Political Solo Performances by Anna Deavere Smith

Year 2018, Volume: 19 Issue: 35, 829 - 848, 31.07.2018

Elif Baş

https://doi.org/10.21550/sosbilder.396138

Abstract

Anna Deavere Smith is
an African American playwright, performer and an academician who has created a
unique technique in creating her plays. This article examines her journalistic
technique of interviewing people and building a performance text out of
interviews. Smith uses solo
performance as a medium to explore issues of race, identity and gender. Her
plays, as in “Fires in the Mirror”, reveal contradictory notions of individuals
on such matters in order to show that identity is not singular but is
multi-layered and more complex than we think. This article also discusses her
method of acting as it is closely related to her ideas on identity and race.
Overall, the article demonstrates the ways Anna Deavere Smith challenges the
principles of traditional political theatre and how she creates a more fluid,
intricate and dynamic way of understanding identity and political performance.

Keywords

Anna Deavere Smith, American drama, political Theatre, solo performance, verbatim theatre

POLİTİK TİYATRONUN SOLO SESİ: ANNA DEAVERE SMITH

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Afro-Amerikalı oyun yazarı, oyuncu
ve akademisyen Anna Deavere Smith’in 1980’lerde oyun yazmak için
şekillendirmeye başladığı röportaj tekniğini konu alır.  Smith, belli bir konu hakkında yaptığı
röportajları bir araya getirerek, o konuyu tüm boyutlarıyla sahnelemeye
çalışır. Özellikle kimlik, toplumsal cinsiyet ve ırk gibi politik meseleler
hakkında farklı görüşler ortaya koyarken, insanların kendi çelişkilerini de
gözler önüne serer. Bunu nasıl başardığı kısaca “Fires in the Mirror” oyunuyla
örneklendirilir. Bu konulara bakış açısı, Smith’in oluşturduğu oyunculuk metoduyla
da bağlantılı olduğundan, son olarak oyunculukta benimsediği yönteme değinilir.
Tüm bu bilgiler ışığında Smith’in hangi açıdan “geleneksel” politik tiyatronun
dışında kaldığı ve kendine özgü ne tür politik performanslar sergilediği ortaya
konur.

Keywords

Anna Deavere Smith, Amerikan tiyatrosu, politik tiyatro, solo performans, röportaj tekniği

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