A comparative perspective on two plays by South African women

Abstract

In this essay, Michael Picardie begins by setting up a framework for application of theoretical ideas to theatre work, drawing on discourse analysis, deconstruction, and feminist analysis of the place of self and ‘other’ in life and in writing. He argues that this is one way to situate an approach to South African playwrights today. He then takes a critical look at the work of two playwrights: Gcina Mhlophe and Fatima Dike. He applies his theoretical perspective to their work, and argues that the representation of the personal, in the context of these two black South African writers, can be deconstructed with regard to issues of ethnography, power politics, literary politics, and the politics of performance. Picardie takes a very critical view of Mhlophe's work; his theoretical paradigm finds her work wanting. Of course, a different paradigm would find different things to value. Readers may want to read the plays discussed and make up their own minds about the relative value of these and other South African women's writings.