TABLE OF CONTENTS
Welcome ………………………………………………………………………
General Information ………………………………………………….
Notes on African Theatre Association ……………………………………..
African Performance Review (APR) ………………………………..
Conference Organisation …………………………………….
Keynote Speakers ……………………………………………….
List of Conference Participants ………………………………………………
Abstracts …………………………………………………………………..
Conference Schedule ……………………………………………………
Conference Programme ………………………………………………..
1
WELCOME
2
GENERAL INFORMATION
3
NOTES ON AFRICAN THEATRE ASSOCIATION
The African Theatre Association is an international non-profit society open to
scholars and practitioners of African performance and theatre. Its primary aim,
through its annual conference, is to be a forum for the exploration of African
performance and theatre processes. It intends to serve as a bridge between
African theatre practices and scholarship in Africa and the African Diaspora, by
bringing academics and theatre-makers together. The Association will initiate
and lead discussions on African performance theory and practice. Its journal,
African Performance Review, will help define and shape African performance
and theatre scholarship and pedagogy by liberating them from the constraints of
non-African discursive frameworks.
AfTA’s inception in 2006 was marked by a One-Day Inaugural Symposium,
organised in collaboration with The Pinter Centre for Performance and Creative
Writing, Goldsmiths. The Symposium on 8 April 2006 was held at the Ben
Pimlott Building, Goldsmiths, and explored the theme of “Women in African
Performance and Theatre”.
AfTA can be contacted via the website http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/AfTA/, by
email at AfTA@gold.ac.uk, or by writing to; AfTA C/o Department of Drama,
Goldsmiths College, University of London, New Cross, United Kingdom SE14
6NW.
Executive Officers
President
Dr. Osita Okagbue (Goldsmiths, University of London)
General Secretary
Dr. Victor Ukaegbu (University of Northampton)
Treasurer
Dr. Jumai Ewu (University of Northampton)
Membership Secretary
Mr. Sola Adeyemi (University of Leeds)
Executive Board
Dr. Frances Harding (SOAS University of London)
Dr. Sam Kasule (University of Derby)
Ms Marcia Hewitt (Collective Artistes, London)
Dr. Dipo Agboluaje (Soho Theatre, London)
4
AFRICAN PERFORMANCE REVIEW (APR) ISSN 1750-4848
A bi-annual journal of the African Theatre Association (AfTA) dedicated to
publishing, disseminating and encouraging high quality research and information
on theatres and performance in Africa and the African Diaspora. The journal
publishes articles, review articles and reviews on all aspects of African
performance and theatre. Areas of particular interest are: critical theory and
practice; theatre history/history of the theatre; theatre, culture & society; themes
in African drama and theatre; theatre-for-development; African performance
pedagogy; research in African performance; performance processes; performers
and audiences; places of performance; performance and politics/politics of
performance; theatre for young people; popular performance/theatre;
radio/television drama; video movies; theatre in the African diaspora; theories of
African dance & music; oral performances in Africa.
Articles are accepted for publication according to the assessment of referees.
Manuscripts should be original and unpublished contributions, and should not be
under submission to another publication. Articles should not normally exceed
5000 words, and must be typed double-spaced with wide margins. In order to be
considered, two copies of the manuscript and a disk (Word 6 compatible) or email attachment should be submitted. Contributors should use the Harvard Style.
All references are included in the text and are indicated by surname(s) or
author(s), year of publication and page number(s) in brackets, e.g. (Kerr,
1995:33). Each article should be accompanied by an abstract of 100-150 words
on a separate sheet. Manuscripts should be sent to the Editor, African
Performance Review, Department of Drama, Goldsmiths, University of London,
SE14 6NW United Kingdom. Enquiries and communication should be sent by email to AfTA@gold.ac.uk
Editor
Dr. Osita Okagbue, Goldsmiths, University of London
Associate Editors
Dr. Jumai Ewu, University of Northampton
Dr. Victor Ukaegbu, University of Northampton
Reviews Editor
Dr. Sam Kasule, University of Derby
Advisory Board
Professor Dapo Adelugba, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Professor Eckhard Breitinger, Bayreuth University, Germany
Professor Ossie Enekwe, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
Professor Robert Gordon, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
Professor Temple Hauptfleisch, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Professor Chimalum Nwankwo, North Carolina A & T State University,
Greensboro, USA.
