Embodying ‘lightness’ in the New South Africa—the theatre of Ellis Pearson and Bheki Mkhwane 1993–2008

Abstract

At the same time as democratic changes in South Africa were heralded as a transformation of the 'rainbow nation', a theatre duo was formed that would endure from 1993 through to 2008. Bheki Mkhwane and Ellis Pearson created a style of physical theatre that was unique, drawing from their respective training and experiences. Mkhwane brought the perspective of township theatre and Zulu traditional storytelling and performance forms, while Pearson contributed his training with Jacques Lecoq and local university drama education. Their work combines to suggest an intercultural1 aesthetic. This article suggests that their partnership was representative of an imagined community (Anderson 1991:24), i.e. of interracial collaboration in South Africa. In discussing their performances, the article suggests that their dramaturgy not only demonstrated a particular lightness (Murray 2010) in physical style, but also in how they chose to tell stories about South Africa. Their theatre works in the fifteen-year collaboration often presented idealized notions of the importance of community, the spiritual realm and nature, articulated through a physical, intercultural theatre.