A Brief Moment in the Great Postcolonial Story: Crime, Violence and Grief in Contemporary South African Theatre

Much has been written about Protest Theatre during the apartheid era; and much has been written about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the 1994 democratic elections in South Africa. Much has also been written about the profound importance of postcolonial theory in relation to South African, and other African, theatre practices and traditions. This article aims to contribute to the growing knowledge of in-depth and nuanced insights gained from this legacy in the context of current, post-apartheid theatre. This article specifically argues that, in post-apartheid theatre, when the characters and/or audience, collectively experience grief, the traumatic legacy of the binary arrangement of identities (of ‘primitive/civilized, superior/inferior, master/servant’) constructed by and for power during the pre-revolution era, breaks down and the crimes of colonization and apartheid are perceived by the audience. This is seen as a necessary part of the process in the ongoing countering of the received master narrative inculcated by the colonial and apartheid periods. Agreeing with Ash Amin, the paper argues that through such theatre the periphery is liberated and, on those terms, engages with the centre, or historical, hegemonic narrative. From that perspective, history and the present can be grasped and new post-apartheid identities seen as multi-dimensional, non-stereotyped, and in ‘constant production’ are revealed. Applying this notion, one observes that multiple stories emerge to articulate this countering process. But, core to this process, is the subjective and collective experience of grief leading to the binaries collapsing and the crime of the colonial and apartheid project being seen at the core of the traumatic history which informs the contemporary, multi-layered South African experience. The article explores five contemporary South African plays: Bush Tale, Relativity; Township Stories, Hallelujah!, Reach, Armed Response. Notions of postcolonial and identity theory are incorporated in the article as they help illuminate the plays. In addition, insights gained from the Kleinian School of Object Relations psychoanalytic theory help inform notions of how the processes of grief and trauma deepen our understanding of the plays, and the contemporary South African narrative.

学界已就种族隔离（apartheid）时期的抗议戏剧、1994年南非民主选举后的真相与和解委员会（Truth and Reconciliation Commission），以及后殖民理论（postcolonial theory）对南非乃至其他非洲地区戏剧实践与传统的深远意义，分别展开了大量研究。本文旨在深化对这一遗产在当下后种族隔离戏剧语境下所蕴含的深度与精微洞见的认知。本文明确提出：在后种族隔离戏剧中，当角色与/或观众集体经历悲伤时，前革命时期权力构建并服务于权力的身份二元对立框架（即“原始/文明、优越/低劣、主人/仆人”）将土崩瓦解，观众也得以洞悉殖民与种族隔离的罪行。这一过程，正是持续消解殖民与种族隔离时期灌输的主导叙事的必要环节。本文认同阿什·阿明的观点，认为通过此类戏剧，边缘群体可获得解放，并据此与中心权力或历史霸权叙事展开对话。从这一视角出发，我们可把握历史与当下，揭示出多维、非刻板且"持续生成"的新型后种族隔离身份。基于这一认知，不难发现诸多叙事正不断涌现，以阐释这一消解过程。而该过程的核心，乃是悲伤与创伤的主观及集体体验：正是这种体验促成了二元对立框架的崩塌，使殖民与种族隔离计划的罪行，成为塑造当代南非多元复杂经验的创伤历史之核心。本文探讨了五部当代南非戏剧：《丛林故事》（Bush Tale）、《相对论：乡镇故事》（Relativity; Township Stories）、《哈利路亚！》（Hallelujah!）、《抵达》（Reach）与《武装响应》（Armed Response）。文中融入了后殖民与身份理论，以助力阐释这些戏剧作品。此外，克莱因客体关系学派（Kleinian School of Object Relations）精神分析理论的相关洞见，也有助于深化我们对悲伤与创伤过程如何助力理解这些戏剧及当代南非叙事的认知。