DRAMATIC ARTS
GRADE 12
MAY 2019
NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE 

INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION

1. This question paper consists of FOUR sections:
   SECTION A: 20th Century Theatre Movements (30)
   SECTION B: South African Theatre: 1960–1994 (40)
   SECTION C: South African Theatre: Post-1994–Contemporary (40)
   SECTION D: The History of Theatre, Practical Concepts, Content and Skills (40)
2. SECTION A
   QUESTION 1 is COMPULSORY.
   Refer to the play text you have studied and the relevant 20th Century Theatre Movement.
   EPIC THEATRE
   
   • Caucasian Chalk Circle Bertolt Brecht
   • Kaukasiese Krytsirkel Translation of Bertolt Brecht play text
   • Mother Courage Bertolt Brecht
   • Moeder Courage Translation of Bertolt Brecht play text
   • The Good Person of Szechwan Bertolt Brecht
   • Kanna Hy Kô Hystoe Adam Small
     OR
     THEATRE OF THE ABSURD
   • Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett
   • Afspraak met Godot Translation of Samuel Beckett play text
   • Bagasie André P Brink
   • The Bald Primadonna Eugene Ionesco
   • Die Kaalkop Primadonna Translation of Eugene Ionesco play text
     OR
     POSTMODERN THEATRE
   • Skrapnel Willem Anker
   • Top Girls Carol Churchill
   • Popcorn Ben Elton
   • Buried Child Sam Shepard
3. SECTION B
   This section consists of THREE questions. Answer only ONE question in this section.
   QUESTION 2: Woza Albert! Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema and Barney Simon OR
   QUESTION 3: Sophiatown Junction Avenue Theatre Company OR
   QUESTION 4: Siener in die Suburbs PG du Plessis
4. SECTION C
   This section consists of THREE questions. Answer only ONE question in this section.
   QUESTION 5: Nothing but the Truth John Kani OR
   QUESTION 6: Groundswell Ian Bruce OR
   QUESTION 7: Missing Reza de Wet
5. SECTION D
   This section consists of ONE question (QUESTION 8) which is COMPULSORY.

SECTION A: 20th CENTURY THEATRE MOVEMENTS
This question is COMPULSORY.

QUESTION 1
Study SOURCE A below and answer the question that follows.
SOURCE A
Theatre makes us think and feel … it changes our experience of life.
– Anonymous
Evaluate, in an essay, to what extent the statement in SOURCE A above is true with regard to the 20th Century Theatre Movement and play that you studied.
The content of your essay must include the following:

• Specific examples from the play text you studied
• Reference to at least TWO dramatic elements, such as characters, themes, language, staging techniques

TOTAL SECTION A: 30

SECTION B: SOUTH AFRICAN THEATRE: 1960–1994
Answer only ONE question in this section.

QUESTION 2: WOZA ALBERT! BY PERCY MTWA, MBONGENI NGEMA AND BARNEY SIMON
Study SOURCE B below and answer the questions that follow.
SOURCE B
A REVIEW OF WOZA ALBERT!
By N Nkosi
Woza Albert! is a quick-action play, whose brief scenes of life during South Africa's apartheid period show the absurdity of racial oppression. The play's title means 'Rise Albert'. The actors wear pink clown noses held with elastic bands around their necks.
Woza Albert! creatively makes use of satire and humour as a way of balancing sharp political commentary. The quick scene changes and the two-man cast, who cover more than one dozen different characterisations, prevent the audience from being overwhelmed. The most visible prop, the clown nose, symbolises the absurdity of the apartheid regime. In addition, many of the lines and words in the play are spoken in both isiZulu and Afrikaans. The dramatic text provides translations.
The performers make use of mime, dance, music, song and an impressive athleticism that sustains the energy of this twenty-six-scene, ninety-minute, no-intermission play.
Woza Albert! is regarded as South Africa's finest example of social theatre and the collaboration between Ngema and Mtwa, two black playwrights, and Simon, a white producer, was a significant relationship that crossed the colour barrier. Theatre served as a vehicle for educating white audiences about the horrors of apartheid and became a vehicle for black self-expression during this period when other, more direct forms of social criticism, were banned.
2.1 Explain your understanding of the term satire (line 4). (2)
2.2 Suggest how 'quick scene changes' (line 5) are possible in this play . (3)
2.3 Assess how the clown nose may reflect 'the absurdity of the apartheid regime' (lines 7–8). (3)
2.4 Motivate why the creators of the play chose to include isiZulu and Afrikaans in the play (lines 8–9). (3)
2.5 Analyse how Woza Albert! manages, through vocal and physical performance, to keep the audience engaged through a 'twenty-six-scene, ninety-minute, no-intermission play' (line 11). (6)
2.6 You have been asked to stage this play at your school as part of a Youth Day festival.
2.6.1 Describe the set and ONE prop that you might choose to use. (4)
2.6.2 Motivate where in your school you would stage this play. (3)
2.6.3 Explain why you think this play would be suitable for Youth Day. (6)
2.7 Examine why Woza Albert! is regarded as 'South Africa's finest example of social theatre' (line 12).
Refer to:

