Township

Besides its general legal meaning,

General definition of the word township

The term township also has a similarly distinct legal meaning in South Africa's system of land title, which carries no racial connotations.

South African definition and use of the term

In South Africa, the terms township and location usually refer to the often underdeveloped, racially segregated, urban areas that, from the late 19th century until the end of apartheid, were built on the periphery of towns and cities. More specifically, the term township (or black township) is the name used specifically to refer to the urban ghetto reserved as places of residence for all blacks, in colonial times (1852-1947) as well as during the apartheid regime (1948-1994). (Referred to in Afrikaans as a "lokasie", woonbuurt or swart woonbuurt.)

Such areas were usually built on the periphery of towns and cities, often as temporary places with scant infrastructure, and in the notorious 20th century relocation programme large numbers of people were relocated there from their residences in the newly declared "white areas" of the various towns and cities. A matter of enormous frustration and anger, and reflected in a large number of the literary and theatrical works produced in the second half of the 20th century in particular.

Townships and theatre

Township theatre

The term Township theatre refers to theatre and performance events created and performed by black South Africans living in the townships that surround cities and and towns of the country. It is also used to refer to a type of theatre making and the texts by "township" authors and theatre-makers.

The township musical

A term used to refer to a uniquely South African form of musical melodrama which evolved in the various black urban townships of South Africa, also as a particularly powerful form of political and protest theatre.

See further Township musical

Township venues

A reference to venues in urban, (black) townships utilized for theatrical performances. These ranged from formal Community Halls, school and church halls to private homes, shebeens, streets and grave-sides.

In the run-up to and especially after the fall of Apartheid and the new dispensation in 1994, the race restrictions fell away, so townshop theatre productions increasingly went on to play at urban theatre venues. At the same time the townships gradually became larger and economically more empowered. So a number of new venues arose, including the Soweto Theatre in Jabulani (2012),

A number of community theatre festivals also arose to feature such work, for example the annual Ikhwezi Community Theatre Festival hosted by the Baxter Theatre since 1998.

Some global influences of the South African experience

An interesting spin off of the South African experience is the UK based touring company Tangle Theatre (referred to simply as Tangle). According to their website[1], the founders were "long been inspired by the legacy of ‘township theatre’ in South Africa during the 1950s" and since their founding in 2009 their productions "champion multiple global theatre influences — Southern African township and collective theatre making techniques, Zimbabwean oral culture and some European approaches. The work brings together scripted dialogue, storytelling, live music and song, poetry and dance in a distinctive style drawing on the traditions of many cultures".

Interestingly there is also a USA movie theatre in Washington Township, New Jersey, known by this name, though in this case not inspired by the South African form.[2]

Sources

David B. Coplan

Gay Morris. 2007. "Townships, identity and collective theatre making by young South Africans: theatre as intervention." South African Theatre Journal Vol. 21, No. 1[3]

Zaza Hlalethwa. 2019 "A call for township theatres", Mail & Guardian 15 March 2019[4]

https://www.tangletheatre.co.uk/journal/tangles-inheritance-theatre-of-township

https://www.townshiptheatre.com/

Return to

Return to South African Theatre Terminology and Thematic Entries

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page