DRAMATIC ARTS
MATRIC IEB
POST MODERN THEATRE:
“ECLIPSED” BY SYLVAINE STRIKE. - PAGE 2
“FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE
CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE
RAINBOW IS ENUF” BY NTOZAKE SHANGE. - PAGE 5
SOUTH AFRICAN THEATRE:
WOZA ALBERT BY PERCY MTW ET AL. - PAGE
created by jordan law
, POST MODERN
POST MODERN
THEATRE
THEATRE ECLIPSED
BY SYLVAINE
STRIKE
The beginning and
intentions:
Historical context:
→ Eclipsed was birthed from the need to
research, educate, and create awareness
about the Life Esidimeni tragedy. → The Gauteng Executive Council For
→ For patients who needed extra assistance Health terminated their 40 year contract
with mental issues and disabilities, but with Life Esidimeni.
closed down. → The patients were relocated to cheaper
→ aim = research, create, and empower, care centres (NGO Facilities, psychiatric
and to proactively participate in making a hospitals, and community care Facilities)
difference to mental health. (many which were found to be unlicensed
→ the world of gesture, metaphor, and grossly under-resourced.)
movement and symbol would be critical to → 1711 State patients were relocated.
making it watchable. → I44 people died at these "care facilities".
→ some of the causes included starvation
and neglect.
Title of the play: → no one was ever put in jail or held
accountable.
→ Named after the poem "Eclipsed".
→ Metaphor For the Fact the tragedy was
ignored, like how an eclipse there for a moment
and then everyone forgets about it afterward. Plot and characters:
→ Deborah Phebla, Mevrou Maria Phehla
Story of Eclipsed: (her mom), and Justice Dikgang Moseneke.
→ Some key government officials.
→ The central narrative hinges on the →The script is peppered with the youthful
story of Deborah Phehla who was moved and vibrant voices of the actors who were
from a Life Esidemeni Facility in directly involved in the process of devising
RandFontein to the Takalani Home in the play.
Soweto.
→ She died of starvation at the Takalani
home, aged 14 just 3 days after being
moved there. Creation Process: Devised Theatre
→ She was mentally challenged and
→ A devised theatre that takes place without a
found with paper and plastic in her
stomach. script. The script gets "written" as the rehearsal
process takes place through a serious of
improvisation and collaborations.
Verbatim theatre: → research = written and digital information
→ The script of Eclipsed was devised drawing on
→ latin for quote a number of practices:
→ adds to factual nature → Research, Verbatim, Tracking, Personal
→ instead of adapting or repackaging experiences of Theatre Response
observations within a fictional dramatic situation.
Acknowledges and draws attention to its roots in real life.
→ A technique, a means rather than an end.
→ Example: Real court recordings in scenes.
, POST MODERN
POST MODERN
THEATRE
THEATRE ECLIPSED
Verbatim theatre in Eclipsed:
Testimony from the court case is used throughout the script. It is captured verbatim and performed
with respect towards those whose real life characters are being represented.
Close to the end of the research process, and a first draft of the script, we decided to capture and
follow one patient’s journey as a catalyst for the rest of the play to unfold.
Another device that characterizes Verbatim Theatre is the use of audio clips from both the court
case as well as the media.
... a metaphor is key to bringing the factual into the theatrical. The files, as drawn from
Deborah’s story, were used as a metaphor throughout Eclipsed.
To name a few examples; from the literal file as used in the court case to butterflies representing
the 144 fallen.
Set:
Physical language: Back wall with lists of the names of the
patients who died, written on the surface in
Physicality is seen throughout the production. Here white chalk.
are some moments: Two knee-height boxes covered in
The moment when the requirements of an NGO cardboard box material are used, one to
are listed, the ensemble use physical gesture to be sat on by Me. Maria Phehla for the
stamp each requirement in a synchronised form. arbitration scenes, and the other to be
Another moment is when Me. Maria Phehla is stood on by various characters such as
discussing the post-mortem report with Justice Coralie Trotter, Hannah Jacobus when they
whilst the ensemble surround Deborah and use testify.
the files as the physical representation of her The sides of the stage and along the back
asphyxiation. The files are then used to cover her wall are littered with more files and
dead body, apart from her arm reaching for help papers, including the balcony above the
as described by her mother. back wall. This area is used as an
additional acting space, such as for the
opening monologue and when the
Props: ensemble enact the patients’ transport
from Life Esidimeni and they bounce, sway
100+ large Lever arch files in black, and and move as if in a vehicle.
various colours, 15 of which are white. The files Scene changes occur when members of
represent chaos and neglect. the ensemble move various items (such as
It is imperative that there is a free-standing the box or the roaming microphone on
microphone which works, so that the person stage).
testifying has an amplified voice.
Costume:
The costumes comprised of hospital scrubs in surgical blue,
which we ordered from a hospital
supplier, and which each actor made their own by styling it
in a different way (see photos). The fabric is disposable, and
this speaks to how the patients were treated.
