Black Theater: From Repression to Integration
As a disabled Black woman, Marlene le Roux broke more than a few barriers when she was appointed CEO of Artscape, now a leading organization in Cape Town’s artistic education and production industry.
Originally created as the Nico Malan Theatre Centre in 1971, the space was only open to white audiences. An integrated audience was technically permitted several years later, but large amounts of restrictions and regulations against racially and politically diverse performances were still in place, especially since the center was not private. Instead, it was run by the Cape Performing Arts Board, a government-funded theater organization that had the final say in not only the Nico Malan’s activities, but in virtually every performance and theater group in Cape Province, which consisted of most of South Africa.
After the African National Congress took power, the center was privatized and renamed the Artscape Theatre Centre. Although there are still rampant inequalities across South Africa today, Le Roux refuses to let past or present struggle take away her optimism.
May 2017
HISTORY OF BLACK THEATER IN SOUTH AFRICA
This drive that fueled Le Roux fueled many other theatermakers throughout South Africa’s history. Since the apartheid began, Black theater groups fought for their rights to express their thoughts and ideas. The International Defense and Aid Fund was an organization based in London created to help political prisoners in South Africa. The organization published a “Fact Paper on Southern Africa” in 1976 titled “Black Theatre in South Africa,” documenting the history of Black theater throughout the apartheid. The paper explains that in the early years of the apartheid, Black theater was just beginning to evolve into a more active medium, a way to express and spread the desire for liberation rather than simply the expression of pain and struggle. At the same time the Black Consciousness Movement was taking shape, a grassroots organization that aimed to unite various Black groups against the apartheid and to gain independence by raising Black self-confidence and creativity. The Black Consciousness Movement used Black theater to push this goal, performing with all-Black casts and for Black audiences.
“Black Theatre in South Africa”
Document courtesy of the Mayibuye Archives
In 1973, attempting to decrease this spread of solidarity, the government started serving orders to known leaders of Black Consciousness groups, including leaders in the theater field, that banned them from participating in any group event or organization with other Black people. Black theater movements needed to maximize their impact with fewer resources and fewer people, so they started performing their plays in townships, which are undeveloped communities that Black and coloured people were forcefully segregated into during the apartheid. The plays were especially fitting in this setting for they often portrayed the realistic life of living in a township.
This led to even more governmental restrictions on Black productions across Cape Province with the Publications Act No. 42 in 1974. Before this act, plays could not be censored until after they were performed, possibly during the run. After the act, plays could be censored the moment they appeared in print for simply being determined ‘undesirable.’ Also, all-Black theater organizations were required to submit their scripts to be approved when requesting a venue. As a result, many productions were shut down before they could run, essentially snuffing out all Black theater expression at the time.
HISTORY OF BLACK THEATER OUT OF SOUTH AFRICA
Due to the large amounts of repression within South Africa, many influential protest theater groups were created outside of the country, including the Amandla Cultural Ensemble. The group was established in Angola in the ‘70s, and it was a well-known advocate for the ANC throughout Africa as well as around the world. The group presented the diverse cultural heritage of Black South Africans throughout history, including before, during, and after European colonialism.
The Amandla Cultural Ensemble’s performances include a range of different art forms, including dance, music, and drama. In the following video, the group performs scenes with and without dialogue to represent Black life and struggle, with monologues interspersed throughout the performance.
South African artists and theatermakers also found opportunities outside of the country to perform and develop their work. In an interview with author Keith Adams for his book “Memory Keepers: District Six – Conversations with National Living Treasures,” Ruth Goodwin, a renowned, coloured opera singer in South Africa, spoke of her experiences singing during the apartheid.
“People were stunned to discover that people of colour were singing opera,” Goodwin told Adams. Yet she was still forced to sing in a separate room because the audiences were segregated.
Goodwin was a member of the Eoan Group, a grassroots organization that held performances of opera, theater, and dance with coloured performers. The group reached out to singer Joseph Gabriels, who had trained in Milan and had performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in Germany, asking him to join the group.
“On his return to South Africa, he wasn’t allowed to sing at the only opera house in Cape Town,” Goodwin explained. “It was a pity as people would have loved to have seen him perform.”
AN INTEGRATED THEATER COMMUNITY
When the apartheid government was eventually voted out of office, the nation as a whole began to attempt a rebuilding of theater platforms across South Africa. In 2001, the Nico Malan was renamed Artscape and Le Roux became the director of audience development and education, a role which included the responsibility to attract new people to the theater, most importantly Black and coloured people. In this role, she helped change the types of productions they put on stage to attract a larger range of audiences.
“Our society is not simple. It is wonderful, complex, diverse. So this is what this particular space is about,” Le Roux explained.
Her first step to the integration of South Africa’s theater network was to perform plays that portrayed Black and coloured experiences. Her reasoning was that if a Black person saw that a play about Black people was being performed, they were more likely to attend.
“It’s not for you to feel comfortable,” Le Roux continued. “We talk about racism, we talk about sexism, we talk about gender issues, we talk about homophobia, we talk about everything.”
Le Roux goes even further to specifically make people uncomfortable, because she says that is how they will change.
“If you’re uncomfortable, we’ve made a point,” she said.
In this story, Le Roux explains how her method made a difference in the early years of Artscape.
When she was chosen to be the CEO in 2015, Le Roux accepted the opportunity to continue the work she does to expand the integration of South African theater, and it seems like she will not quit until she has done all she can to amend South Africa’s theater network.
South Africa’s inclusion of all theater networks is still a work in progress, but with people like Marlene le Roux in charge, it seems to be moving in the right direction.
All video, audio, and photos courtesy of Naomi Klinge and the Mayibuye Archives.