University of Cape Town

Faculty of Humanities
Department of Drama

Full name: Litha Buhle Soci

Student Number: SCXLIT001

Tutor: Crizelle Anthony

Due date: 12 October 2015

Essay Title: Ubu and the Truth Commission in 2015

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 The Handspring Puppet Company
Ubu and the Truth Commission
Ubu and the Truth Commission is a play made by the Handspring Puppet Company which
is based on the state of South Africa and the citizens of this country during the aftermath of
Apartheid running concurrently with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This play
was written by Jane Taylor and it was first performed in 1997 in Johannesburg at The
Market Theatre. This play follows Epic Theatre conventions as it draws on the Ideologies
of Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator in terms of structure, style and its use of Multimedia.
These tools as well as the socio-political context of the time helped to portray the violence
of the past and helped in the creation of discourse regarding the actions and purpose the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This essay plans to explore how Ubu and The Truth
Commission draws from Elements of Epic Theatre as well to explore how the characters
and the plot relate to events that happened in TRC hearings and how a modern South
African audience would receive this play.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a committee set up after apartheid to try to
help deal with what happened during apartheid. As acts of violence were perpetrated on
both sides of the system. What this was in relation to the play is a method for the people
who were victims of violence to ask about the truth about what happened as well as a
medium for these perpetrators to apply for amnesty as long as the actions they permitted
were politically motivated. The TRC is heavily criticised as many viewed that it failed to
achieve justice as it was seen that ‘Blanket Amnesty” was given to those who should’ve
been sent to jail (Wunsch, 2004 pp 22). Prolific cases from the TRC hearings were the
“Mandela United Football Club’’ trials in which Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was
investigated for multiple kidnappings and murders, The Cradock Four case in which the
police were responsible for abducting and beating activists Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata,
Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhauli as well the case regarding Eugene De Kock also
known as “Prime Evil” who was a police colonel, torturer and assassin.
Pa Ubu draws many parallels to Eugene de Kock. As they are both perpetrators of many
evils done to Anti-Apartheid activists many of whom were members of the ANC. The
people who committed these evils commonly would believe that they were doing the right
thing protecting they’re nation. This was a view point held by many pro-apartheid
supporters as they thought they were defending their nation. This is seen in the play when
ma Ubu finds out about the crimes against human rights that Pa Ubu committed when she
reads his statements and says “I Thought he was useless but he was protecting me from
the swart-gevaar (Danger)”. Pa Ubu can also be seen as a representation of the
perpetrators of apartheid as throughout the play he contemplates applying for amnesty
and cleansing himself of the responsibility of his actions. In the play Ma Ubu is cast as a
Black Woman and what this does is that it raises questions about the dynamic in terms of
Pa and Ma Ubu’s relationship. It raises questions about whether the actress Busi Zokufa is
playing a black woman or if she is a black woman playing a white woman. These thoughts
come to mind when she mentions her line previously quoted above. It’s creates a dialogue
amongst audience members about the decision to cast a black woman in that role as it can
come to represent many things such as the way Black people would other separate
themselves from their black identity in order to survive or self-hatred. As she is a person of
colour it therefore means she is calling herself a danger supporting the horrible actions Pa
Ubu committed during Apartheid. It could also be seen as a black woman playing a white
woman and what this does is that it makes use of the distancing effect which is commonly
used when following Epic Theatre conventions. As it would distance the actress from the
character she is playing as well as keeping the audience aware at all times that they are
watching a play. Keeping them critical of the action on the stage. The Characterisation of
both Ma and Pa Ubu was highly physical and over the top as the actors were often placed
in Absurd situations. The irony in the characterisation of these characters were that they
were contrasted by the puppets as although they were unrealistic in its existence, their
movements and vocalisation appeared to be more grounded and true to the would be
character. Their testimonies had much more emotion in them as opposed to Pa Ubu’s
testimony which was very detached and straight forward. It was also given in Afrikaans
which could have distanced non-Afrikaans speakers in the audience and which also has its
own power as a reminiscence of Apartheid.
Since this play follows Epic Theatre Conventions something which sticks out is its use of
puppets in the scenes where statements are given. This in itself is an example of the
distancing effect used by Bertolt Brecht whilst following these conventions. Another theatre
practitioner who used these conventions was Erwin Piscator. In his plays “These (puppets)
were, as conceptual abstractions shown in terms of Material objects, nearer to the
existentialistic. Puppets and Masks would have been portrayed as methods of social
caricature” What the use of puppets in this play also represents how distanced the actual
TRC testimonies were. As people would have to translate these testimonies into different
languages and whilst doing so these testimonies would lose the value in its subjectivity as
it would be someone’s personal experience of Apartheid and it became objective as the
emotions were lost in translation into South Africa’s other official languages. The emotion
of the testimony was also lost because the translations were done by people who had not
experienced the things that were being said therefore the lack of experience and emotion