5
CONFERENCE ORGANISATION
Conference Hosts
The Pinter Centre for Performance and Creative Writing and the Department of
Drama, Goldsmiths, University of London.
Conference Convenors
Dr. Osita Okagbue (Goldsmiths, University of London)
Dr. Kenechukwu Igweonu (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Conference Website
http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/AfTA/critical-papers.php
Contact Details
AfTA C/o Department of Drama, Goldsmiths College, University of London,
New Cross, United Kingdom SE14 6NW.
Email: AfTA@gold.ac.uk,
Tel: 0207 919 7581
6
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
7
LIST OF CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS
Adedoyin, Mr. Ismaila Rasheed
Email: rashotun@yahoo.co.uk
AFFILIATION: University of Lagos, Nigeria
TITLE: Theatre Critics and Theatre Criticism in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects
Adeniyi, Mr. Kehinde Abimbola
Email: pbimboadeniyi@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Nigeria
TITLE: Towards a Professional Excellence in Theatre Practice in Africa: The Nigerian
Experience
Adigun, Mr. Bisi
Email:adiguno@tcd.ie
AFFILIATION: Trinity College, Dublin
Title: The Vulture and the Ape Are Not Unequal: Soyinka as the Archetypal
Contemporary Intercultural Dramatist
Akunna, Ms. Gladys Ijeoma
Email: gladys_akunna@yahoo.co.uk
AFFILIATION: Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria
Title: Dance as Mental Therapeutic in the African Experience: Beyond the Speculation
Aniago, Mr. Peter Emeka
Email: paa04@aber.ac.uk
AFFILIATION: University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales,
TITLE: The Context of Deep and Dark Play in Vicious Cultural Performances in Africa:
Focus on Fulani Sharo and Igbo Ipia Agba.
Anike, Mr. Ndu F.
Email:nduanike@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION:
TITLE: Masquerade as the Theatre That Unites the Igbo
Anyanwu, Mr. Chikwendu P.K.
Email: chikwendua@hotmail.com
AFFILIATION:
TITLE: The Challenges of Staging a Novel in Igbo land: A Review of a Stage Adaptation
of Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People
Anyokwu, Dr. Christopher
Email:anyokwu_c@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: University of Lagos, Nigeria.
TITLE: The University as Metaphor of Histrionic Drought: The Nigerian Experience
Babatope, Mr. Babafemi Johnson
8
Email: phemiebabs@yahoo.com
Affiliation: Lagos State University, Nigeria
Title: Muse, Mood and Creativity; a Search for “Dramatic” Inspiration
Peter Badejo OBE KEYNOTE (no abstract)
Email:
AFFILIATION: Badejo Arts
Title:
Castelyn, Ms Sarahleigh (exhibition)
Email: s.castelyn@qmul.ac.uk
AFFILIATION: Queen Mary, University of London
TITLE: ‘Proudly South African’, or How I Chased the Rainbow and Bruised My Knee…
(Exhibition/installation)
Cuxima-Zwa, Mr. Chikukuango
Email: chikukuango.cuxima-zwa@Brunel.ac.uk
AFFILIATION: Brunel University
Title: Angola: Body Painting in Britain, a Contemporary Cultural Identity
Eghagha, Dr. Hope
Email: heghagha@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: University of Lagos, Nigeria
TITLE: Audience Participation or Performance Distortion? A Period Study of University
of Lagos Theatre Audience
Eluyefa, Mr. Dennis
Email: Dennis.Eluyefa@winchester.ac.uk
AFFILIATION: University of Winchester
TITLE: The Concept of “Alarinjo” in Yoruba Theatre.
Enendu, Dr. Molinta L. O.
Email: ojenendu@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: Centre for Research on African Theatre and Theatre Technology
TITLE: Performance Equipment Installations and Resources in Nigeria Theatre Houses
Evwierhoma, Professor Mabel I. E.