MATRIC IEB
POST MODERN THEATRE:
“ECLIPSED” BY SYLVAINE STRIKE. - PAGE 2
“FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE
CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE
RAINBOW IS ENUF” BY NTOZAKE SHANGE. - PAGE 5
SOUTH AFRICAN THEATRE:
WOZA ALBERT BY PERCY MTW ET AL. - PAGE
created by jordan law
, POST MODERN
POST MODERN
THEATRE
THEATRE ECLIPSED
BY SYLVAINE
STRIKE
The beginning and
intentions:
Historical context:
→ Eclipsed was birthed from the need to
research, educate, and create awareness
about the Life Esidimeni tragedy. → The Gauteng Executive Council For
→ For patients who needed extra assistance Health terminated their 40 year contract
with mental issues and disabilities, but with Life Esidimeni.
closed down. → The patients were relocated to cheaper
→ aim = research, create, and empower, care centres (NGO Facilities, psychiatric
and to proactively participate in making a hospitals, and community care Facilities)
difference to mental health. (many which were found to be unlicensed
→ the world of gesture, metaphor, and grossly under-resourced.)
movement and symbol would be critical to → 1711 State patients were relocated.
making it watchable. → I44 people died at these "care facilities".
→ some of the causes included starvation
and neglect.
Title of the play: → no one was ever put in jail or held
accountable.
→ Named after the poem "Eclipsed".
→ Metaphor For the Fact the tragedy was
ignored, like how an eclipse there for a moment
and then everyone forgets about it afterward. Plot and characters:
→ Deborah Phebla, Mevrou Maria Phehla
Story of Eclipsed: (her mom), and Justice Dikgang Moseneke.
→ Some key government officials.
→ The central narrative hinges on the →The script is peppered with the youthful
story of Deborah Phehla who was moved and vibrant voices of the actors who were
from a Life Esidemeni Facility in directly involved in the process of devising
RandFontein to the Takalani Home in the play.
Soweto.
→ She died of starvation at the Takalani
home, aged 14 just 3 days after being
moved there. Creation Process: Devised Theatre
→ She was mentally challenged and
→ A devised theatre that takes place without a
found with paper and plastic in her
stomach. script. The script gets "written" as the rehearsal
process takes place through a serious of
improvisation and collaborations.
Verbatim theatre: → research = written and digital information
→ The script of Eclipsed was devised drawing on
→ latin for quote a number of practices:
→ adds to factual nature → Research, Verbatim, Tracking, Personal
→ instead of adapting or repackaging experiences of Theatre Response
observations within a fictional dramatic situation.
Acknowledges and draws attention to its roots in real life.
→ A technique, a means rather than an end.
→ Example: Real court recordings in scenes.
, POST MODERN
POST MODERN
THEATRE
THEATRE ECLIPSED
Verbatim theatre in Eclipsed:
Testimony from the court case is used throughout the script. It is captured verbatim and performed
with respect towards those whose real life characters are being represented.
Close to the end of the research process, and a first draft of the script, we decided to capture and
follow one patient’s journey as a catalyst for the rest of the play to unfold.
Another device that characterizes Verbatim Theatre is the use of audio clips from both the court
case as well as the media.
... a metaphor is key to bringing the factual into the theatrical. The files, as drawn from
Deborah’s story, were used as a metaphor throughout Eclipsed.
To name a few examples; from the literal file as used in the court case to butterflies representing
the 144 fallen.
Set:
Physical language: Back wall with lists of the names of the
patients who died, written on the surface in
Physicality is seen throughout the production. Here white chalk.
are some moments: Two knee-height boxes covered in
The moment when the requirements of an NGO cardboard box material are used, one to
are listed, the ensemble use physical gesture to be sat on by Me. Maria Phehla for the
stamp each requirement in a synchronised form. arbitration scenes, and the other to be
Another moment is when Me. Maria Phehla is stood on by various characters such as
discussing the post-mortem report with Justice Coralie Trotter, Hannah Jacobus when they
whilst the ensemble surround Deborah and use testify.
the files as the physical representation of her The sides of the stage and along the back
asphyxiation. The files are then used to cover her wall are littered with more files and
dead body, apart from her arm reaching for help papers, including the balcony above the
as described by her mother. back wall. This area is used as an
additional acting space, such as for the
opening monologue and when the
Props: ensemble enact the patients’ transport
from Life Esidimeni and they bounce, sway
100+ large Lever arch files in black, and and move as if in a vehicle.
various colours, 15 of which are white. The files Scene changes occur when members of
represent chaos and neglect. the ensemble move various items (such as
It is imperative that there is a free-standing the box or the roaming microphone on
microphone which works, so that the person stage).
testifying has an amplified voice.
Costume:
The costumes comprised of hospital scrubs in surgical blue,
which we ordered from a hospital
supplier, and which each actor made their own by styling it
in a different way (see photos). The fabric is disposable, and
this speaks to how the patients were treated.
