“To Bewitch an Audience”

Theatricalised Historiography as “Witchcraft” in Reza de Wet’s Breathing In

Dados Bibliográficos

ID17575719
AutoresDanie Stander (0000-0002-8689-541X, Stellenbosch University, autor correspondente)
Ano2026
Volume42
Data de publicação2026-04-15
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Literary Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0256-4718 • E-ISSN: 1753-5387
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.25159/1753-5387/20720
OpenAlexW7155352317
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas14

This article is catalysed by a dual aim: It (1) names a yet unidentified canon of South African War Drama and (2) spotlights Reza de Wet’s subversively feminist contribution to this canon with her drama Breathing In. To this end, I draw on performance theory, enhanced by feminist theatre studies, and research on (South) African women’s drama and/or feminist dramaturgy that evokes conceptualisations of metadrama/-theatre. While I caution against the pitfalls of moralisation (by way of justifying/valorising the protagonist’s abusive and murderous actions), I interpret De Wet’s creation of this character as a feminist strategy to stage women’s largely overlooked agency and inventive self-assertion in South African history—dramaturgically and otherwise

Canon · Drama · Dramaturgy · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · South African History and Culture · Theatre and Performance Studies