Email: mabtobrhoma2002@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: University of Abuja, Nigeria
TITLE: The Female Ethos and Development Paradigms in Nigerian Theatre Performance
Gordon, Professor Robert
Email: r.gordon@gold.ac.uk
AFFILIATION: Goldsmiths, University of London
Title: Fugard in Performance
9
Hassan, Ms. Grace Uche and Ms. Regina Kwakye-Opong
Email: munssen@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: University of Ghana Legon
Title: Costume and Makeup as Medium for Cultural expression in Stage performance
Iguanre, Mr. Solomon
Email: s_iguanre@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: Babcock University, Nigeria
TITLE: Laffomania: Phenomenal Vaudeville
Irobi, Dr. Esiaba
Email:
AFFILIATION: Ohio University, USA
Title: The Problem with Postcolonial Theory
Kasule, Dr. Sam
Email: s.kasule@derby.ac.uk
AFFILIATION: University of Derby
Title: Simbawo Akati: Changing concepts of popular music theatre and performance in
Uganda
Ladan, Mr. Victor L.
Email: victor.ladan@ntlworld.com
AFFILIATION: The University of Northampton
Title: Transcribing the Lexicon of “Culture of Silence” in Theatre for Development:
Lessons from Enula TfD Project among Abanyole Community of Western Kenya
Lawal, Mr. Hameed Olutoba
Email: olutoba2000@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: Federal College of Education (Special) Oyo, Nigeria
TITLE: African Ethos in Community Theatre
Mbajiorgu, Mr. Greg
Email: gregnadix@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION:
TITLE: Towards the Development of the Solo Theatrical Sub-Genre in Nigeria: A Critical
Examination of its Major Handicaps
Muebake, Professor Denis
Email: denismen2000@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: National University of Equatorial Guinea
Title: Theatre and English Language in Equatorial Guinea
Ndah, Dr. Ubong S.
Email: beulahinemesit@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: University of Uyo, Nigeria.
TITLE: Theatre and Development in Africa: A Study on Media Social Responsibility
10
Ntangaare, Dr. Mercy Mirembe (KEYNOTE)
Email: eati@arts.mak.ac.ug
AFFILIATION: Makerere University Kampala, Uganda
Title: African Theatre: Its Life and Journey into the New Millennium
Nwaru, Mr. Christian Ikechukwu
Email: chrisnwaru@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: Imo State University, Nigeria
TITLE: Dance as a Signifying Practice: A Study of Omenimo
Ofodile, Mr. Reginald
Email: regofodile@hotmail.com
AFFILIATION:
TITLE: A World in Drama
Ojuade, Mr. Jeleel O.
Email: jeleelo@yahoo.co.uk
AFFILIATION: University of Ilorin, Nigeria
TITLE: Dance Aesthetics in Theatrical Performance(s) in Africa: The Nigerian
Perspective
Oni, Professor Duro
Email: durooni@yahoo.co.uk
AFFILIATION: University of Lagos, Nigeria
TITLE: Theatre Training in the Nigerian University System: A Critical Assessment of
Design and Technology Courses
Onyekaba, Mr. Cornelius Eze
Email: cornelbest@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: University of Lagos
TITLE: The Changing Trends in Theatre Troupe Management in Nigeria: A Comparative
Study of Fezi Productions and Crown Troupe of Africa
Oteh, Mr. Patrick-Jude
Email: josreperthea@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: Jos Repertory Theatre, Nigeria
TITLE: Chariot Without Riders – A Performance Exegesis
Oyetoro, Mr. Hafiz Adebimpe
Email: adabapata@yahoo.com
AFFILIATION: Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Lagos Nigeria
TITLE: Stage Performance in Africa: The Tale of a Dying Performance Tradition
Princz, Mr. Andrew
Email: aprincz@ontheglobe.com
AFFILIATION: ontheglobe.com
TITLE: Theatre and Performance as Image-building Tools for Africa
11
Seremba, Mr. George Bwanika
Email: serembgp@tcd.ie
AFFILIATION: Trinity College Dublin
TITLE: Myth, Mythopoeia and Robert Serumaga’s Majangwa
Siegert, Ms. Nadine
Email: nadine.siegert@uni-bayreuth.de
AFFILIATION: University of Bayreuth
TITLE: Shifting Centres – Shifting Perception: Contemporary Dance from Africa as
Creative Opposition to Stereotypical Images of Africanity
Ukaegbu, Dr. Victor
Email: victor.ukaegbu@northampton.ac.uk
AFFILIATION: University of Northampton
TITLE: Mediating Space and Venue in Traditional African Performance.
