| Experiments in Freedom examines ways in which identities have been represented in recent South African play texts. It examines descriptions of identity from various philosophical, psychological and anthropological perspectives and elaborates ways in which drama is uniquely suited to represent - as well as to effect - transformations of identity. In exploring the fraught terrain of identity studies, the book discusses a selection of published play texts in terms of four discourses of identity: gender, political affiliation, ethnicity and syncretism. Instead of sustaining a central thesis, Krueger writes in short bursts about a multiplicity of topics, extending his explorations rhizomatically into the crevices of a new South African society loathe to relinquish formerly entrenched identity structures. Although it contains none of its vitriol, the book shares with Ionesco's Nu the eventual negation of its central quest. |
