Difference. Art. Community
June 23, 2011 - A Review of DFL Playback by Sophia Ayissi
Cultural Differences- who doesn’t know the challenges of different backgrounds concerning origins, language, traditions? We’ve all experienced confrontations between two parties of which the results were either bad, violent and destructive as seen during the xenophobic attacks in May 2008 or, most of the time, illuminating, inspiring and energizing. On the 17th of May four members of the DFL Playback Theatre Company performed in front of sixty German GIZ volunteers, showing that art speaks a universal language, one that goes beyond nations.
As some of the German DFL interns brought up the idea of inviting the DFL Playback Company to perform at our GIZ seminar, that is held every 4 months in order for the young volunteers to share their experiences in South Africa, we were confronted with different reactions. Most of them loved the idea, but didn’t quite understand it; most of them never heard of Playback Theatre before and didn’t know what to expect. Breaking the ice is never easy, but the actors managed to build trust thanks to their enthusiasm and motivating energy. The German audience soon opened up and shared their stories of friendship, funny adventures, loneliness and happiness which were played back to them in many creative ways. Many volunteers were impressed of the way the actors used their bodies, voices and only simple props to express the stories and of how they managed to improvise and to work together so closely. In the following discussion with Kathy Barolsky and Lebohang Motaung from the DFL Playback Company, the group was given the opportunity to ask questions about the idea and methods of Playback Theatre and to talk about cultural differences, especially between Germans and South Africans. We looked at how these differences affected the volunteers’ life so far: being far from home, struggling with stereotypes concerning both sides, building relationships with people from a different cultural background, getting used to daily life in a completely different country. The discussion made most of them realize that they all shared the same experiences and emotions no matter where they came from, or which program they were working with.
By the end of the evening, we all came to the same conclusion: all the cultural differences should never let us forget that we’re all humans and that we all understand the language of art.