BOOK PROJECT
BOOK PROJECT
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Theatres of Extraction: Performance and the Politics of Labor in South Africa
Industrial theatre warmup, Cape Town, South Africa, 2020. Photograph by Sarah Saddler.
Theatres of Extraction traces the materiality of performance inside some of the world’s most historically significant and globally consequential sites of mineral extraction. It reconceptualizes performance as one of the material practices through which the paradoxes and attachments of extractive life get organized. This monograph will demonstrate how embodied cultural practices participate in making economic systems legible, durable, and sensorially experienced.
Mponeng Gold Mine, Gauteng, South Africa, 2025. Photograph by Sarah Saddler.
Industrial theatre performance, Randfontein, South Africa, 2025. Photograph by Sarah Saddler.
Cullinan Diamond Mine, Gauteng, South Africa, 2025. Photograph by Sarah Saddler.
Industrial theatre rehearsal with Nyathela Works, Emalahleni, South Africa, 2026. Photograph by Sarah Saddler.
Workers' theatre performance, South Africa, 1980s. Organise and Act: The Natal Workers Theatre Movement, Astrid Von Kotze
The “Big Hole,” Kimberley, South Africa, 2024. Photograph by Sarah Saddler.
Further reading:
““Why Are We Here? Money.”: Industrial Theatre and the Cultural Logics of Extraction in South Africa,” WISER Seminar Paper, University of the Witwatersrand, 2026.
← Street performer, Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2024. Photograph by Sarah Saddler.
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