A Study Of Athol Fugard's Drama From The Perspective Of Space Theory

Undoubtedly,African drama remains mysterious due to the intricate history,diverse cultures and various languages of African continent.In addition,African drama is not popular in China because of the short history,over-simplified pattern and other problems of foreign drama's introduction in China.Athol Fugard,a white playwright in South Africa,is naturally not well known among Chinese people.As a matter of fact,this diligent dramatist is highly prolific.So far,he has written 35 plays such as Sizwe Bansi Is Dead,My Children! My Africa!,Island and other great works.Owing to his outstanding contribution to the modern theatre,Fugard was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Tony award for Drama(Oscar in the world theatre)in 2011.As a playwright with a strong sense of social responsibility and profound insight,Fugard sedulously probes into the social problems and at the same time,he focuses on the individual's mental state,reveals the soul of the characters and explores the universal existence of human beings with plain language,which presents the trauma of South African people to the audience,especially the blacks there.Thus,his creation plays a positive role in promoting the development of the Black Arts Movement.Therefore,he is referred to as the"soul of South Africa".This thesis,guided by the theory of space and based on the study of Athol Fugard' drama at home and abroad,probes into the spatial factors in Athol Fugard's four representative scripts My children! My Africa!(2013),Island(2000),Sizwe Bansi Is Dead(2000)and Train Driver(2012).It also expounds the contradictory psychology of Athol Fugard's dramatic figures when making difficult choices materailly,spiritually and socially by trying to integrate the reality of contemporary South African society into the four dimensions of living space,discourse space,spiritual space and moral space during apartheid.Based on this analysis,the thesis explores the existence dilemmas of different characters in the four plays and the.changes of their living space from the perspective of their spatial demands and their hunger for coexistence.Besides,the transformation of discourse power and the influence of the invisible words of the dead on the discourse space of different characters are elaborated in depth.Furthermore,this thesis also pinpoints that the awakening of will and the lack of emotion make a difference on the character's mental space.Finally,the importance of moral space is pointed out by focusing on the sense of responsibility and religion in the whole society.Thus,the painful process of different characters is completely reproduced in the four plays during apartheid.The fact that Fugard was born white but brought up in Africa enables him to be concerned about the problems in the living space,discourse space and spiritual space of blacks as well as the reality of the Whites' moral space being torn apart according to the research.It is no exaggeration that space criticism runs through nearly all works of this dramatist and the strong spatial expressiveness highlights the tension of his drama.Therefore,the use of space theory to study Athol Fugard's drama has provided a new perspective for the present research of African Drama theoretically and practically.At the same time,studying the works of this outstanding dramatist has an extremely practical significance for in-depth understanding of South Africa's social culture and promoting Sino-African cultural exchanges.