Performing Christ

"In the latter part of the twentieth century, against the backdrop of incidents such as the Sharpeville Massacre and the Soweto Uprising, theatre became one of the central means of artistic resistance in apartheid South Africa. One of the most significant plays from this time was a work titled Woza Albert!, which was created and staged by the actor-duo Percy Mtwa and Mbogeni Ngema, with the help and creative input of the renowned theatre-maker and political activist, Barney Simon. What made this protest play so powerful and provocative was the fact that it restaged the Christ-drama, as presented in the Gospels, in the context of apartheid South Africa. This book sets out to explore this performance of Christ during one of the darkest hours in South Africa's history, by turning to - and offering an in-depth investigation of - the theological dramatic theory of the Swiss Catholic theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar"--