African Theatre and Politics: The evolution of theatre in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe

African Theatre and Politics: The evolution of theatre in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe
Author: Jane Plastow
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2023-01-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9004484736

This study, the first book-length treatment of its subject, draws on a large base of elusive material and on extensive field research. It is the result of the author's wide experience of teaching and producing theatre in Africa, and of her fascination with the ways in which traditional performance forms have interacted with, or have resisted, non-indigenous modes of dramatic representation in the process of evolving into the vital theatres of the present day. A comparative historical study is offered of the three national cultures of Ethiopia, Tanganyika/Tanzania, and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Not only (scripted) drama is treated, but also theatre in the sense of the broader range of performance arts such as dance and song. The development of theatre and drama is seen against the background of centuries of cultural evolution and interaction, from pre-colonial times, through phases of African and European imperialism, to the liberation struggles and newly-won independence of the present. The seminal relationship between theatre, society and politics is thus a central focus. Topics covered include: the function in theatre of vernacular and colonial languages; performance forms under feudal, communalist and socialist régimes; cultural militancy and political critique; the relationship of theatre to social élites and to the peasant class; state control (funding and censorship); racism and separate development in the performing arts; contemporary performance structures (amateur, professional, community and university theatre). Due attention is paid to prominent dramatists, theatre groups and theatre directors, and the author offers new insight into African perceptions of the role of the artist in the theatre, as well as dealing with the important subject of gender roles (in drama, in performance ritual, and in theatre practice). The book is illustrated with contemporary photographs.

Theatre from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe

Theatre from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe
Author: Samuel Ravengai
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2021-07-06
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 3030745945

The voices that are represented in this collection come from various parts of the world and express the views of practitioners and scholars who have all had first-hand experience working in Zimbabwean theatre from the last days of Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. The collection views the long continuum of developments in local theatre history as a case of the intrusive hegemonies that came with colonial Rhodesia as a conquest society, and localised identities in the form of the persistence of indigenous and syncretic popular forms. With time, all these came together to constitute the makings of a contested post-colony in contemporary theatre practice in Zimbabwe. The primary interest of scholars who are represented here is located at the intersection of political, cultural and performative discourses and the flow of Zimbabwean history. The focus, moreover, is not only on the history of performance cultures in postcolonial Zimbabwe - it extends its critical gaze to include the history of political ideas that gave rise to cultural contestation in the field of theatre and performance.

African Theatre in Performance

African Theatre in Performance
Author: Dele Layiwola
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 155
Release: 2013-11-05
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1134429266

In this lively and varied tribute to Martin Banham, Layiwola has assembled critical commentaries and two plays which focus primarily on Nigerian theatre - both traditional and contemporary. Dele Layiwola, Dapo Adelugba and Sonny Oti trace the beginnings of the School of Drama in 1960, at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where Martin Banham played a key and influential role in the growth of thriving Nigerian theatre repetoire and simulaneously encouraging the creation of a new theatre based on traditional Nigerian theatre forms. This comparative approach is taken up in Dele Layiwola's study of ritual and drama in the context of various traditions worldwide, while Oyin Ogunba presents a lucid picture of the complex use of theatre space in Yoruba ritual dramadar drama. Harsh everyday realitites, both physical and political, are graphically demonstrated by Robert McClaren (Zimbabwe) and Oga Steve Abah (Nigeria) who both show surprising and alarming links between extreme actual experiences and theatre creation and performance. The texts of the two plays - When Criminals Turn Judges by Ola Rotimi, The Hand that Feeds the King by Wale Ogunyemi, are followed by Austin O. Asagba's study of oral tradition and text in plays by Osofisan and Agbeyegbe, and Frances Harding's study on power, language, and imagery in Wole Soyinka's plays.

Performance Trends in Postliberation Zimbabwe

Performance Trends in Postliberation Zimbabwe
Author: Nkululeko Sibanda
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2023-06-28
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1527594483

This collection of essays documents, conceptualises and theorises the ways in which Zimbabwean, in particular, and African practitioners, in general, creatively work and perform in contemporary Africa. It serves to consolidate the ways in which Zimbabwean and African performance is made and understood by Zimbabwean practitioners and theorists. The book examines this emergent, dynamic performance movement which transforms performances into acts of reflection, engagement, and/or discussion between the performer and spectator through various creative performative avenues, such as interjections, call and response, singing, clapping and use of communally identifiable everyday objects in design, which affirm and fuse the actors and spectators together. Finally, this book exposes the dominant exclusivity and Anglocentrism in critical pedagogies of performance in Zimbabwe through problematizing the “taken-for-grantedness” of the accepted ways in which performance and theory have been conceptualised.

