Accessing, playing and narrating culture(s) in African and European performance training

This article presents examples of facilitated processes that enable performers to access, play with, and narrate culture(s) within contemporary performance training contexts in Johannesburg (South Africa) and Birmingham (UK). These processes support performers in confidently drawing from these resources in their future performance practices. We redefine culture in performance training as a form of knowledge, resisting the binary positioning of Global North-South or local-diasporic performers. Using three stages - access, play, narrate, we map differing relationships to culture across contexts, identify points of resistance and ownership, and demonstrate how culture can connect performance training to performers’ everyday lives. We reconceptualise Sauter’s notion of playing culture to show how it can provide access points for those with understandings of their connected communities and cultures. Across student performers - both those who possess or are still developing an understanding of their playing culture - we argue for a pedagogy of narrating culture: One that builds on knowledge through cyclical processes of listening to, reflecting on, and exploring their multiplicities in both the rehearsal room and connected communities. We suggest that by guiding pedagogies of narrating culture, the performance trainer can better develop more culturally appropriate training approaches over time.