Abstract
The modern self as puppet in Woyzeck on the HighveldThis article undertakes a semiotic investigation of identifications of the self in terms of a specifically South African modernism, via an exploration of an adaptation of Georg Büchner’s “Woyzeck”. William Kentridge’s production of “Woyzeck on the Highveld”(1992; 2009) marks at least three intersections of modernist and modernising discourses. Firstly, it uses as its principal source Georg Büchner’s protomodernist text, with its description of an individual alienated from his social context. Secondly, in making use of the puppets of the Handspring Puppet Company for its central characters, the play employs a style commensurate with modernist aesthetics, in terms of the objectification of subjectivity and the mechanisation of the subject. Thirdly, by re-contextualising Büchner’s German soldier as an African mineworker, the production deals with aspects of modernisation by examining the clash, confusion and concomitant syncretism of rural and urban cultures. The article concludes by identifying the all too human desire to be more than a puppet, more than machine, and the potential consequences of the fragmented modernist self on conceptions of identity and freedom.
Highlights
’n Vorige weergawe van hierdie artikel is vir die eerste keer aangebied tydens die International Federation of Theatre Research Conference onder die tema “Cultures of Modernity” in München, Duitsland, 26-31 Julie 2010
Verdere belangstelling in poppespel blyk uit die uitmuntende boek wat die Handspring Puppet Company in 2010 in samewerking met David Krut vrygestel het en waarin hulle werk van die afgelope dertig jaar gevier word
Die besluit om toneelpoppe in die Suid-Afrikaanse weergawe van Woyzeck on the Highveld te gebruik om hierdie identifisering te demonstreer, stel William Kentridge in staat om die objektivering van die self en die meganisering van die subjek na vore te bring
Summary
Om ’n mens te vervang metn objek of simbool is ’n modernistiese neiging. Die toneelpop is deur talle modernistiese kunstenaars gebruik, byvoorbeeld Picasso, Cocteau, Paul Klee en die kunstenaars van De Stijl. Handspring se Woyzeck on the Highveld (1992; 2009) is ’n toneelstuk wat hierdie modernistiese belangsteling in die objektivering van die self bondig uitbeeld. Deur toneelpoppe as voorstelling vir die sentrale figure te gebruik, word tweedens ’n styl gebruik wat verskeie elemente van modernistiese estetika oproep, met spesifieke verwysing na Segel se beskrywing in Pinocchio’s progeny (1995). Die besluit om toneelpoppe in die Suid-Afrikaanse weergawe van Woyzeck on the Highveld te gebruik om hierdie identifisering te demonstreer, stel William Kentridge in staat om die objektivering van die self en die meganisering van die subjek na vore te bring. Deur Woyzeck ’n rondtrekkende mynwerker in die vyftigerjare van die vorige eeu te maak, word dit moontlik om kommentaar te lewer op die verskillende magte wat die Suid-Afrikaanse nasie tot stand gebring het – aangesien niks die koms van moderniteit in hierdie land so duidelik inlui as die totstandkoming van die mynbedryf nie.
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