Trends in Twenty-First-Century African Theatre and Performance

Trends in Twenty-First-Century African Theatre and Performance
Author: Kene Igweonu
Publisher: Rodopi
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2011
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9401200823

Trends in Twenty-First Century African Theatre and Performance is a collection of regionally focused articles on African theatre and performance. The volume provides a broad exploration of the current state of African theatre and performance and considers the directions they are taking in the 21st Century. It contains sections on current trends in theatre and performance studies, on applied/community theatre and on playwrights. The chapters have evolved out of a working group process, in which papers were submitted to peer-group scrutiny over a period of four years, at four international conferences. The book will be particularly useful as a key text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in non-western theatre and performance (where this includes African theatre and performance), and would be a very useful resource for theatre scholars and anyone interested in African performance forms and cultures.

Routledge Handbook of African Theatre and Performance

Routledge Handbook of African Theatre and Performance
Author: Kene Igweonu
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 811
Release: 2024-06-10
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 1040019919

The Routledge Handbook of African Theatre and Performance brings together the very latest international research on the performing arts across the continent and the diaspora into one expansive and wide-ranging collection. The book offers readers a compelling journey through the different ideas, people and practices that have shaped African theatre and performance, from pre-colonial and colonial times, right through to the 20th and early 21st centuries. Resolutely Pan-African and inter- national in its coverage, the book draws on the expertise of a wide range of Africanist scholars, and also showcases the voices of performers and theatre practitioners working on the cutting-edge of African theatre and performance practice. Contributors aim to answer some of the big questions about the content (nature, form) and context (processes, practice) of theatre, whilst also painting a pluralistic and complex picture of the diversity of cultural, political and artistic exigencies across the continent. Covering a broad range of themes including postcolonialism, transnationalism, interculturalism, Afropolitanism, development and the diaspora, the handbook concludes by projecting possible future directions for African theatre and performance as we continue to advance into the 21st century and beyond. This ground-breaking new handbook will be essential reading for students and researchers studying theatre and performance practices across Africa and the diaspora. Kene Igweonu is Professor of Creative Education at University of the Arts London, where he is also Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of London College of Communication. An interdisciplinary researcher, Professor Igweonu has extensive experience of senior academic leadership in immersive and interactive practices and performance practice. His practice research and publication interests are in storytelling, theatre, and performance in Africa and its Diaspora, as well as the Feldenkrais Method in health, wellbeing, and performance training. A champion for arts and creative industries, Professor Igweonu is Chair of DramaHE, Council Member for Creative UK, and until August 2023, President of the African Theatre Association.

Pre-colonial and Post-colonial Drama and Theatre in Africa

Pre-colonial and Post-colonial Drama and Theatre in Africa
Author: Lokangaka Losambe
Publisher: New Africa Books
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2001
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9781919876061

In this collection of essays written from different critical perspectives, African playwrights demonstrate through their art that they are not only witnesses, but also consciences, of their societies.

Cultures of Change in Contemporary Zimbabwe

Cultures of Change in Contemporary Zimbabwe
Author: Oliver Nyambi
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2021-11-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000470288

This book investigates how culture reflects change in Zimbabwe, focusing predominantly on Mnangagwa’s 2017 coup, but also uncovering deeper roots for how renewal and transition are conceived in the country. Since Emmerson Mnangagwa ousted Robert Mugabe in 2017, he has been keen to defi ne his "Second Republic" or "New Dispensation" with a rhetoric of change and a rejection of past political and economic cultures. This multi and inter- disciplinary volume looks to the (social) media, language/ discourse, theatre, images, political speeches and literary fiction and non- fiction to see how they have reflected on this time of unprecedented upheaval. The book argues that themes of self- renewal stretch right back to the formative years of the ZANU PF, and that despite the longevity of Mugabe’s tenure, the latest transition can be seen as part of a complex and protracted layering of postcolonial social, economic and political changes. Providing an innovative investigation of how political change in Zimbabwe is reflected on in cultural texts and products, this book will be of interest to researchers across African history, literature, politics, culture and post- colonial studies.