Windapo, Mr. Gbenga
Email: abatabutu2000@yahoo.com;abatabutu2000@hotmail.com
AFFILIATION: Adeniran Ogunsanya College Of Education, Nigeria
TITLE: Theatre and Performance Processes: The Dynamics of Sato Dance
12
ABSTRACTS
Adedoyin, Mr. Ismaila Rasheed
THEATRE CRITICS AND THEATRE CRITICISM
PROSPECTS
IN
NIGERIA: PROBLEMS
AND
Because the word criticism itself implies many different things to
many people, we must first come to some agreement about what it
means here.
Dennis J. Sporre (The Art of Theatre)
The paper aims to correct the current trends where criticism is muddled up with
cynicism, sycophancy, faultfinding and passing judgement. It is a detailed
process of analysis based on principles and theories geared towards
understanding and appreciation of a work. The critic is one equipped with all the
arsenals and experience and blessed with the critical and creative faculties
required for passing constructive judgement on a work.
This paper focuses on the problems and prospects of theatre criticism in a multireligious, multi-ethnic but buoyant entertainment industry and developing
economy like Nigeria. It critically examines the development of theatre criticism
and the plight of theatre critics in a society where criticism is perceived as sinful
and discourteous. In a country with a dying theatre culture and a vibrant home
movies industry, the writer evaluates the roles of theatre critics and the gains of
criticism in a society where stage performances yield little or no profit and are
largely supported by philanthropists and government agencies.
Employing the eclectic approach, the paper is academically stimulating and
tailored to provoke more scholarly attention that is geared towards sustaining this
near extinct but intellectually engaging discipline.
Adeniyi, Mr. Kehinde Abimbola
TOWARDS A PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE IN THEATRE PRACTICE IN AFRICA:
THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE
The study is set to examine the present state of theatre practice in Africa, looking
at the facilities for training and human resources development. The paper will
also look at the influence of the environment on theatre practice, the involvement
of science and technology and its resultant effect on the practice.
The study intends to establish whether theatre in Africa has attained professional
status, the major landmarks, the identified problems and suggested way forward
to ensure that the practice attains an excellence status of a reputable profession
such as medicine, law and engineering have.
13
Adigun, Mr. Bisi
THE VULTURE AND THE APE ARE NOT UNEQUAL: SOYINKA IS THE ARCHETYPAL
CONTEMPORARY INTERCULTURAL DRAMATIST
Like “racism”, which Richard Schechner once described as a myth of desired
cultural purity played out against “others” who are perceived as being not only
different but inferior, interculturalism in theatre practice is increasingly
becoming the exclusive preserve of the Occident. When intercultural theatre, a
term which is currently attracting a lot of attention from western theatre
practitioners and scholars, is discussed or written about, usually, names such as,
Peter Brook, Eugenio Barba, Ariane Mnouchkine, Robert Wilson top the list.
But long before Brook’s The Mahabaharata (1985) and Mnouchkine’s L’Indiade
(1987), Nigerian playwrights such as J P Clark-Bekederemo, Ola Rotimi, Zulu
Sofola, have been adapting the classics and mixing the ‘foreign’ with the
‘familiar’. Out of all of these writers, Soyinka is however the most consistent in
the way he fuses elements of western theatre traditions with his quintessential
African theme. Although he writes in English, Soyinka is greatly inspired by the
traditional elements of Yoruba ritual theatre and this unique eclecticism
permeates both his theoretical and creative work. My intention in this paper, with
particular reference to the theory of Yoruba tragedy and The Bacchae of
Euripedes, an adaptation of The Bacchae by Euripedes commissioned by the
National theatre of Britain in 1973, is to argue that Soyinka, though unsung, is
the archetypal contemporary intercultural dramatist.
