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Reg. No.: 2011/011959/07
SOUTH AFRICAN THEATRE
SOPHIATOWN
BY JUNCTION AVENUE THEATRE COMPANY
Learning objectives
After studying this section (this document, as well as ‘Journey 10’ in the Via Afrika Learner Book), you should be able to:
● Analyse the text of Sophiatown written by Junction Avenue Theatre Company, according to the dramatic principles.
● Understand the context and background relevant to the text.
● Understand the dramatic principles in the text, i.e., plot, characters, dialogue, themes, structure and staging devices.
● Specific elements relevant to the dramatic form, and key terminology pertaining to both content and style (reviewing theatre styles you studied in Grade 10 and Grade 11).
Introduction
In this section we analyse the South African play Sophiatown by Junction Avenue Theatre Company.
Important terminology
Theatrical terminology
Term Definition
Heightened A performance style that uses exaggerated physicality and vocal elements; not a realistic style of performance.
Foreshadow As a literary device it is used to suggest or predict the happening of a future event.
Theatrical terminology
Term Definition
Two-dimensional character / flat character
Three-dimensional character / well-rounded character
Episodic
Spectacle
Minimalism
Tableaux
Alienation
A two-dimensional character is a mere stereotype or representation of a kind of person or theme. This character does not have a background and doesn’t show depth/layers or the potential to change at the end of the play.
A three-dimensional character has four levels (physical, social, psychological and moral), which means that the character has depth and shows potential to change. He /she resembles real life people in a realistic manner. These characters are usually found in Realism.
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A play that consists of short, hard-hitting scenes typically linked by music or dance.
According to Aristotle’s six elements of drama, spectacle is the last element. It refers to set, costumes, lighting, makeup and special effects. It is everything that visually creates the setting/locality of the play.
The stripping away of most spectacle onstage so that the audience focuses more on the actors and the story being told, rather than being distracted by elaborate sets and props.
A tableau (one) is a representation of a dramatic scene by a person or group, posing silently without moving. Tableaux refers to more than one tableau. This is used often in physical theatre performances.
To keep an audience emotionally detached by constantly reminding them that they are watching a play and not real life. This is to facilitate a process by which an audience can think critically about what they are watching and not get too emotionally involved.
Your first step is to read the play. Once you have read the entire play, work through ‘Journey 10’ in the Via Afrika Learner’s Book in conjunction with these notes. You may also review ‘Protest Theatre’, ‘Poor Theatre’ and ‘Workshop Theatre’ from page 41–47 of this study guide (content from your Grade 10 and 11 Dramatic Arts curriculum).
The creators of Sophiatown – Junction Avenue Theatre (JATC)
Sophiatown was not written or created by one individual playwright. Instead, as a workshopped play, it was devised by a group called The Junction Avenue Theatre Company, also known as JATC.
The Junction Avenue Theatre Company was formed in 1976 by a group of white students from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) in Johannesburg. These students wanted to create plays about South African society. They were an experimental theatre group which means they used workshopping techniques to create a play from a basic idea and without a script in the initial stages of development. They also wrote/scripted their own songs used in their productions. The Junction Avenue Theatre Company saw their plays as a platform to address the social injustices, exploitation and racism that black South Africa was facing during Apartheid. After collaborating with members from another theatre group called Workshop 71, who had not gone into exile, JATC became the first non-racial theatre company in South Africa. Their question to the audience was always: What can we do to make a difference and change the course of history?
Sophiatown, the play, was created in 1985 by the Junction Avenue Theatre Company (JATC) as a workshop play and was first performed in 1986. Although it was written in the 80s it is about the real-life forced removals that took place in Sophiatown, the place, between 1953 and 1955.
When we talk about Sophiatown, the play, the word appears either in italics (a slanted style of font) or it is underlined. When we talk about Sophiatown, the place, it is neither in italics nor is it underlined. However, both are capitalised.
Overview
Sophiatown, the play, is based on the real-life story of Sophiatown, a township in western Johannesburg. The play retells the story of the historical forced removals of Sophiatown residents. Sophiatown was celebrated because it was a multi-racial community despite oppressive Apartheid laws.
