Woza Albert!: performance conventions

Physical Theatre in ‘Woza Albert!’

‘Woza Albert!’ is rooted in physical theatre, where storytelling is primarily through physical means and taking precedence over text.
The actors use their bodies to express emotions, characterise different roles, and showcase the realities of apartheid-era South Africa.
Techniques such as mime, dance, and movement sequences are used extensively, often combined sychronously with vocal effects.
The effectiveness of physical theatre in ‘Woza Albert!’ lies in the direct visual symbolism it provides, creating a visceral impact on the audience.

Only two actors are used throughout ‘Woza Albert!’, and each actor portrays many characters, a performance convention tied to the roots of physical and devised theatre.
This multiplicity of roles signifies the widespread and indiscriminate influence of apartheid on everyone in South Africa.
The two actors’ physical and vocal transformations when switching characters requires mastery of body language and voice modulation, further emphasising the requirement for strong physical theatre skills.
The quick character changes underscore the plays inherent episodic nature and increase its pace and dynamism.

‘Woza Albert!’ employs a minimalistic set and prop design. The most often used prop is a wooden Crate and old tyres, stressing the play’s physical theatre roots.
Such scarcity of props makes the actors’ physicality more prominent and necessary.
However, the props used are rich in symbolic interpretation, which helps enhance the depth and the context of the play.
An example of the symbolic use of a prop is the chains representing the shackles of apartheid and the echoed history of African slavery.

Despite the play’s emphasis on physicality, ‘Woza Albert!’ utilises words, language, and sound effectively.
The show incorporates multilingual dialogue (English, Zulu, Afrikaans) reflecting South Africa’s diverse culture and the social constructions of language.
Language choice is integral in the portrayal of power dynamics within the societal context of apartheid-era South Africa.
The creative use of vocal sounds and song is a significant aspect of the performance tradition from which ‘Woza Albert!’ originates, adding another element of expressiveness to the play.

‘Woza Albert!’ is designed to be interactive, with characters often addressing the audience directly.
This direct engagement involves the audience in their storytelling and allows them to emotionally connect with the situations and characters.
The characters’ direct address and the physicality of the performers seeks to challenge and provoke the audience response, inciting emotional reactions to the depictions of apartheid injustices.