Akunna, Ms. Gladys Ijeoma
DANCE AS MENTAL THERAPEUTIC IN THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE: BEYOND THE
SPECULATIONS
Dance is an integral part of the African life. Its very nature (model of
performance, functions and aesthetics) whether in secular or ritual form, makes
it, perhaps, the most popular socio-aesthetic cultural institution for facilitating
both personal well-being and communal welfare; for it is one art form which
could be relevantly employed to suit various spiritual, psychological, economic,
social and political needs. However, this complexity of the dance as a varied
topic in the African experience has led to speculations and sweeping
generalizations about its peculiar relevance. For instance, various published
research by dance scholars reflect a number of “recurrent themes” intended as
basic models for analyzing and interpreting the African dance culture. Among
these, the topic of dance as “manifestation of the human unconscious background
and or inner experience” is a crucial one. In this theme, Dance as a psychological
form of human behaviour is speculated to help in conditioning the emotional
state of individual members (of given societies), by helping to build their
personal self-worth. As such, the cathartic and therapeutic function of dance is
linked to this behaviour, since certain experience of Dance performance can help
to purge negative feelings and emotion embedded in performers as well as
spectators. This discourse highlights the theory and research that have attempted
to investigate the use of dance as a medium of expression in psychotherapy.
Precisely, it examines the speculations about its values in contributing to healthy
14
emotional development. While it agrees on the psycho-dynamics of dance as a
mind-body interventions therapy in the African experience, it advocates a
scientific-oriented approach towards understanding the nature of its therapeutic
relationship to psychological medicine.
Aniago, Mr. Peter Emeka
THE CONTEXT OF DEEP AND DARK PLAY IN VICIOUS CULTURAL
PERFORMANCES IN AFRICA: FOCUS ON FULANI SHARO AND IGBO IPIA AGBA.
The thematic focus of this paper is to evaluate the African cultural context and
meaning of deep play and dark play as found in some cultural performances.
Hence, this paper aims to explore the dimensions to deep play and dark play in
some forms of vicious cultural performances in Nigeria. Primarily, the paper will
be focusing on the meaning and context of deep play and dark play as reality of
life as imbedded in some vicious performances like Fulani sharo and Igbo ipia
agba and use these as the background to our discussion. To appreciate better the
reasons behind the reality of deep play and dark play as specifics defining the
quality of vicious enactments in African cultural settings, we shall explore
vividly the cultural meanings of sharo and ipia agba. Then as defining specifics,
we will explore the angle of interiority and exteriority of deep play and dark play
essence in these performances as forms of vicious performances. This will lead
us to questions like; to what extent can performers involve dark play in deep play
and to what extent is vicious cultural performance a deep play?
Finally we shall look at the contexts and dimensions of performance experience
in relation to, the reality and perception, impression and condition of deep play
and dark play in bororo Fulani sharo and Igbo ipia agba performances. The
contexts of performance experience will be viewed from the dimensions of the
performers’ and the spectators’ aesthetic experiences.
Anike, Mr. Ndu F.
MASQUERADE AS THE THEATRE THAT UNITES THE IGBO
This paper examines notions of African theatre and its social functions using the
masquerade as the template that unites, entertains and adjudicates. Using the
Igbo example, it will explore the mimetic characteristics of the masquerade and
determine what makes it theatre.
The paper may also examine the contemporary scenario and create a corellation
in the fact that the dearth of the masquerade in Igboland has coincided with the
moral breakdown in society.
Anyanwu, Mr. Chikwendu P.K
THE CHALLENGES OF STAGING A NOVEL IN IGBO LAND: A REVIEW OF A STAGE
ADAPTATION OF CHINUA ACHEBE’S A MAN OF THE PEOPLE
15
Adapting a literary work from one genre to another has been practised through
the years. Linda Hutcheon writes that “the Victorians had the habit of adapting
just about everything – and in just about every possible way”. In our own time,
she says, “adaptation has run amok” and so seem to have lost its appeal
(Hutcheon L, A Theory of Adaptation, NY, 2006, p xi). Adaptation may have
gone crazy in the West but I am not sure if this could be said of adaptation in
Africa; not in Igbo land for sure. Most of our artists would rather present stories
and other forms of art works from the scratch.