distanced the council from these testimonies the same way that the use of puppets and
translators distanced the audience from the action on the stage. A tool which helped
distance the audience from these testimonies is the fact that the translators would
translate them from the shower which is also seen as a space in which Pa Ubu cleans
himself which represents that manner in which these translators were separated from the
testimonies and clean from responsibility and therefore could not emotionally connect or
deliver the statements in the same messy yet honest and emotive manner that came from
the victims. Pa Ubu cleaning himself in this space is representative of him clearing himself
of his sins and the violence he perpetuated.
The other puppets that were used in this play was the three headed dog and the crocodile.
The three headed dog were representative of Ubu’s police team and within that team.
Each head representative of different things such as a Soldier, an Individual and a
politician. Near the end of the play these 3 heads are placed on trial at the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission hearings and the person who got off with the lightest sentence
turned out to be the Politician. What his shows is how the people who claimed that their
actions were politically motivated or “Just following orders’’ got away with the crimes that
they committed. Many of the acts of violence that were committed were shown via the use
of Multimedia such as the animation and the multiple documentary style projections.
‘’’Multimedia can extend the fictional space of the play beyond the stage” [Sheldrake,
2007]. This worked in context to the play as the projections would either compliment or go
against the action happening on stage. A lot of the time in this play footages were shown
as an expositional tool such as when Ma Ubu appears with her face covered in white as
she gives a testimony to the media about how much she loves her husband and how much
of a hero he is. A Theatre Practitioner who also would do this is Erwin Piscator. He would
create a “Synthesis of Art and modern technology” (Ley-Piscator, 1970). Piscator also
stated that film extends the subject matter in terms of Time and Space as multimedia
expanded previously unused spaces on stage, by virtue of the location of these
projections. Technology had become the narrator. Which links to what Jane Taylor says
about Ubu and The Truth Commission and how they would use multimedia to give
information and help communicate the story in various new ways.
An element of Epic theatre that this play uses which both Piscator and Brecht used in their
plays was how they would use their work to explain a clear political stance that they might
have on the current ‘’structure of feeling” that the society would hold. Ubu and the Truth
Commission is very clearly critical of the Truth and Reconciliation meeting as shown
through their characters and plot-line and the manner in which the granting of amnesty
fails and contests aims in achieving true justice as perpetrators applied for and received
amnesty. Essentially the perpetrators of violence and the people who should have been
put in jail; The Eugene De Kocks, The Winnie Mandelas, The P.W Bothas, The
Mangosotho Buthelezis got away with their crimes against humanity. Ubu and the Truth
commission explores this through the manner that Pa Ubu gets a happy ending where he
walks into the distance giving the audience an uncomfortable feeling. One in which justice
is not served and therefore the nation is not healed.
To a contemporary Modern South African audience watching this performance based on
the truth and reconciliation commission this play can serve as a critical and interesting
educational tool. Which could help provide context to why South Africa is the way it is
today in terms of how South Africa has not truly healed from Apartheid and how racism
and crimes against humanity are still prevalent in South African Society. The politics of
theatre are that each playwright have their own specific views and in context to Epic
Theatre and Absurdism the world portrayed by Ubu and the Truth Commission is that of a
world out of Harmony and in despair. They use the distancing effect to estrange the
audience from the subject matter in order for them to engage into the work and consider
why things are the way they are instead of them discussing how things made them feel
instead why certain things invoked those emotions. In terms of absurdism this play creates
a mad and unrealistic world where puppets are reflections of real people and somehow
they are more grounded than the physical actors in this play. Altogether it serves as the
purpose of questioning the current state of humanity. Criticising how since true justice
failed to be achieved and therefore we are still nursing the wounds of apartheid. In 2015
this plays a huge role in remembering the past as this has been a big year for Black
Consciousness and Student Movements such as #RhodesMustFall at The University of
Cape Town, “Open Stellenbosch” at the University of Stellenbosch and
“#WitsFeesMustFall” recently at the University of Witwatersrand.
In Conclusion Ubu and the Truth Commission is an important play in South African history
because of the way it tackled the Truth and Reconciliation events of the late 90’s through
the stylistic elements of Epic Theatre as well as elements of Absurdism. The Epic theatre
elements that they made use of were the use of multimedia which expanded the theatre
space and gave information on the TRC hearings, The Use of Puppetry to portray the
victims at the commission hearings, The absurd characterisation of the performers on
stage and the clear political stance that the piece has in relation to the structure of feeling
in the late 90’s is effective for a modern South African audience because it resonates with
the themes of inequality and injustice which is the focus of numerous student movements
today. South African history contains a lot of horror and madness and Ubu and the Truth
Commission effectively portrays this as it holds a mirror of the world to the audience and
hopefully the despair that this would create would inspire a South African Audience to go
out and make a change.
Ubu and the Truth Commission Annotated Bibliography