• The sociopolitical background
• The aims of the play
• The style of performance
• Actor-audience relationship (10)

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QUESTION 3: SOPHIATOWN BY THE JUNCTION AVENUE THEATRE COMPANY
Study SOURCE C and SOURCE D below and answer the questions that follow each source.
SOURCE C
AN EXTRACT FROM SOPHIATOWN
(Enter Ruth, a Jewish girl from Yeoville. She is carrying two suitcases and seems prepared to move in. Lulu, Princess and Mamariti draw back in surprise.)
RUTH: Hullo! I'm Ruth. (Silence.) Ruth Golden. (Silence.) I'm the Jewish girl. (Silence.) I wonder if this is the right address. (She scratches in her clutch bag.) 65 Gerty Street?
LULU: Yes?
RUTH: Well I came in response to the advertisement … Where shall I put my things?
LULU: Look, who are you?
PRINCESS: Yes, this is Sophiatown you know.
RUTH: Yes, I know. I've come in response to the advertisement.
(Enter Mingus and Charlie.)
MINGUS: Hey, hey what's going on? What's happening?
3.1 Describe the events leading to Ruth's arrival in Sophiatown. (4)
3.2 If you were directing the extract above:
3.2.1 Motivate what costume you would choose for Ruth for her first entrance. (4)
3.2.2 Explain how you would block this scene to reflect the response of any TWO characters to Ruth's entrance. (6)
3.2.3 Suggest to the actresses playing Lulu, Ruth and Princess how their performances could be physically OR vocally different from one another. (6)

SOURCE D
AN EXTRACT FROM AN ARTICLE ON SOPHIATOWN
By Ndaba Dlamini
A play reliving painful memories, Sophiatown, is now showing at the Market Theatre. Directed by Malcolm Purkey, an award-winning theatre director and playwright, Sophiatown takes the audience back to the vibrant culture of the township when the Americans and the Berliners ruled the roost.
The plot focuses on the extraordinary life of a Sophiatown household, headed by a pompous township tsotsi called Mingus and Mamariti, a shebeen queen. Into this household is thrown a young white woman, who almost completes the picture of the multiracial cauldron Sophiatown would have grown into had it been left to live.
Sophiatown is interspersed with exhilarating a cappella music and dance that takes one down memory lane to the 1950s and 1960s. Purkey says the play keeps those wonderful Sophiatown moments 'alive and fresh'.
3.3 Malcolm Purkey, one of the original creators of the play, directs the same play years later. Suggest TWO advantages of this. (4)
3.4 Argue whether the writer is correct when he refers to Mingus as 'a pompous (arrogant/self-important) township tsotsi' (line 6). Refer to specific examples in the play text. (6)
3.5 Evaluate why the play is still relevant so many years after its first performance. Refer to the staging, themes and subject matter of Sophiatown. (10)
[40]

Related Items

QUESTION 4: SIENER IN DIE SUBURBS BY PG DU PLESSIS
Study SOURCE E below and answer the questions that follow.
SOURCE E
IMAGES FROM PRODUCTIONS OF SIENER IN DIE SUBURBS

4.1 You are a member of a very dynamic and avant-garde (experimental) local community theatre company that will be staging a production of Siener in die Suburbs. You have researched various previous productions of the play and have decided to use the two images in SOURCE E as inspiration.
4.1.1 Identify when and where the play is set. (2)
4.1.2 Propose a venue in your community that you think will be the best place to perform this play. Motivate your choice of venue with reference to the play text as a  whole.(5)
4.1.3 Explain to the rest of your theatre company why Siener in die Suburbs would be a great play to stage in your community. Refer to the play text in your answer.
(6)
4.1.4 Study IMAGE B (SOURCE E). List THREE changes your company might implement in order to modernise the play for a contemporary (present day) audience. (3)
4.1.5 Analyse which ONE of the images in SOURCE E would be the most effective marketing item for your production. (4)
4.1.6 Suggest TWO props that Ma could use on stage when the play is being performed. Motivate your answer. (4)
4.1.7 Explain how the actor playing Ma could prepare to perform her role realistically. (6)
4.2 Steyn du Toit, a reviewer, referred to Siener in die Suburbs as a 'tragic yet hopeful tale'.
Discuss the truth of Steyn du Toit's statement above.
Refer to the play text as a whole and include the following:

• Plot
• Characters
• Themes (10)

[40]
TOTAL SECTION B: 40

SECTION C: SOUTH AFRICAN THEATRE: POST-1994–CONTEMPORARY
Answer only ONE question in this section.

