On Maishe Maponya's The Hungry Earth
Maishe Maponya is a South African playwright.From his very young age itself he was interested in politicl theatre.He was born in Johannesburg in 1951.He was also a victim of the aparthied practices during the colonial rule.Later he was an active participant of Black Consciousness Movement.His works include-The Cry(1976),Umongikazi/The Nurse(1983),Dirty Work(1984) and Jika(1986).The Hungry Earth was staged in Soweto in 1979.Moponya introduced a minimal set designe to cut the cost and to make mobility easy for the actors.The use of props were also less.In the play the playwrigh deals with the miseries undergone by the rural palntation labourers to the migrant labourers.He draws the sorry plight of innocent people who are suppresses and the way their are being tortured for unnecessary guilt.The Hungry Earth is an eye opener against dehumanisation of workers and it also call for resistance/rejection of the controling authority.
The play The Hungry Earth ,is a criticism of the aparthied regime and have much political implications.The play can be viewed as a resistance from the part of the suppressed Black people of South Africa.The play mainly tell the socio,economic and cultural effects of South African migrant labour system and its relation to gold mining industry.The treatment of the Black people by the colonizers were very harsh.They were devoid of basic facilities and were made to work for hours and over time.They lost their families and lives an isolated life.They were also not allowed to communicate with each other and in the play the finds out a solution to this in the form of Gumboot dancing.Later it gets commodified.
The playwright presents the play in scenes.Through this he is trying to bringforth the real condition of Africa during colonial rule.Scene one is set in the hostel,scene two in the plantation,scene three in the train,scene four in the mine and scenes five and six in the compound.Among theem the mine scene is too miserable where 'mines are living hungry earth that swallows up peoples lives' .He presents it in a realistic manner.He makes use of zulu in some instances in the play inorder to sustain the essense of Black African cultural heritage.The mentioning of Gumboot dance also addds to this. Even though the scenes are set in different locations we does not confront any detachment.The play makes the readers to think and criticize.Here we can see the influence of Bertolt Brecht on Maponya.
Reading this play was an insight into the South African dramatic tradition.The use of traditional languages add a peculiar beauty to the play.The playwright had in his mind a correct notion about the historical past of Africa and alon with that his personal experience also helped him to render the play very well.The play helped me to understan the situation that prevailed in South Africa during the colonial rule.We can draw similar type of plays in our literary traditions also.Street theatre,agitprop theatre etc can be mentioned.Like South Africa ,India was also colonized by the British so reading The Hungry Earth was like a returne into our past.
Maishe Maponya is a South African playwright.From his very young age itself he was interested in politicl theatre.He was born in Johannesburg in 1951.He was also a victim of the aparthied practices during the colonial rule.Later he was an active participant of Black Consciousness Movement.His works include-The Cry(1976),Umongikazi/The Nurse(1983),Dirty Work(1984) and Jika(1986).The Hungry Earth was staged in Soweto in 1979.Moponya introduced a minimal set designe to cut the cost and to make mobility easy for the actors.The use of props were also less.In the play the playwrigh deals with the miseries undergone by the rural palntation labourers to the migrant labourers.He draws the sorry plight of innocent people who are suppresses and the way their are being tortured for unnecessary guilt.The Hungry Earth is an eye opener against dehumanisation of workers and it also call for resistance/rejection of the controling authority.
The play The Hungry Earth ,is a criticism of the aparthied regime and have much political implications.The play can be viewed as a resistance from the part of the suppressed Black people of South Africa.The play mainly tell the socio,economic and cultural effects of South African migrant labour system and its relation to gold mining industry.The treatment of the Black people by the colonizers were very harsh.They were devoid of basic facilities and were made to work for hours and over time.They lost their families and lives an isolated life.They were also not allowed to communicate with each other and in the play the finds out a solution to this in the form of Gumboot dancing.Later it gets commodified.
The playwright presents the play in scenes.Through this he is trying to bringforth the real condition of Africa during colonial rule.Scene one is set in the hostel,scene two in the plantation,scene three in the train,scene four in the mine and scenes five and six in the compound.Among theem the mine scene is too miserable where 'mines are living hungry earth that swallows up peoples lives' .He presents it in a realistic manner.He makes use of zulu in some instances in the play inorder to sustain the essense of Black African cultural heritage.The mentioning of Gumboot dance also addds to this. Even though the scenes are set in different locations we does not confront any detachment.The play makes the readers to think and criticize.Here we can see the influence of Bertolt Brecht on Maponya.
Reading this play was an insight into the South African dramatic tradition.The use of traditional languages add a peculiar beauty to the play.The playwright had in his mind a correct notion about the historical past of Africa and alon with that his personal experience also helped him to render the play very well.The play helped me to understan the situation that prevailed in South Africa during the colonial rule.We can draw similar type of plays in our literary traditions also.Street theatre,agitprop theatre etc can be mentioned.Like South Africa ,India was also colonized by the British so reading The Hungry Earth was like a returne into our past.
This is a good blog post which can be improved by some careful editing and proof reading. Sometimes your sentences contain grammatical and syntactical errors. Its a good idea to look over what you have written before putting in on the blog site.
ReplyDeleteI also like your use of Brecht's ideas to support your discussion of the play. you're right in saying that the play is a reminder of the Indian colonial past. The exploitation of Indian farmers was similar to that of the African mine workers and other laborers.