University of Pretoria, Department of Drama

The Drama Department at the University of Pretoria (Tukkies)

History

The Drama Department of the University of Pretoria was established in 1965 under the direction of the philosopher and sociologist Prof. Geoff Cronjè. The department set out to train theatre practitioners that can make a contribution to the rapidly developing theatre industry of the time. The department further aimed to promote Afrikaans theatre. The alumni of the department, their work in the theatre industry and fields related to theatre, as well as the contributions of staff and students in the academic arena stood, and still stands, as testimony to the department's commitment to excellence.

Tukkies Drama Department entry

The Department was originally established as a Departement Dramakunde (“Department of Dramatology”) was established in January 1965 for education in drama, music and fine arts on an academic level as part of the arts and education opportunities offered by the University of Pretoria. The department set out to train theatre practitioners that can make a contribution to the rapidly developing theatre industry of the time. The department further aimed to promote Afrikaans theatre.

In 1974 the name was changed to Department of Drama and the focus narrowed. Prof G Cronjé was appointed the first Head of Department and was initially assisted by the well-known Professor Anna Neethling-Pohl. At first, the Department occupied temporary spaces (a number of old residences). Later on, more permanent theatre buildings were made available: the Masker (a training theatre), and the Bok and the Lier (training spaces). In February 1982 the Department moved to the beautiful old Brethren House, formerly part of the Christian Brothers’ College (CBC) complex. Periodically, the Department received significant donations: The Performing Arts Council of Transvaal (PACT) made theatre material available to the Department, the Heidelberg Teachers’ College donated costumes in exchange for using the Department’s wardrobe, and important collections of photographs and documents were also donated. Prof Pohl presented the Merensky 2 Library with her valuable drama and theatre library as a gift. In 1971 Prof Pohl retired from service at the University, and Prof Cronjé followed her in 1972. Prof Louw Odendaal was appointed as the new Head of Department. Prof L Odendaal retired as HoD in 1998 and Prof Allan Munro became HoD in 1999. Upon his resignation, Prof Carel Trichard became acting HoD and upon his retirement, Prof Fred Hagemann assumed the headship. Prof M-H Coetzee became HoD after Prof Hagemann’s retirement mid-2008. The Drama Department is located in the drama building on the Hatfield campus comprising of offices, two seminar rooms, three lecture spaces for practical work, a digital media studio (postgraduate) and a radio studio. The Department makes use of a movement studio on the South campus, as well as a rehearsal room and two theatres on the Hatfield campus. The Department makes use of lecture rooms in the Agriculture Annex (next to the theatres) and the Humanities building for theoretical modules. The available rehearsal venues at times struggle to meet the pressure for rehearsal space at peak times. Due to the Department’s approach to integrating theory and practice in many modules and year courses, there is a need for flexible spaces that will allow for this integration to be fully realised. Historically the Drama Department modelled itself as an acting academy that focused on training actors and directors. The Department’s core business was to produce actors and directors for the theatre and television industries who left the Department after completing their BA Drama degrees. As such, postgraduate studies were not a priority. The focus of production work was on works from the Western canon and Afrikaans classics, and Page 16 of 212 – D R A F T similarly the theoretical focus was on Western theatre history and South African theatre history as it pertained to the development of specifically Afrikaans and English theatre. With the exception of the past HoD’s, Prof Odendaal and Munro, the full-time staff’s focus was not on research, but on teaching – in particular on teaching practical skills to serve a performing arts landscape aligned with the demands of the provincial arts councils (also see the Department’s external evaluation report of 2000). In the 1990’s there was a dramatic shift in the country towards training students as theatre-makers rather than solely as interpretive artists and towards locating drama/theatre/performance studies in a more analytical paradigm to expand on the dominantly deductive paradigm in use at the time. The Department’s external review of 2000 noted the tension between the historical approach of the Department and the attempts of the then HoD to move towards the mentioned shifts. With the resignation of the HoD, the Department reverted to its historical position for a number of years under the acting HoD, Prof Trichard. This position was again questioned with the appointment of Prof Hagemann. The residual fragments of the historical ‘dominant’ impacted on the Drama Department at many levels and for many years. The Drama Department’s acknowledgement of the changing landscape of tertiary drama/theatre/performance education was evidenced in the move away from predominately Western canonical texts and performance modes and the development of a range of courses outside of the historical offering as evidenced by the revised 2006 curriculum (which is still in place) and again in the new curriculum (to be implemented in 2016). The Drama Department is currently one of the smaller Departments in the Faculty of Humanities in terms of module enrolments and staffing component. The Department has 5 full-time academic staff members, of whom 4 are permanent. The Department makes use of 1 teaching assistant and presently 3 tutors appointed from the student body.

Sources

Article submitted by Marie-Heleen Coetzee