African Theatre
African Theatre
African Theatre
Theatre:
An Overview
Population:
1,166,239,306
Africa: An Overview
Known to be the place from which the very first humans
originated;
Great diversity of geography, climate, politics, and languages
(more than 800 spoken languages);
Interactions with other cultures:
Northern coasts with European and Middle Eastern cultures
for millennia;
Eastern coasts long history of trading relations with of the
Indian Ocean, including India and Saudi Arabia;
Western, Central, and Southern coasts few contacts with
European maritime travelers Establishment of small colonies;
1885: Official start of colonialism;
Reorganization of colonies after WWI and WWII;
Independence movement in late 1950s and early 1960s;
Religious Africa
Some Basic Issues and Problems
Non-written languages
Oral historic records (Importance of the Griot in West Africa);
Colonial powers dismissal of these histories and traditions;
Many of the histories were lost by the time writing symbols were
adopted;
Contradictions between the imposed European history and the
Natives oral histories
Double Consciousness Assimilation Matriculation
Civil wars following independence Apartheid
Slavery and Slave Trade and the loss of part of the population
and memory of the past But also, impacts on World music and
arts
Western and Eastern religions vs Ancestral belief systems
In Africa, performance is a primary site for the production
of knowledge, where philosophy is enacted, and where
multiple and often simultaneous discourses are employed.
Not only that, but performance is a means by which people
reflect on their current conditions, define and/or re-invent
themselves and their social world, and either re-enforce,
resist, or subvert prevailing social orders. Indeed both
subversion and legitimation can emerge in the same
utterance or act. (3)
[Margaret Drewal, The Sate of Research on Performance in
Africa, African Studies Review, 34, 3 (Dec., 1991): 1-64]
Defining Theatre and Performance in Africa
Drumming
Dances
Religions
Pende Masks & Bamana Puppets
Minganji
Rituals and Ritualistic Performances
Initiation ceremonies for boys and girls (Rites of
Passage)
Power functions
1. BREACH
2. CRISIS
Panafricanism
- The Independence Movement Edward Blyden,
W.E.B. Dubois, Haile Selassie, Kwame Nkrumah &
Skou Tour
Audio-Visual Media
The BBC Drama Competition (1957 and onward)
Radio France Internationale Competitions (1968 1990)
The Role of Festivals such as the 1st Black World Festival (Dakar
1966)
Political theatre grew out in the 1970s out of the Black Consciousness Movement (in
universities) Not being able to act politically, this movement chose theatre as means
of uniting blacks, reminding them of their history and lost culture, and building
resistance
Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, Statements
after an Arrest under the Immorality Act, The Island
Style of Performance: