Umuntu, Ngumuntu, Ngabantu: The Story of African Choir, 1891-1893. Performing Identities in Victorian Britain

这个研究项目将产生一个新的完整的舞台作品，它调查了19世纪末一群年轻的南非黑人表演者的身份建构和“自我”的呈现。该作品将当时舞台上作品的制作和接收与当前对非洲大陆作品的阅读相提并论。该项目的这一阶段是由约翰内斯堡的市场剧院实验室、南非的格雷厄姆斯敦国际艺术节和英国的温布尔登艺术学院合作开发的。这是一项研究项目的延续，该项目最初是由2004年AHRB创意和表演艺术小额赠款资助的。1891年至1893年间，一个南非唱诗班在英格兰、苏格兰和爱尔兰巡回演出，为一所技术学校筹集资金，为金伯利钻石矿不断扩大的黑人劳动力提供教育。巡演遇到了财政困难，唱诗班的成员都是虔诚的基督徒，被迫采取激进的措施来吸引更多的观众。这些措施包括在部分表演中采用一种“本土”服装，以及为英国公众“高兴”而“上演”一些传统仪式和仪式。关于道德和服装表现的论述在维多利亚时代的观众心中是与当代的世界观不可分割地联系在一起的他们认为异教徒的服装是传教工程的救赎工作的一部分同时也保留了对非洲商品化的品味通过展现未被救赎的“异域他物”这项研究一开始就提出了这样的问题：唱诗班成员对自己的这种描述有多共谋？由于票房的需求，这次演讲花了多少钱？他们在多大程度上故意迎合了维多利亚时代观众的欲望？2006年4月，我们在市集剧院实验室（市集剧院的培训和实验部门）举办了为期两周的调查讲习班，最后向受邀观众进行了介绍。作品作为对“隐藏历史”的揭示的重要性，以及它对当代南非关于身份的辩论的贡献，得到了在场人士的肯定。这一阶段的研究将使我能够使用在最初的研讨会中开发和测试的方法将工作发展成一个完整的表演。表演的媒介是用来考察表演的产生和接受的。表演者让观众扮演19世纪观众的角色；他们控制并引导观众的目光回到自己身上，利用“殖民凝视”的假设，同时揭示当前的看法和偏见。这一过程将由曼彻斯特大学的Viv Gardner教授记录下来。这项以实践为主导的研究是由市场剧院和温布尔登艺术学院共同开展的一项更大的倡议的一部分，该倡议旨在促进与表演视觉相关问题的对话和知识共享。其中包括员工/学生交流，以及将于2007年3月在伦敦皇家国家剧院（Royal National Theatre）联合策展一场记录市集30年制作的摄影展。＼

This research project will result in the production of a new full length work for the stage which investigates the construction of identity and the presentation of 'self' by a group of young black South African performers at the end of the 19th century. The work draws parallels between production and reception of works for the stage then and current readings of work from the African continent. This phase of the project is being developed collaboratively between the Market Theatre Laboratory in Johannesburg, the Grahamstown International Festival in South Africa and Wimbledon College of Art in the UK. It is the continuation of a research project that was initially funded by an AHRB Small Grant in the Creative and Performing Arts in 2004.Between 1891-1893 a South African choir toured England,Scotland and Ireland to raise funds for a technical school to provide education for the expanding black labour force in the diamond mines in Kimberley The tour ran into financial difficulties and the choir, all of whom were committed Christians, were forced to take radical measures to attract larger audiences. These included the adoption of a form of 'native' dress for parts of the performance as well as a number of 'stagings' of traditional rituals and ceremonies for the 'delectation' of the British public. Discourses around morals and sartorial representation in the minds of Victorian audiences were inextricably linked to a contemporary world view which saw the clothing of the 'heathen' as part of the redemptive work of the missionary project whilst at the same time retaining a taste for the commodification of Africa through the staging of the unredeemed 'exotic other.' The questions this research asked at the outset were: How complicit were the members of the choir in this depiction of themselves?How much was this presentation due to the demands of the box-office?How much were they knowingly pandering to the desires of Victorian audiences?A two-week investigative workshop was conducted at the Market Theatre Laboratory which is the training and experimental wing of the Market Theatre in April 2006, culminating in a presentation to an invited audience. The importance of the work as a revelation of 'hidden history' and its contribution to contemporary debates concerned with identity in South Africa was affirmed by those present. This phase of research will enable me to develop the work into a full length performance using the methodology developed and tested in the initial workshop. The medium of performance is used to investigate the production and reception of performance. The performers cast the audience in the role of 19th century spectators; they control and direct the eye of the audience back on itself, playing on the assumptions of the 'colonial gaze' while simultaneously revealing current perceptions and predjudices. The process will be documented by Professor Viv Gardner of Manchester University. This practice-led research is a discrete part of a larger initiative aimed at fostering dialogue and sharing knowledge on issues relating to the visual in performance being developed by the Market Theatre and Wimbledon College of Art. These include staff/student exchanges and the joint curatorship of an exhibition of photographs that record 30 years of production at the Market, to be held at London's Royal National Theatre in March 2007. \