The Semiotics of Alternative Theatre in South Africa

Although s t i l l regarded with considerable suspicion, the academic study of black South African theatre has recently become a respectable activity in some South African universities. This recognition, however, is tempered by a fear that classical 'civi l izing ' influences on humankind wil l be invaded and vitiated by an inevitable mixing of 'art1 with 'pol i t ies '. The more traditional approach which over-emphasises textual analysis comfortably con-fines the irreducible and protects i t from socio-historical and politico-economic investigation. Such influences are often argued to have nothing to do with theatre and are deliberately exorcised from the play. The result, we are told, is a richer, more acceptable contribution to 'culture! Any theatre which does not reproduce (albeit crit ically) the dominant social relations of society is considered vulgar and an insult to theatrical tradition which has become progressively divorced from the once fer t i le breeding ground of social experience i tself (1). The naive attempts by so many critics and teachers of drama and theatre t