The play takes place in Mamariti’s house at 65 Gerty Street in Sophiatown where many different kinds of characters, all representing the typical real-life community of Sophiatown, happily live together. When a white Jewish girl named Ruth arrives, with the intention to rent a room in Mamariti’s house, things become very interesting.
It is a story of a community characterised by jazz, freehold title deeds, gangsterism, politics and the hub of black intellectuals. Though there is evidence of poverty, the characters take pride in what they have because it is theirs. However, there is the looming danger of being forcefully uprooted from their pride and joy, Sophiatown, and being moved into the new township of Meadowlands which is farthest from town (where the white people live), but also where the government can ensure that black people and every other racial group remains separate from one another.
The play Sophiatown has become known as an age-old classic in South African theatre. It explores themes of freedom versus oppression, displacement, identity, memory and loss, racial segregation and hope for a better future.
To watch a trailer for the most recently (May 2023) staged performance of Sophiatown at the Pretoria State Theatre, visit this website:
Important
terminology
Term Definition
Political terminology
Apartheid
Translated from Afrikaans, meaning ‘being apart’, Apartheid was the ideology supported by the National Party (NP) government and was introduced in South Africa in 1948. Apartheid called for the separate development of the different racial groups in South Africa. Apartheid-made laws forced the different racial groups to live separately and develop separately, and totally unequally too. It tried to stop all intermarriage and social integration between racial groups.
Conscientize To educate (a person) about an issue or idea.
Mobilise
Marginalise
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If you mobilise support or mobilise people to do something, you succeed in encouraging people to take action, especially political action. When people mobilise, they prepare to take action.
The act of treating a person or group as though they are insignificant by isolating and/or disempowering them. The term ‘marginalised’ describes the person or group that is being treated insignificantly, pushed to the margins of society and rendered powerless.
Massacre
Racial classification
Freehold
A brutal slaughter of many people; to deliberately and brutally kill (many people).
Racial classification is the grouping of people based on shared physical or social qualities.
If a building or piece of land is freehold, a person can own it for life. This means that the freeholder of a property owns it outright, including the land it is built on.
Displaced To be forced to moved away from an area or country.
Political terminology
Term Definition
Civil unrest
Self-identify
Fighting between different groups of people living in the same country; a situation arising from a mass act of civil disobedience in which law enforcement has difficulty maintaining their authority. Civil unrest may include riots, demonstrations, threatening individuals or assemblies that have become disruptive.
To assign a particular characteristic or categorisation to oneself; describe oneself as belonging to a particular category or group; to believe that you are a particular kind of person, especially when other people do not think that you are. For example, ‘She self-identifies as white’ or ‘He selfidentifies as catholic’.
Sociopolitical background
Sophiatown was originally a farm outside of Johannesburg, Transvaal (now known as Gauteng). It was bought by a white investor, Hermann Tobiansky, who named the suburb after his wife, Sophia, and the streets after his daughters Gerty, Ray, Edith and Bertha. Subsequently, the area became a whites-only area. When a sewage dump was built next to the area white people lost interest in buying property there. They no longer wanted to live in Sophiatown and moved out. Later, blacks and coloureds were given permission to settle in the area by the owner, Hermann Tobiansky.
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The National Party (also known as the NP) was the governing party of South Africa from 1948 until 1994. Its policies included Apartheid, the establishment of a South African Republic and the promotion of Afrikaner culture. NP members were sometimes known as ‘Nationalists’ or ‘Nats’. The NP was known for promoting two things: the gradual independence of South Africa from British rule, and the promotion of Afrikaans nationalism and white supremacy that introduced Apartheid. (Afrikaner nationalism is the idea that the Afrikaners are the ‘chosen people’. It says that Afrikaners who speak their language should unite to fight off foreign influences that come from English-speaking settlers of South Africa, black people or Jews.)
When the NP introduced Apartheid, it promised its voters that it would secure the political future of whites. Immediately after the 1948 election, the government began to remove any remaining symbols of the historic British power, such as abolishing British citizenship, scrapping ‘God Save the Queen’ as one of the national anthems and removing the Union Jack as one of the national ensigns (1957).
The Union Jack – the national flag of the United Kingdom.
The NP’S Apartheid policy steadily marginalised ethnic groups and undermined their culture of and pride in their achievements. For those who were not white and Afrikaans, it seemed as if the Afrikaners were obsessed with fears about their own survival, and did not care about the damage and the hurt that Apartheid inflicted upon others in a far weaker position.
