AFRICAN DRAMA
ATHOL FUGARD: Sizwe Bansi is Dead.
Discuss the dramatic techniques employed in the play.
Explanation
Athol Fugard employs a number of dramatic techniques to convey the conditions of black South Africans in an oppressive system. These include: The use of flashback: Flashback is a dominant dramatic technique used in the play. Events unfold through flashback as Styles reflects on the conditions of the black South Africans in Ford Motors. Through this technique, the audience is made to be aware of the oppressive and the exploitative nature of the apartheid system on the black worker who is kicked out if he dares challenge the white foreman. Sizwe's experiences in the house of Zola are also re-enacted through flashback.
The use of Characters: Fugard's use of a few characters is also an aspect of how he generates interest in the play. There are only three characters, namely; Styles, Sizwe and Buntu and the action of the play is seen from their perspective. Styles is the dominant character who re-enacts most of the injustices of the white regime and the inhuman treatment the black South African workers receive.
The use of the Dramatic Monologue: The dramatic monologue is seen as the dominant narrative technique employed by the playwright. Styles' utterances and actions as he plays several roles reveal the evils of apartheid in the plight, as well as the hopes of the oppressed blacks.
The use of Symbols: Several things stand for various ideas. The photographic studio itself represents a place where Styles creates a dream world for the suffering blacks in a situation where their hopes have been shattered by the unjust system. Buntu's house stands for a rehabilitation centre for the blacks. Cockroaches represent the oppressors whom Styles, who represents his people, is determined to exterminate. Other symbols include the use of the insecticide "Doom", and the Cat, which also represent his attempt to overcome oppression, while the Camera offers hope. Styles' newspaper headlines open up his mind to the realities and possibilities in and outside his immediate world.
Use of Irony: Irony is used to reinforce the dehumanising condition of the black man. It is ironical that Sizwe has to use a dead man's passport to survive and earn a living in his own native land. Other dramatic techniques employed in the play include miming and mimicry, use of the epistolary style, the absence of features like acts and scenes and the concentration of the setting in styles' studio.