Transmediating the tale: Gopala Davies’s Barbe Bleue: A Story of Madness
Catherine Makhumula
Abstract
In this article, I discuss Gopala Davies’s Barbe Bleue: A Story of Madness as a theatrical performance that incorporates digital media to experiment with theatrical storytelling. I argue that the director of the performance thematises the tale of Bluebeard’s transmediality: Its capacity to be retold across a variety of media. The resulting performance is a retelling of the tale into a new context and with personal motivation. Furthermore, through the exploration of its themes, Davies in Barbe Bleue also rewrites and comments on the tale of Bluebeard, evoking complex visual and auditory storytelling experiences within the theatrical time and space. The article therefore, discusses the dynamic ways in which contemporary African artists like Davies combine and integrate digital media in their theatrical productions to explore new modes of presentation and new ways of experiencing theatre.
In this article, I discuss Gopala Davies’s Barbe Bleue: A Story of Madness as a theatrical performance that incorporates digital media to experiment with theatrical storytelling. I argue that the director of the performance thematises the tale of Bluebeard’s transmediality: Its capacity to be retold across a variety of media. The resulting performance is a retelling of the tale into a new context and with personal motivation. Furthermore, through the exploration of its themes, Davies in Barbe Bleue also rewrites and comments on the tale of Bluebeard, evoking complex visual and auditory storytelling experiences within the theatrical time and space. The article therefore, discusses the dynamic ways in which contemporary African artists like Davies combine and integrate digital media in their theatrical productions to explore new modes of presentation and new ways of experiencing theatre.
| etudesjan2018makhumula.pdf |
