What I was Told: verbatim-physical theatre as feminist protest theatre in South Africa

Abstract

Verbatim-physical theatre presents the possibility for women’s stories, not only to be told, but to be heard, interacted and engaged with. This article explores the combination of physical- and verbatim theatre for feminist protest theatre in South Africa. It argues that verbatim-physical theatre as feminist protest theatre presents a mode of storytelling that is challenging and oppositional through embodied and dynamic performances. It further makes the case that South African theatre is built on a long tradition of story-telling, is imbued with inherent physicality and has always been a strong means for political consciousness-raising and education. It is this nature of South African theatre that makes the combination of verbatim- and physical theatre so effective for feminist protest theatre. The article also analyses the creation and staging of What I was Told, a verbatim-physical theatre production telling the stories of women, the stories told to us and the stories that still need to be told.