My focus in this paper will be on the challenges of adapting a novel into a stage
drama. This will draw heavily on my recent experiences as a stage adapter and
producer of Chinua Achebe’s novel, “A Man of the People”.
From stating the reasons for the adaptation of this novel, this paper will discuss
the processes that helped to realise the stage production. The processes will help
us to appreciate the challenges and why stage adaptations of novels in Africa
should occur more regularly.
Anyokwu, Dr. Christopher
THE UNIVERSITY AS METAPHOR OF HISTRIONIC DROUGHT: THE NIGERIAN
EXPERIENCE
African drama, like its Greek counterpart, can obviously be said to have
undergone three main developmental stages, namely, ritual, festival and drama
(or theatre). And owing to our bicultural situation, African playwrights trained in
western dramaturgic traditions, have had to evolve more often than not a kind of
syncretic or/and hybridized theatrical technique whereby we find an interfusion
of autochthonous (African) performance modes (Total theatre) and foreign,
western-derived dramaturgic techniques.
However, the university campus environment had provided these dramatists the
conducive intellectual milieu where their talent and skills had blossomed and
grown. In 1957, Drama was introduced into the English Department curriculum
at Ibadan as part of an Educational theatre programme. In the same year, a group
of expatriates, mainly university teachers and civil servants resident in Ibadan
got together with their Nigerian friends and colleagues and formed the Arts
Theatre Production Group which sought to awaken the interest in theatre in the
people.
Right from the early 60s to the late 80s, several university-based theatre
production groups flourished, theatre outfits like “The 1960 Masks”, The Orisun
Theatre, The Ori-Olokun Theatre at Ife, among others, created a vibrant culture
of live theatre productions. The situation now on Nigerian campuses as well as in
the larger Nigerian society (in these days of the Home Video) leaves much to be
desired as the theatergoing culture seems to be in dire straits or dying out. In this
paper, we shall attempt to examine the interrelation of the university and African
theatre, past, present and future.
16
Babatope, Mr. Babafemi Johnson
MUSE, MOOD AND CREATIVITY; A SEARCH FOR DRAMATIC INSPIRATION
That theatre is veritable tool for an all-round human development is an
established conclusion. It is equally a common knowledge that “theatre is
literature that walks”. There is no gainsaying the fact that the genre of literature
that theatre revives is drama. This being the case, it is sufficient to submit that
total theatre can not exist without drama. The question therefore is “where does
drama come from?” Giving the developmental role of theatre in the all important
scheme of advancing the course of humanity, it becomes imperative that the
authentic source of dramatic inspiration should be established, this will
ultimately enable us “give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto man what is
man’s”. As a result, this paper will discuss the source of dramatic inspiration. It
will attempt to answer the question, whether it is Muse; a phantasmagorical
creation of Greek mythology, or mood; a person’s state of mind, borne out of the
rustic reality of their existence, is the true inspirational drive for dramatic
creativity. Does dramatic inspiration emanate from god (Muse) or man? Failure
to put this aptly poses enormous problem in the resolution of dramatic plots, as in
the case “of gods from the machine”. Thereby misdirecting, misguiding and even
derailing our focus from where the solution to our predicaments resides. If drama
must truly perform its developmental roles - instruct, inform, enlighten and
entertain - we need to know its true source and this is our focus here. Only then
can we maximize its potentials in Africa.
Castelyn, Ms Sarahleigh
EXHIBITION/INSTALLATION TITLE: ‘PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN’, OR HOW I
CHASED THE RAINBOW AND BRUISED MY KNEE…
‘Ngiyaxolisa ukuthi angikwazi ukukhluma isiZulu/I’m sorry about the great
trek/I’m sorry about the war/I’m sorry I didn’t know there was a war going
on/Ngiyaxolisa ukuthi ufikele/I’m sorry you stayed/I’m sorry you came
home/I’m sorry you feel guilty/I’m sorry about the map/I’m sorry about the
timing/I’m sorry I dropped you/I’m sorry but a rush and a push and the land is
ours’ - Text from I’m Sorry I Never Meant to Hurt You: Part One (2005).
