The end(s) of The Tempest in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

Following the sea change that led South Africa into the democratic era in 1994, theatre-makers have explored the resonances and limitations of The Tempest as an expression of local realities. In this article, I provide a partial performance history of the play in this period, tracing the ends (and endings) towards which it has been staged in five productions: two in 1994 at Maynardville Open Air Theatre and Rhodes University respectively, and three more at Durban University of Technology (2003), the University of the Witwatersrand (2004), and the Baxter Theatre (2009). These showed varying creative responses to the text, suggesting a double bind in performance: the network of associations attached to the play are both inescapable and frequently inadequate for articulating complex and variable post-apartheid experiences. Theatre-makers have thus, at times, moved beyond usual boundaries of the text, suggesting a need for something other than The Tempest to give voice to contemporary concerns. This was most fully evidenced by two further productions from the 2010s: Miranda’s Tale (2016), and Kunene and the King (2019). In relation to the preceding productions of The Tempest, these two plays demonstrate significant departures from the text and the politics it has come to represent.