Performance of Identities in Post- Apartheid South Africa: Reza De Wet’s 'Diepe Grond' and 'African Gothic'

Abstract

The subject matter of this thesis all boils down to how identity is performed in South Africa: Diepe Grond focuses on identity in the Apartheid period and African Gothic in the Post-Apartheid period. Both these plays are written by South African playwright, Reza De Wet. I aim to examine the work of this playwright who exposes uncomfortable issues about South Africa’s scarred past, its unstable present, and its precarious future: issues that are ignored far too often. She presents worlds in which different cultures and beliefs are not separate, yet form interweaved tapestries depicting the inherent hybridity of every South African citizen. De Wet finds a way to use language, (English and Afrikaans), culture and heightened realism to create new realities onstage, which question and challenge the existing state of society and culture in South Africa.