Voorstellings van verset in drie Adam Small-dramas: Kanna hy kô hystoe, Joanie Galant-hulle en Krismis van Map Jacobs

• Main Author: J. L. Coetser
• Format: Article
• Language: Afrikaans
• Published: Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Association 2017-04-01
• Series: Tydskrif vir Letterkunde
• Subjects: Adam Small; Afrikaans drama; anti-apartheid literature; covert resistance; overt resistance; revolt
• Online Access: https://journals.assaf.org.za/index.php/tvl/article/view/2075

This article investigates the extent to which the title characters in three Adam Small plays represent dramatic and theatrical expressions of revolt. The title characters are Kanna (in Kanna hy kô hystoe), Joanie (in Joanie Galant-hulle) and Map (in Krismis van Map Jacobs). The discussion concludes that two forms of revolt dominate in these plays, namely expressions of overt and covert revolt. In his first play, Kanna acts the part of the reluctant intellectual, while politically inspired events compel Joanie Galant to face a personal and material void, without success. In the third play, Map Jacobs succeeds in resisting the legacy of his criminal past and his stay in prison by reclaiming his identity as a member of society. Apart from the title characters, the playwright also emerges as an invisible character in each play. He voices his revolt against political and social injustices by his representations in the written text, and in the fashion he determines how revolt should be portrayed on-stage. Among others, he uses procedures recognised as vehicles of revolt, such as elements from Brechtian theatre, satire, the silent character, laughter, culturally marked language that dismantles the authority of standard language, and body markings.