South Africans choreograph the history and the future of their country on and in
and through their bodies. My material body, classified as ‘white’ during
Apartheid, without my consent, performs a racist cultural identity that does not
conform to my own anti-racist and anti-sexist beliefs. Because of this, it is
imperative that I mobilise all aspects of my choreography to investigate the
body’s relationship to the dominant discourses of gender, ‘race’, and nationality.
‘Somewhere over the rainbow/Way up high/There’s a land that I heard of/Once
in a lullaby…/If happy little bluebirds fly/Beyond the rainbow/Why, oh why
can’t I?’ – Text from ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’, music by Harold Arlen
and lyrics by E. Y. Harburg.
17
Recent performance works such as Mlu Zondi’s Silhouette (2006) and Nelisiwe’s
Xaba’s They Look at Me And That’s All They Think (2006) highlight the
construction of African identity and issues around looking at bodies, especially
‘black’ African bodies. This installation/exhibition focuses on this subject, but
attempts to create discourse and provide documentation around my own
performance project in which I attempt to ask what it means to be African and
‘white’, thus adding to the recent debate generated on ‘white’ African identity. I
will attempt to examine how my materiality functions as a physical trace of
South Africa’s racist past, and possibly suggest options for my body to
choreograph its non-racist future, all the while photographed dressed in a tutu
and gumboots dancing with and chasing Desmond Tutu’s rainbow nation.
Cuxima-Zwa, Mr. Chikukuango
ANGOLA: BODY PAINTING IN BRITAIN, A CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL IDENTITY
In this paper, I will focus on my Angolan Identity; having the experience of
growing-up in Angola, a country that went through a history of slavery,
colonialism and civil war. My identity has been lost during the 20th century. I had
to leave Angola in the 90’s due to the civil war that took 30 years to end. I had to
experience life as an asylum-seeker in the UK. So, my identity has been
mutating. As an artist, I use art (body painting, ritual and dance) to search for
identity; who I am in this modern and global world, where cultural identity
defines the person. Through ritual and dance, I connect to my ancestors to ask for
guidance and a sense of self.
In Britain, far from home, I feel close to home, by performing painted with the
Angolan design patterns I feel close to my ancestors. I have developed a series of
performances that portray Angola from my imaginary ideas of what home is. The
objects that I use during my performances represent the way I feel about home.
Now, in Britain I am re-creating a new identity that is part of my experience of
being on asylum, a refugee and migrant that is looking to find the place that is
imaginary.
My performances as body painting artist have elements of self-distraction and
identity-confusion, through body painting live performance I create who I am
and who I can be without limitations of boundaries of geographical position, or
historical background. In my performance arts I narrate the histories of my
experience of an African in the West searching for identity; the identity that is
man made. I use my body, painted and adorned, to communicate with the culture
about my feelings of what cultural identity is.
Eghagha, Dr. Hope
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION OR PERFORMANCE DISTORTION? A PERIOD STUDY
OF UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS THEATRE AUDIENCE
From 1995 tol 2007 this researcher has been directly and indirectly involved in a
series of theatre productions in the Main Auditorium and Arts Theatre of the
University of Lagos. As Artistic Director of Theatre Fifteen (1985 to 1988), he
directed different theatre productions. He has also been involved as Director of
18
the Theatre Workshop Programme, English Department. For other productions
he had also sat in the audience to watch and observe students’ participation. The
students often get involved in the emotions of productions, often in a disruptive
manner. Even when ‘big shows’ were presented at these venues, there was often
a tendency to be wild and boisterous. Catcalls and uttering obscenities were also
part of the ‘audience participation’. The fundamental question therefore is
whether interruptive participation can indeed be termed necessary audience
participation. If the level of audience participation becomes disruptive would this
not affect the message of the play and lead to a distortion of the message? Using
the University of Lagos audience as a reference point this writer makes the point
that there is the need to develop a cultured audience among the students in
universities. Why are some university audiences ‘better behaved’ than others?
