Archived 2012 Articles about Freedom of Speech & Expression

THEATRE: Harnessing the power of drama to change lives
A new programme aims to equip African communities in particular to take responsibility for their quality of life through arts activism
– Christina Kennedy, Business Day, 26 April 2012

WITH a sense of humour, you can survive most things, says Pieter-Dirk Uys — and he should know, having had to grin and bear it while his personal and artistic expression was muzzled for decades. At a public lecture at Wits University on Monday — held to mark his appointment as a Drama for Life (DFL) Carnegie scholar — the veteran political satirist and cultural activist warned that South Africans cannot become complacent, because apartheid will come back, just under a different name.

Uys used his address to urge young people in particular to become active, vigilant citizens to maintain a vigorous democracy. “If you don’t know what’s going on, it will go on without you,” he said. “Our future is what we make it.”

Uys used the analogy of theatre to illustrate the importance of freedom of expression and the unimpeded exchange of ideas: “In theatre, the people vote for you because they will be entertained by you — not out of sentiment.”

He said the turning point in his career came when his father went to work for the apartheid-era censor board and discovered they were “fools” and therefore thoroughly deserving of being made fun of.

This helped Uys to shed his fear of offending, and he went on to become known as the most banned playwright in South Africa — a reputation he gleefully courted and, in fact, propagated by writing anonymous letters to the authorities, complaining about the content of his work.

In the run-up to the African National Congress’s elective conference in Mangaung, Uys’s entreaty to the citizenry to remain alert, interested and involved echoes the philosophy of DFL itself. It promotes “art that engages with society”, as programme director Warren Nebe puts it.

Started in 2008, DFL involves training teacher-activists to “reinvigorate social work through the arts”, according to Nebe.

The programme aims to equip African communities in particular to take responsibility for their quality of life through arts activism, development and education that addresses their social realities. It has grown into a multipronged programme that includes a project to help young people deal with different forms of conflict, and another that seeks to contribute towards social justice and human rights in Zimbabwe.

The DFL drama-therapy project, with resident drama-therapist Tamara Gordon, one of only a dozen practising in South Africa, hopes to help “transform the culture of schools”.

The DFL Playback Company uses innovative storytelling theatre to probe various social issues, and the annual DFL Sex Actually festival of performance, workshops, exhibitions, poetry and film screenings — with content that sets tongues wagging — sees young people dissecting issues affecting them.

There are already a number of DFL alumni having an effect in several African countries, working with communities using arts-informed interventions that “speak to mind and soul — action combined with heart and thought”, says Nebe.

Like Uys does in his free schools show, For Facts’ Sake, they use arts and entertainment to get to the nub of pressing social issues such as HIV/AIDS and human rights. Because, as Uys points out, “if we can laugh at our fear, we can make it that less fearful”.