Inhlanzi Ishelwe Amanzi‐As Fish Out of Water: finding authentic voices in a multicultural student production

Abstract

Abstract This paper analyses the process of creating a piece of Physical Theatre with a multicultural group of drama students at a university in South Africa. The process is perceived as a liberatory one within the post‐apartheid era in which former stereotypes of race and culture still prevail and in which the realities of multiculturalism are still being explored and negotiated. This process is analysed in terms of the techniques used to create a space for dialogue and problematisation, and in terms of its effect on the attitudes of the cast involved‐to the issues and subject matter raised during the workshopping and to each other. The relationship of this process to ideas of praxis and cultural action, and particularly humanisation, raised by Freire are explored. The performance piece is also analysed in terms of appropriate form for multicultural expression.