
Lombard Freid Gallery, New York. Raezeen performed in a one woman show called
Synapsis that was choreographed by Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Sonia Radebe in 2014, which went onto the Grahamstown Festival in 2015. Raezeen also worked as a researcher, script writer and content producer on the TV Talk Show Rise for two seasons. 2018 saw her complete her Masters in Theatre and Performance at the University of Cape Town. She co-created a one man show with Iman Issacs, featuring Carlo Daniels and was nominated for Best Director at the Kanna Awards 2019 for this piece. Currently, Raezeen is the Live Performance lecturer at City Varsity Cape Town and the administrator for the Reimagining Tragedy from Africa and the Global South Project.
JAYNE BATZOFIN
Jayne Batzofin completed their Honours degree at WITS University, majoring in directing and stage/costume design. Continuing their studies, they attended the theatre school, l'ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Batzofin recently completed their Master's Degree in Dramaturgy through the University of Cape Town and the University of Amsterdam. Batzofin is best known for their strong directorial vision and advocacy in Theatre for Early Years and Theatre for Youth, specialising in inclusivity and accessibility.
