Experimenting in Black Theatre Sample Clauses

Experimenting in Black Theatre. As much as the influence of European naturalist and realist playwrights is notable in the South African black playwrights’ work, the latter did not simply copy and incorporate the first into their plays. Instead they borrowed from different forms of theatrical concepts including Variety Theatre to formulate their own unique theatre to meet their needs. F.T. Xxxxxxxxx comments, regarding the difference between Conventional and Variety Theatre, that Conventional Theatre exalts the inner life’s monotonous cries of conscience, analyses of feelings and psychology. On the other hand, Alternative or Variety Theatre in principle exalts action, heroism, life in the open air, dexterity, the authority of instinct and intuition.99 It can be argued that this Alternative Theatre South African black playwrights created was imperative to explore more effective ways of communicating to its target audience, involve the audience directly through interaction and / or indirectly by thematic stories with which the audience could easily identify. Xxxx Xxxxxx argues that “Art was a tool for self-exploration that also interpreted the world of black persons.”100 Consequently, the intention was to catapult the audience into action as opposed to Conventional Theatre, which its primary purpose is often to entertain. Black Theatre was more of an experimental theatre, whereby artists try other ways of telling stories as opposed to mainstream conventional methods. Xxxxxx observes that the playwrights had to adapt some Western theatrical conventions to the South African setting to achieve their goal despite their situation of mass oppression and poverty. Boal 96 Xxxxxx Xxxxxx and Xxxxx Xxxx, African Theatre Today. [1976], p.2 97 Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx, Drama from Xxxxx Xxxxxx. [1952], p.25 98 Three factors in analyzing and interpreting data to discussed later.