Professor David Peimer
Dark Humour in the South African Theatre of Reza de Wet and Athol Fugard
Summary
Athol Fugard and Reza de Wet are two of the most renowned South African playwrights. With dark humour and irony, their work exposes the heart of prejudice and hate. In this talk, David Peimer asks, how do these writers help us understand our world today?
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a Professor of Literature, Film and Theatre in the UK. He has worked for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, New York University (Global Division) and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing in New York, UK, Berlin, EU Parliament (Brussels), Athens, Budapest, Zululand and more. He has most recently directed Dame Janet Suzman in his own play, Joanna’s Story, at London Jewish Book Week. He has published widely with books including: Armed Response: Plays from South Africa, the digital book, Theatre in the Camps. He is on the board of the Pinter Centre (London), and has been involved with the Mandela Foundation, Vaclav Havel Foundation and directed a range of plays at Mr Havel’s Prague theatre.
That’s a brilliant question. I got to check it actually. I don’t think there really is in terms of anything like it was. I’m sure there is the hate speech, free speech, what’s allowed, what isn’t. I’m not a legal expert, so I’d need to check that before getting back to you, Ron. In terms of legality and in terms of social mores, I’m not quite up to date with that at the moment in terms of that kind of censorship, which is more social, not necessarily strictly legal. Great point.