{"id":3783,"date":"2020-02-24T11:49:41","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T11:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=3783"},"modified":"2020-06-18T22:30:14","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T21:30:14","slug":"woolworths-cut-and-paste-culture-gets-collaged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=3783","title":{"rendered":"Woolworths: Cut-and-paste-culture gets collaged"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

White, English speaking South Africans, for all their privilege, are at a striking disadvantage when it comes to cultural identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nTo\ncling to England after generations of living in the far south of\nAfrica, with its sky and its sun and its dust and its blood and\nthorns, is to be ridiculous, although some do try. For to let it go\nis to have to flounder for a sense of belonging amid peoples with\nunbreakable bonds to the land; to be left with nothing to hold onto\nother than an intellectual tradition of liberalism. A tradition\nwhich, although it led the only Parliamentary opposition against\napartheid, has become ever more scorned in the new democracy,\nstripping its adherents of their last vestige of identity and leaving\nus lost in a land of absolutes. Small wonder we\u2019re carrying\nourselves off to Christchurch; we\u2019re little more than ghosts, we\ncould be anywhere, so why not somewhere that is safer and, ironically\ngiven our Constitution, more progressive? (For those choosing to live\nin the ultra-conservative, mining-obsessed former penal colony, I\nhave no words).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\nThe\nbitter pill of non-identity is hard to swallow, although privilege\ndoes dilute the existential crisis it induces. I like to think some\nof us use the upside of this agnostic condition to enjoy the greater\nfreedom of association the lack of cultural and familial expectation\nallows. Should I probe too far, I may be disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juliet Jenkin has done some probing, and the results of what she has staged confirm my fears; rather than walk into the void with head held high and attempt to forge a new path of multi-cultural awareness and national participation, we tend to grab onto whatever rungs we can, no matter how flimsy, to prevent our perceived descent down the mine shaft of our shared history. Perhaps there\u2019s too much of past global conquest still lodged in our white DNA, inducing an arrogant sense of superiority, the counter product being terror at the idea of having to sweat and toil alongside the offspring of those our ancestors relentlessly oppressed in order to help unearth the vein of gold we can all share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nInstead,\nin our efforts to avoid leaning shoulder to shoulder in the dirt and\ngloom, we choose to live in a carefully maintained state of denial. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, we\u2019ve become a schizophrenic, consumer-driven, hysterically fearful, idolising bunch of pale wishy-washies who identify more closely with a sanitised version of America in all its WASP glory, than with the countrypersons we live among.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenkin reveals how we\u2019d rather align ourselves, and our money, with the stories born of half-truths penned by advertising marketeers and plakked on the side of every product sold at Woolworths, than know the life story of the domestic worker or gardener we pay to keep our house tidy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWe\u2019d\nsooner idolise Nick Mallet than critically examine how FW de Klerk\ntied South Africa\u2019s democracy to apartheid\u2019s shackles, or how Jan\nSmuts and the English boys paved the way for the successful\nimplementation of apartheid in the first place. And now we\u2019re\nscared. So full of fear we fail to see humanity in our neighbours\u2019\neyes. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus Woolworths <\/em>is tragic. It is also deeply, cynically, hilarious. A triumph of black humour. Jenkin puts us onstage and rips away the layers of our half-baked intellectualism and rationalisations until our type is naked with all our character flaws hanging out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe\nparadox is that we are\nso quintessentially South African. And providing this identity,\nhowever much in the negative, makes it ironically comforting. We pale\nwishy-washies are a tribe. As South African as meerkats. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eschewing the narrative arc, Woolworths <\/em>achieves its objective through choral work, choreography and physical theatre presenting a collage of ideas and texts and images through near-perfect ensemble work. The collage is an inspired choice to represent the multiple half-formed facets of our white middle-class culture, combining overall to form a polished work that is at once spectacular and sublime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe\nonly drawback is the stage at the Alexander Theatre (now revamped and\nrun by the Courtyard Playhouse) is small\nfor a work of this size. The\nchoreography is designed for a larger space and at times there\u2019s a\nsense of looking at a thumbnail pic rather than seeing\nthe grand view. The fixed set for Courtyard Playhouse\u2019s regular\nimprov shows doesn\u2019t help. Still, the intimacy of the theatre\nprovides in-your-face impact that makes up for the constricted\nmovement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd\nin the end, for\nall the parody of the beleagured\nwhite middle class, if my\ntribe can have this to say about itself, then it\u2019s doing some hard\nwork. Perhaps it\u2019s\ngoing to be okay. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWoolworths\nis w<\/em>ritten and directed by Juliet Jenkin.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nStarring\nClyde Berning, Alice De Beer, Alicia McCormick, Kaylee McIlroy,\nFrancesco Nassimbeni, Tazm\u00e9 Pillay, and Johann Vermaak. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playing at the Alexander Upstairs theatre, 76 Strand Street, until 29 Feb at 7pm & 9pm<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nTickets:\nR180 (Students & Pensioners R100) To Book:\nhttp:\/\/courtyardplayhouse-ct.com<\/em> \n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

White, English speaking South Africans, for all their privilege, are at a striking disadvantage when it comes to cultural identity. To cling to England after generations of living in the … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[976,975,977,974],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3783"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3787,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783\/revisions\/3787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}