The NP maintained that whites were in control of the country and the system of Apartheid was maintained by several laws which gave power to whites only. Some of these laws included: racial classification and racial sex laws; laws that allocated group areas for each racial community and work, segregated schools and universities, racially-separated public facilities and sport.
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South Africans had long protested their inferior treatment through many organisations, such as the African National Congress (ANC, founded in 1912) and the South African Communist Party (SACP, founded in 1953). In the 1950s and early 1960s there were various protests against the National Party’s policies, involving passive resistance and the burning of passbooks. In 1960, a peaceful anti-pass law protest in Sharpeville (near Johannesburg) ended when police opened fire, massacring 70 protesters and wounding about 190 others. This protest was organised by the Pan-Africanist Congress (a branch of the ANC). In the 1960s most leaders (including ANC leaders Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu) who opposed Apartheid were either in jail or living in exile, while the government proceeded with its plans to segregate blacks on a more permanent basis.
Apartheid laws
Below are some Apartheid laws that are relevant to understanding the sociopolitical context of the play Sophiatown. As you read through each law, consider which character(s) in the play is affected by the law, and how.
● Native (Urban Areas) Act of 1923 and The Black (Natives) Laws Amendment Act of 1952
In 1923, the NP passed the Native (Urban Areas) Act, declaring its cities as ‘white’ and stripping black residents of ownership rights. Black residents were forced to carry permits (or ‘passes’) with their fingerprint, photograph and the name of the white employer that had given permission for passage into the city. Failure to produce the permit resulted in arrest or expulsion.
● The Liquor Act of 1927
Blacks and Indians were denied employment by liquor license holders and were not allowed to serve liquor or drive liquor vans. They were also denied access to licensed premises.
● The Slums Act: Demolition of Slums of 1934
This Act was aimed at improving conditions in locations, but actually expropriated Indian property. Excused as reasons of sanitation, the act was enforced to demolish and seize with the ultimate aim of segregation.
● The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 of 1949
The NP first introduced the Mixed Marriages Act in 1949. This Act prohibited marriage between whites and any other racial group. The Nationalists were worried about the increasing integration between coloureds and whites, and the number of fair coloured people passing as ‘white’. When this law was enacted in 1949 there were about 75 mixed marriages recorded compared to 28 000 white marriages.
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● Immorality Amendment Act, Act No 21 of 1950
This Act was one of the most controversial pieces of Apartheid legislation. It prohibited adultery, attempted adultery or related ‘immoral’ acts such as sexual intercourse between white and black people.
● Suppression of Communism Act, Act No 44 of 1950
The Act was passed because the NP government feared the influence of the Communist Party of South Africa on the Afrikaner, and later African, working class. It made the Communist Party and propagation of communism unlawful. The term communism referred to any non-parliamentary political opposition to the government. The Act allowed the punishment of any group that did anything
intended to bring about political, economic, industrial and social change through the promotion of disorder or disturbance, using unlawful acts or encouragement of feelings of hostility. The Act also allowed for the banning of any person believed to be pursuing communist activities. The victims of this Act in the 1950s included Albert Luthuli, Moses Kotane, J.B. Marks, Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Yusuf Dadoo, Walter Sisulu, Dora Tamana, Josie Mpama, Eli Weinberg, Betty du Toit, Dan Tloome, M.P. Naicker, Reg September and Joe Slovo.
● The Group Areas Act, Act No 41 of 1950
The primary aim of this Act was to make residential separation compulsory. The Act laid down legal ways to strictly separate population groups according to who could own property, where people could live and work. There was quite a range of reasons why this Act was introduced and strengthened. The primary reason was to limit the movements of the non-whites, in particular blacks from rural areas into the big cities and whites-only areas. The influx into the big cities was stimulated by the booming economy. To best manage the increasing number of non-whites in big cities, the government set up semi-urban townships for black, Indian and coloured population groups. With the establishment of these urban areas the government was attempting to keep riots and any other form of threats by non-whites on the white population group, under control. The Act also cut across all traditional property rights and led to the evictions of thousands of blacks, coloureds and Indians. It became a source of resentment to the nonwhites. The Indian community were the most affected as they were forced out of the central city areas where they had previously operated their businesses.