QUESTION 5: NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH BY JOHN KANI
Study SOURCE F below and answer the questions that follow.
SOURCE F
AN EXTRACT FROM NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
THANDO: Mandisa, we had a choice. We could have gone for revenge. We could have gone for Nuremberg-style trials but how would that have made us different from them?
MANDISA: For what in return?
THANDO: Peace, stability, reconciliation.
MANDISA: You mean international reconciliation. They were so dying for international approval that they sold out. Did anyone of them think about the people? Did someone warn them that the people might want their revenge?
THANDO: We have a country to rebuild. A nation to take care of. An economy to grow, jobs to create, houses to build, clinics, hospitals, schools and our lives. Where would revenge get us except more violence? Besides we did not want to give those bastards the honour of taking up arms against us in their defense and call it a legitimate struggle. There was one Struggle, the struggle for liberation, our Struggle.
MANDISA: Then why is Craig Williamson a free man? He committed murder.
THANDO: Because according to the rules and requirements for amnesty …
MANDISA: He disclosed all? Yes. He told us nothing new except that he sent the parcel bombs. Who gave the order? Do we know that? Does that make him innocent?
5.1 Why are Mandisa and Thando arguing? (4)
5.2 Analyse why the dialogue in SOURCE F may be described as realistic. (4)
5.3 Describe a suitable set for this scene. (4)
5.4 Explain the choices you would make to block this scene in terms of the placement and movement of characters on stage. (4)
5.5 Suggest how the actress playing Mandisa could use Stanislavski's system in her preparation to show her emotional state when she performs. (6)
5.6 Evaluate the role of women in society as portrayed through the female characters in the play. (6)
5.7 Discuss the relevance of the issues and ideas raised in Thando's speech (lines 9–14).
Refer to: 

• The sociopolitical context of the play
• Our society today
• Themes and messages of the play(12)

[40]

QUESTION 6: GROUNDSWELL BY IAN BRUCE
Study SOURCE G below and answer the questions that follow.
SOURCE G

A SCENE FROM GROUNDSWELL
6.1 Identify characters A, B and C. (3)
6.2 Describe the possible topic of their conversation in SOURCE G. (3)
6.3 Discuss how SOURCE G shows the relationship between the characters through their body language. (6)
6.4 Justify the choice of the costume worn by any ONE of the characters. (4)
6.5 Analyse why the set of Groundswell may be described as realistic. Refer to SOURCE G and the play to support your answer. (6)
6.6 Assess how the themes of Groundswell are still relevant for South African audiences today. (6)
6.7 The three men are all in unfamiliar surroundings, forced to confront the issues in their own lives and the conflict this causes for themselves and others.
Discuss the truth of the statement above using examples in the play. (12)
[40]

QUESTION 7: MISSING BY REZA DE WET
Study SOURCE H below and answer the questions on the next page.
SOURCE H
EXTRACT FROM MISSING
CONSTABLE: It's me. Don't you recognise me?
MEISIE: You look … different.
CONSTABLE: I always look like this at this time of night.
MEISIE: Always?
CONSTABLE: Yes. (He smiles.) Always. (He takes his glasses off slowly and looks at her.)
MEISIE: And … you can see me?
CONSTABLE: That's because it's so late. When it gets very late, I can always see.
MEISIE: Really?
CONSTABLE: Yes, and I am glad I can see, because now I can see you. And you are beautiful.
MEISIE: (Amazed.) Am I?
CONSTABLE: You are.
MEISIE: You said I shouldn't wear shoes.
CONSTABLE: Yes. (He opens the curtain.) It's better that way. (He opens the window. The music can be heard.)
MEISIE: Please! Close the window! I'm not allowed to hear the music! Please!

7.1 Suggest why you think Constable looks 'different' (line 2) according to Meisie. (2)
7.2 Elaborate on how 'sight' and 'seeing' is used symbolically in the play text. (6)
7.3 In your opinion, is Constable a good or a bad character? (6)
7.4 Explain how a designer could use sound and lighting theatrically to show Constable's transformation. (6)
7.5 Describe how the actor portraying either Meisie or Constable would prepare for his/her role using Stanislavski's system/method. (8)
7.6 With reference to the characters, discuss your understanding of how Reza de Wet develops the theme of transformation in the play. (12)
[40]
TOTAL SECTION C: 40

SECTION D: THE HISTORY OF THEATRE, PRACTICAL CONCEPTS, CONTENT AND SKILLS
QUESTION 8 (COMPULSORY)
Study SOURCE I below and answer the questions that follow.
SOURCE I

MASKED PERFORMERS
8.1 You have been chosen as the director of your school's drama club. You have decided to stage a production using African drama forms in an antirealist style. In order to achieve this, you want to use masks and physical theatre.
8.1.1 State your understanding of physical theatre. (2)
8.1.2 Describe THREE skills actors must have to perform in a physical theatre production to create an impact on the audience. (6)
8.1.3 State TWO possible disadvantages of using masks in a stage performance. (4)
8.1.4 As the director of your school's drama club, analyse THREE challenges you might face in staging this production. (6)
8.1.5 Reflect on and discuss your skills development and problem-solving ability in working towards the final practical performance examination.
Focus on:

• Vocal skills
• Physical skills
• Acting skills
• Technical knowledge (10)

8.2 The stage is the art form that best reflects the mood of the nation.
– Michael Billington
Discuss the truthfulness of Michael Billington's statement.
Refer to:

• Examples from plays
• Theatre practitioners you have studied
• Knowledge and content of Dramatic Arts (12)

[40]
TOTAL SECTION D: 40
GRAND TOTAL: 150