Introduction: Scarcity, Conspicuous Consumption, and Performance in South Africa

Abstract

While anti-apartheid theatre was known worldwide for dramatizing the struggle against apartheid, theatre in South Africa today is hampered by the loss of a focused movement for change and by inefficient and compromised institutions of patronage and development. Well-placed administrators and stakeholders channel limited subsidy to large institutions such as the Market and the State Theatre, whose repertoires are dominated by nostalgic revivals, while cutting-edge performance must rely on corporate or international support. Under these conditions, theatre that is innovative in seeking new audiences and functions, as well as forms, happens often outside theatres: in film and radio, in education, and as an informal legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's project of personal and national healing.