Facing the Stranger in the Mirror: Staged complicities in recent South African performances

You are the face I see in the Mirror A dark shadow. (Mark Fleishman Fleishman , M. , 1994 . Medea . Unpublished manuscript . [Google Scholar], Medea 1994) Should we remember things as a way of learning, or forget them as a way of healing? (Romesh Gunesekera, in conversation in Aamer Hussein Hussein , A. , 2002 . Romesh Gunesekera: After an odyssey, paradise regained . The Independent , UK. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/romesh-gunesekera-after-an-odyssey-par...9 . [Google Scholar], The Independent, UK 13 April 2002) By its very nature art–and theatre in particular–poses hard questions, reflects the difficult challenges being grappled with by individuals within historical moments, poses alternatives and celebrates life, optimism and human endeavour even within trying circumstances. (Mike Van Graan, ‘The Art of Democracy,’ Cape Times 2009, p. 9) The staging of complicity has developed into one of the most prevalent trends in recent South Africa theatre. The audience may become aware of their own complicity in injustice, or complicity may feature as a subject to be explored in the play. I will argue that one can identify three broadly defined performance modalities which shape current engagements with complicity. These modalities are identified by the adjectives, ‘thick’ (as in densely layered, complex, deep), ‘reflective’ (as in reflecting upon as well as revealing), and ‘hard’ (in the sense of direct, uncompromising, difficult to penetrate). Rather than signifying distinct categories, these terms are attributed to a cluster of performance dynamics. The term ‘thick theatre’ is adapted from the key concept of ‘thick description’ employed by cultural anthropologist Glifford Geertz to emphasize the interpretative function of ‘reading’ cultural events. The aim here is to compare how the staging of complicity is shaped by the types of aesthetic engagement employed. While ‘hard theatre’ implicates audiences in complicity, in ‘reflective theatre’ complicity is explored in terms of the staged experience that is witnessed by the audience. The most challenging exploration of complicity is achieved by the type of ‘thick theatre' produced by, for instance, Magnet Theatre and practitioners like Jay Pather, Brett Bailey, Lara Foot-Newton, and Marthinus Basson. Such practitioners have developed a strong reputation for producing textured work using physical images, and generating multiple meanings through innovative stage metaphors which challenge common assumptions. These productions are often collaborative, involving research into local communities, and they question hegemonic knowledge, its production and dissemination. In the process these works often draw on history in order to play with contemporary realities in ways that challenge conventional notions of complicity.

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