THE HUNGRY EARTH

The development of drama in a country like South Africa has, like many other cultural activities, been determined to a large extend by the socio-political situations. It was in this same milieu that Maishe Maponya wrote his play ‘The Hungry Earth’. The South African plays being multi-faceted and very diverse indeed, it is not easy to apprehend a meaning to them. They can be connoted at different levels.

Maishe Maponya’s plays are multilingual, using physical theatre techniques. He uses the idea of “decolonizing the mind”, thus paralleling himself in terms of Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s concept. In the Post Colonial writings, language is a key area of concern. In this play Maponya uses three distinct languages. He blends the languages so well in the play that the social structure of the inhabitants is evident through the hierarchy of language. The Big Boss in the play uses the refined English tongue, the Bossboy has his Afrikaans and the natives of Africa has their African native languages.

Flexible staging is another appreciable element of the play. Vivid stage directions are enabled and there is little room for chaos; even though in some areas deliberately some confusions are added.

The play has an episodic mode of narration. South Africa under the Apartheid regime is brought home directly; no matter whether to a spectator or to a reader. The discriminatory practices in the once authoritative system called Apartheid is well depicted in the full length of the play. The train scene where the Africans get arrested for petty crimes is noteworthy. Similarly, the commoditization of the third world countries is also a concerning theme. In this context it is worthy to comment on the Gumboot Dancing, which had its origins in the mines; as a way of communication as well as a mode of resistance. Even today this form of dance can be claimed as

losing its charm in the process called commoditization.

            The play also deals with the double marginalization of women. Indeed they are sidelined because they were born as women and to add to their suffering, they are again sidelined as blacks. Thus the play can rightly be termed as a problem play, where the issues of a society are portrayed in a large scale.