Dark Voices Ring: Grade 12 Second Additional Language. Zakes Mda

      The layout in this digital edition of Dark Voices Ring for Grade 12 Second Additional Language may differ from that of the printed version, depending on the settings on your reader. The layout displays optimally if you use the default setting on your reader. Readers can experiment with the settings to enhance display.

      The page references in this version refer to the pages in the printed book.

      In instances where learners are asked to ‘answer the questions below’ the questions may appear on the next page depending on the device being used.

      References to the back cover of the book refer to the About the book section in this version.

      Foreword

      Dark Voices Ring is a one-act play. There is no division into scenes as the setting remains the same throughout. The play itself is preceded by an introductory paragraph on key features of the genre, followed by notes on the following:

      •What is drama?

      •Character and characterisation

      •Plot

      •Structure

      •Freytag’s pyramid

      •Setting

      •Stage directions

      •Dialect

      •Theme

      The next section contains biographical notes about the playwright, Zakes Mda, an overview of the play, and ideas to consider both before reading and while reading.

      A glossary is included at the end of the play, followed by questions on the play and the kind of contextual question to be expected in examinations. There is also an answer section against which all answers can be checked.

      The obvious thing to do with this play is to read it as a text, just as you would if it were a short story or a novel. But it holds other possibilities as well:

      •It could be read aloud, with two learners taking the speaking roles with a third playing the silent character, while the rest of the class follow along in their books as the audience.

      •The class could be divided into groups of three to do a play reading independently but at the same time so as to make maximum use of time and so that everyone gets a chance to read aloud.

      •It could even be staged, with auditions to choose the best cast, who will learn their parts by heart and perform for a wider audience than their classmates, with costumes and props on a set, just as the playwright intended.

      •The play could also be the source of other activities in the classroom such as improvisation, role-play and writing.

      Drama offers the possibility of enjoyment along with a growth in empathy, teamwork and language skills. We hope that this play will serve you in all these ways.

      Key features

      Literature appears in different genres: prose (novels and short stories), poetry and drama (plays). Drama differs from the other genres in that living actors in costume tell the story by performing it on a stage for an audience.

      For this reason the layout of a written play separates the words the actors speak (the primary text) from the information they or their director might need. Below the title you find the list of characters (the dramatis personae). Their names, in bold and capital letters, followed by a colon, down the left-hand column indicate who speaks the words opposite.

      The playwright hopes to make sure that performances agree with how he pictures them, and so he or she will add guidelines, in italics, for the setting

      •costumes

      •lighting

      •sound (music or noises)

      and will include stage directions in italics, usually in brackets, that tell the actors

      •when to appear on stage or leave (ENTER/EXIT)

      •how they are feeling

      •how to say their lines

      •and, sometimes, where they should stand and who they are addressing.