● The Population Registration Act, Act No 30 of 1950
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The Population Registration Act provided that all South Africans be racially classified in one of three categories: white, black or coloured. According to this Act Indians fell under the coloured category. The criteria used to determine the qualification into each of these categories was based on appearance, social acceptance and descent. The Act described a White person as one whose parents were both White. The other things that categorised a person as white were his habits, speech, education, deportment and demeanour. Blacks were defined as being members of an African race or tribe, and coloureds as people who were neither white nor black. The Department of Home Affairs was responsible for handling the classification process of the citizenry. As a result of this Act, black people were forced to carry passbooks, the infamous ‘dompas’ which had their fingerprints, photo and information.
● The B antu Education Act of 1953
This Act provided for a separate educational system run by the Department of the Native Affairs under the minister Dr H.F. Verwoerd. The primary aim of this educational system was to provide blacks with skills to serve their own people in the homelands or to work in labouring jobs under whites. Dr Verwoerd explained his policy as follows: “There is no place for the Bantu in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour. Until now he has been subjected to a school system which drew him away from his own community and misled him by showing him green pastures of European society in which he was not allowed to graze.”
● Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953
This Act provided that there should be separate amenities such as toilets, parks and beaches for different racial groups. Furthermore, these facilities should not be of the same quality for different groups. Subsequently, Apartheid signs indicating which people were permitted to enter/use the facility were displayed throughout the country.
● Natives Resettlement Act, Act No 19 of 1954
This Act granted powers to the government to remove Africans (blacks, coloureds and Indians) from any area within and next to the magisterial district of Johannesburg. In essence this Act aimed to remove Africans from Sophiatown to Meadowlands (a part of what is commonly known as Soweto), in the southwest of Johannesburg.
● Extension of University Education Act of 1959
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This Act provided the separation of tertiary institutions for blacks, Indians, coloureds and whites. Blacks were not allowed to attend white universities unless with special permission by the government. The separation of these institutions was not only along racial lines but also along ethnic lines. The University of Fort Hare was opened for Xhosa speaking students only, while the University of the North in Turfloop was set up for the Sotho and Tswana students. Coloureds had their University in Bellville, while Indians and Zulus had their universities in Ngoye (KZN) and Durban-Westville respectively. The provision of this Act was met with protest from most lecturers at Fort Hare and other universities.
Why did the National Party pass the Native Resettlement Act of 1954?
Many black people moved to cities in search of jobs. This migration of people from the rural areas into bigger cities is known as urbanisation. As the number of black people increased in the cities, the Johannesburg City Council (JCC) passed Slum Clearance programmes with the aim of removing black people from the inner city of Johannesburg. The JCC was controlled by the NP government.
These new arrivals had no place to go, so they were moved to Sophiatown. The area became overcrowded, and they were not allowed by the government to acquire permits for land ownership. Black landowners were burdened with huge mortgages, so they allowed others to live in their backyards and pay rent (much like the character of Mamariti in the play Sophiatown). As the population grew in Sophiatown, people built houses out of metal sheets and excess materials, and the area became a shanty town (a low-income area on the outskirts of a town consisting of large numbers of shanty dwellings/shacks).
The NP government realised that Johannesburg was growing and that black people were increasing in numbers. Furthermore, the government realised that the black population was inevitably getting closer to white areas, so the NP passed the Native Resettlement Act of 1954. This Act allowed the ruling party, NP, to remove blacks and other people of colour from any area within, and close to, the magisterial district of Johannesburg. Most importantly, the Act was passed to remove blacks and other people of colour from Sophiatown.
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On 9 February 1955, the head of the South African government, D.F. Malan, sent two thousand policemen armed with stun guns and rifles to Sophiatown. The bulldozers arrived at five o’clock on the morning. Behind them police commanders lined up with piles of paper – lists of names and addresses, eviction notices and assignments to new plots in the Meadowlands suburb, 15 kilometres away on the northern edge of Soweto. Behind the commanders, an army of 2 000 police officers carried rifles and batons, ready to enforce the eviction and clear Sophiatown of its black residents. ‘Maak julle oop!’ they shouted in Afrikaans. ‘Open up!’
