The performance orientation of dramatic texts with specific reference to dialogue and didascalies in Athol Fugard's Playland and My children! My Africa!

Abstract

The preceding study has been prompted by the inordinate stress placed on the separation between dramatic texts as literature and stage performances as theatre an approach still widely adopted in universities and colleges of education throughout the world. The traditional distinction between the dramatic text and its stage performance is first accounted for and then re-examined in the light of the new insights gained from semiotics. In the discussion of the relationship between the, dramatic text and performance, care is exercised not to approach the subject with a bias towards the text as more important than the performance or vice versa. The performance orientation of various elements of a dramatic text is then considered with special emphasis placed on dialogue and didascalies in dramatic texts generally. The focus of attention is eventually narrowed down to the dialogue and didascalies in Athol Fugard's Plavland and My Children! My Africa!