This project with fourth-year students from the Centre for Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies (CTDPS), forms part of a course on Theatre & Dance Research. The project has aimed to shift thinking about methodology for performance research from the technologies of writing to the technologies of performance and its digital archiving. The project was offered by The Reimagining Tragedy from Africa and the Global South project (ReTAGS) and was led by Mark Fleishman, Mandla Mbothwe and Mwenya Kabwe with assistance from ReTAGS digital archivist, Jayne Batzofin.
In the project we set out to reimagine an ancient tragic play, Women of Trachis by Sophocles,
from our contemporary (South) African perspective in order to engage with different research themes including:
• Prophecy and bewitchment - how the past exerts a hold on the present
• The violence of gender and family relations
• Disease, pain and the complexities of palliative care
Participants have worked on extracts from the play through practice, of many different kinds, to conduct research on their own chosen theme. They have then produced this online exhibition of performance and writing and at the same time, learnt aspects of digital research practice.
