“Breaths of Joburg” – One Play, Multiple Perceptions : A Johannesburg Literary Site-Specific Theatre Pilot Project

Abstract: This thesis examines the perception of the city of Johannesburg through a participatory theatre pilot project titled “Breaths of Joburg”. It looks at how different stakeholders, such as the performance director, professional and student actors, as well as the writers who inspired the texts used as a basis for the theatre, the live audience as well as the social media audience perceived Johannesburg and whether their perceptions changed after experiencing the play. The texts were inspired by the writers’ desire for social change in the city of Johannesburg, however, this change was not perceived by the other stakeholders. As the play, which was initially intended for an adult audience, had to be adapted to a predominantly child audience due to the need for change of location, this influenced the storytelling and language used in the play. Arguably, this change contributed to the lack of perception change within the stakeholders. All stakeholders who were Johannesburg residents developed strong positive emotions for their city throughout the production of the play and the performances thereof due to their perception of authenticity and their pre-existing knowledge of the city. Their perceptions of the city, however, remained the same while live audience members who came from outside of Johannesburg did not perceive the city in the same way and reported a feeling of hesitation. Humorous and educational content within the play aided the performance director to transform the city of Johannesburg into a space for experiences and gathering meaning. While social media aided in promoting the play to a highly relevant pre-defined audience in and around Johannesburg, it did not actively aid in influencing the perceptions of its social media audience beyond measured metrics such as “likes” and “shares” on Facebook and Instagram.