Biography:

I have taught at the Universities of Natal, Stellenbosch and the Western-Cape in South Africa in both English and Drama Departments from 1988 – 1997. I researched my PhD at the Institute for African Studies in Germany, with a DAAD scholarship in 1997-8, while registered in the Drama Department at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. I received my PhD in 1999 and lectured at Winchester University from 1999-2006, particularly on the BA Drama and Theatre in the Community and MA in Theatre & Media for Development. I joined the department at Warwick in April 2006 where I have continued to develop my research and teaching interests focussed on theatre in the African context, particularly South Africa, and intercultural theatre practices. Whilst at Warwick I have designed modules that address these research interests, particularly in relation to questions of how theatre impacts on the construction and representation/ performance of nation, gender, ethnicity, memory and counter-narratives. I also supervise students undertaking practical projects, research topics and MA and PhD research.

My primary research interest is African theatre and performance, and its relationship to history, myth, and memory, particularly with regard to hidden, or forgotten memories and contemporary identity construction in post-Apartheid South Africa. I am at present expanding my research to incorporate issues related to orality, and intra- and inter-cultural exchange, and how they are affected by specific ideological, social and aesthetic contexts. Related to this is my interest in theatre as a tool for advocacy, both at a local and in wider contexts. To this end I have both practical and teaching experience in Theatre for Development and am still affiliated with CDC-arts.

This interest in theatre in the contexts of history, myth and memory has resulted in several essays on contemporary South African theatre that have been published in journals and edited collections including Contemporary Theatre Review, South African Theatre Journal, A History of Theatre in Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2004) and two Palgrave books on Documentary drama. I have co-edited various journal and book collections. Most recently a special issue of Contemporary Theatre Review, focused on theatre in Africa; and African Theatre History: 1850-1950 (James Currey). I am currently working on my monograph Performance and the Archive of Memory, which is part of a three year Leverhulme Research Grant, awarded 2009-2012.

I am a co-editor for the South African Theatre Journal and African Theatre series, I referee and review for various academic journals, including Performing Ethos and the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.

Research Interests:

Performing Memory Project

§ Theatre, memory and history,

§ Post-colonial theatre,

§ Theatre in the African context

§ Interculturalism Theatre

§ Contemporary theatre in relation to nation, gender, ethnicity and globalisation

§ Contemporary South African Theatre

Publications

South African Performance and Archives of Memory (Manchester University Press, out c. 2012), part of Leverhulme Project Performing Memory: Theatricalising identity in contemporary South Africa (2009-2012)

Edited Books/ Journals

2011. Contemporary Theatre Review: Making Theatre in Africa: Reflections and Documents, 21:1. Co Guest edited with Dennis Walder.

2010. African Theatre: Histories 1850 and 1950. Woodbridge: James Currey/ Boydell & Brewer Inc.

2000. History and Theatre in Africa. Bayreuth African Studies 50/ South African Theatre Journal 13, Co-edited with Eckhard Breitinger.

1995. Open Space: An introduction to African drama. (co-edited with Kole Omotoso), Cape Town: Kagiso.

Book Chapters

2010. Post-1990s Verbatim Theatre in South Africa: Exploring an African Concept of 'Truth’. In Dramaturgy of the Real on the World Stage, Martin, Carol (ed). Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 61-71.

2009. Verbatim Theatre in South Africa: ‘Living theatre in a person’s performance’. In Get Real: Documentary Theatre Past and Present. Alison Forsyth & Chris Megson (eds), 209-223.

2004. South African Theatre. A History of Theatre in Africa, Martin Banham (ed.) Cambridge University Press, 312-379.

Articles in refereed journals

2010 The “Dark Continent” goes North: an exploration of intercultural theatre practice through Handspring and Sogolon Puppet companies’ The Tall Horse. Theatre Journal, 62, 57–73.

2005. Riding Osofisan’s Another Raft through the sea of Nigerian history: Theatre for Agency. South African Theatre Journal, No. 19, 242-253.

2005. Truth or Bust: Consensualising a historic narrative or provoking through theatre – the place of the personal narrative in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Contemporary Theatre Review, 15:3, 34-362.

2004. Memory and desire: the museum as space for performing cultural identity? Southern Africa - African Theatre. David Kerr (ed.) Oxford: James Currey, Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 51-67.

2003. Barney Simon: Brokering cultural interventions. Contemporary Theatre Review. Special issue on The Director as cultural critic. Vol. 13 (3), 4-15.

2003. South African entries for new Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Editor, Dennis Kennedy, Oxford University Press.

Current

Post apartheid South African women playwrights’, article length book chapter.

Planning symposium - Performing Truth and Justice: Analysing truth commissions through the lens of performance