Theatre In Apartheid South Africa

The Role of Protests Theatre in Apartheid South Africa
Augusto Boal stated, “...All theatre is necessarily political because all activities of man are political and theatre is one of them’’ (Schumann, 2008). Apart from entertaining the society, theatres perform the role of educating, informing, creating awareness and addressing the daily occurrences that face the society at any given time. In 1980s, those who felt oppressed by their apartheid masters in South Africa used the protest theatres as a tool for influencing change (Anderson, 2001). This paper examines how the protest theatres were able to impart knowledge, increase determination, self-realization, and protest against social and political status that was deemed repressive during

There was a popular slogan an ANC (African National Congress) ‘culture is a weapon of struggle’. Albert Sachs is reported to have said that “the very power of art lay in its ability to expose the complexity and contradictions... and art has the power to exist independently without the interference of the apartheid” (Schumann, 2008). He claimed that are needed to be able to portray the values of new South African free from the oppressive burdens of apartheid. Mayibuye Cultural Ensemble an ANC group, which was based in London, was used to push the anti-apartheid agenda and to raise awareness inside the movement on the ways by which cultural activity could help gaining national liberation (Schumann, 2008). Another ANC outfit Amandla cultural Ensembles made up of ANC exiles acted as ANC ambassador all over the world promoting international awareness against apartheid and depicted a better South Africa

Mass demonstrations were staged at different times and in different parts of South Africa. During these demos, the protesters would sing and dance to intensify the opposition such as in the 1950s after the government established and implemented the apartheid law (Lowenberg & Kaempfer, 2008).
In 1973, Steve Biko was denied right to talk in public or even to speak to more than one person at a time. These were some of the several other restrictions imposed on him due to his political activism, which had caused him to be expelled from the university. This was a government strategy to counter rebellion in Kagablog. Stephen Bantu Biko worked in visual and performed arts like songs,books, websites, theatre plays, poems, films, paintings,sculptures, clothing labels, and graffiti on the walls in various townships of South Africa declaring “Biko Lives!” (Lowenberg & Kaempfer, 2008). It is evident that literature and the arts played a significant role as one of the media outlets that declared Steve Biko as immortal. He found self-definition, self-realization, self-love, self-respect, self-reliance and self-expression to be the best weapon for the physical and psychological liberation for less unfortunate