● Erwin Piscator’s Political Theatre: The Development of Modern German Drama

● Innes [1972] ​Erwin Piscator’s Political Theatre: The Development of Modern
German Drama C ​ ambridge University Press Cambridge

The main argument developed by this source speaks about how Erwin Piscator
would use his mode of theatre to comment on the structure of feeling of the time.
Something that relates back to the essay question is how Piscator would use
puppets as a method of social caricature (pg. 115)

This source is valid to the essay question because it tackles the manner in which
theatre makers used theatre as a comment on the structure of feeling, and also
relates to the article as it references how Piscator would use puppets to mimic the
human experience as seen in “Ubu and the Truth Commission”’

● Apartheid and the Political Imagination in Black South African Theatre

● Peterson (1990) ​Apartheid and the Political Imagination in Black South African
Theatre.​ Journal of South African Studies Vol. 16, No. 2. Performance on popular
culture. Taylor & Francis Ltd.

This Journal argues the purpose that was held by black South African theatre which
was present an alternative historical narrative that was in opposition with the South
African Government of its time.
The manner in which this could be beneficial to my essay is that it can help explain
the theatrical movement that preceded the “Reconciliation” era that Ubu and the
truth Commission was written in and this is beneficial to expand upon my
knowledge of South African Theatre during Apartheid. This helps to understand a
different perspective told by “Ubu” in “Ubu and the Truth Commission

● Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa by Lyn S. Graybill Reviewed by James S.

Wunsch
● Wunsch. (2004). Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa by Lyn S. Graybill. ​Africa
Today​. 51 (1), pp120-122.
● ​This is a review of a journal by Lyn S Graybill which is about the purpose of the
truth commission in South Africa. The discourse in the journal entry in mainly
centred on how the purpose of the truth commission was how to punish the
perpetrators of Human Rights Violations. The author briefly discusses the political
compromises that lay behind the establishment of the commission as well as its
mandate. She stresses the tension that existed from the beginning among people’s
expectations in regards to justice.
This would be beneficial to my essay because these tensions are something that
the play is built on. Relating to how Ubu feels about the commission due to his
involvement in apartheid. The tension between Justice and Amnesty

References
Arts Projects Australia. The Handspring Puppet Company’s Ubu and the Truth
Commission 24 February- 14 March 2015 [​Program] ​Perth. The Perth International
Arts Festival.
Ley-Piscator, M. (1970) The Piscator Experiment: The Political Theatre. Arcturus
Books. Carbondale Illinois. Southern Illinois University Press
Roose-Evans, J (1989) ​Experimental Theatre: from Stanislavsky to Peter Brook .​ 4​th​,
rev and updated. New York. Routledge
Sheldrake, P (2007) ​Weaving Worlds: Multimedia and Space in Contemporary
Theatre. ​MA Thesis. Queensland University of Technology
Taylor, J (1998). ​Ubu and the Truth Commission​. Johannesburg: Juta and
Company Ltd... 73.
Ubu and the Truth Commission [DVD]. 1997. Directed by W. Kentridge.
Johannesburg. The Market Theatre.
William Kentridge - How We Make Sense of The World (2014) How We Make
Sense Of The World [​Video File​] Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G11wOmxoJ6U​ [11 October 2015]
.