Does the so-called ‘Lagos Factor’ play a role in shaping the attitude of the
audience in the university? Why are the audiences in other theatres in Lagos
more cultured? We suggest that a programme of action that would encourage
academic and non-academic staff to watch campus productions be vigorously
pursued.
Eluyefa, Mr. Dennis
THE CONCEPT OF ALARINJO IN YORUBA THEATRE
Yoruba theatre has been widely researched (Adedeji 1969, 1975, 1981, 1989;
Banham 2004; Barber et al 1997; Beier 1964; Breitinger 1994; Clark 1979;
Drewal 1992; Gotrick 1984; Hutchinson et al 2000; Jeyifo 1984; Kerr 1985;
Ogunba et al 1978; Ogunbiyi 1981; etc.). Critics trace the origin of Yoruba
theatre to the egungun (masquerades) dance troupe that originated in the palace
of Alaafin in Old Oyo Katunga in 1820s. Beier concludes that this “could be
called the beginning of theatre in Yorubaland” (Beier, 1964:199). Götrick refers
to this as Apidan theatre; but it is Adedeji’s article ‘Traditional Yoruba Theatre’,
1969 that becomes the basis for this claim; “the article was published in
connection with his dissertation ‘The Alarinjo Theatre: The Study of a Yoruba
Theatrical Art from its Origin to the Present Times’” (Götrick, 1984:31). This
depiction later labels the Yoruba contemporary troupes pioneered by Ogunde as
“rogues” , “vagabonds” and “sturdy beggars” (Adedeji quoted in Clerk 1979: 4).
What is Alarinjo? Are the Alarinjos dancers, theatre practitioners or the
masquerades? Why did Adedeji coin this word despite that “Onidan and Apidan
are names which the entertainers use interchangeably to denote themselves”
(Götrick, 1984:39).
As a Yoruba man, Alarinjo does not mean egungun and egungun does not mean
Alarinjo, but rather egungun could be Alarinjo and Alarinjo could be egungun, or
anyone. Based on my experience as a member of ‘Ogunde Theatre’ (1984-1990)
and ‘Ondo State Standing Troupe’ (1990-1996), this paper will refine our
understanding of Alarinjo, which I believe for many years have been misused,
misrepresented, and misinterpreted.
Enendu, Dr. Molinta L. O.
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PERFORMANCE EQUIPMENT INSTALLATIONS AND RESOURCES IN NIGERIA
THEATRE HOUSES
This study attempts an examination of selected Nigeria theatre houses and stage
performance equipment installations as integral and component resource of a
theatre building. The understanding is that the architectural characteristics of a
theatre building and the production equipment installations contribute to the
overall growth and development of the theatre performance processes and theatre
communication.
The study focuses on selected Nigerian theatre houses – national, state/cultural
centres, university and private theatre houses. The study is considered
significant because the performance equipment and spaces in these Nigerian
theatres cannot be separated from the overall theatre practice and production
efficiency. Theatre production spaces – size, arrangement, organization – as they
relate to scenic mechanisms and devices, stage lighting and sound equipment
installations as relevant phenomena to theatre practice, are examined and their
tangible returns thoroughly assessed.
The study, from the point of view of a practicing theatre designer and
technologist, and one who has fabricated and installed theatre equipment for five
theatre houses in Nigeria, will examine the problems associated with theatre
venues and traditional technical elements of production. The study addresses the
problems associated with theatre houses and equipment installations and their
contributions – positive or negative – to the development of theatre and theatre
performances in Nigeria. At this stage of increased support in the role of theatre
space planning and technology to theatre production and communication, and as
Nigeria theatre develops its history, philosophy, management and performance,
the theatre houses and equipment installations should also be assessed and
evaluated as part of theatre resources in production.
Evwierhoma, Professor Mabel I. E.
THE FEMALE ETHOS AND DEVELOPMENT PARADIGMS IN NIGERIA THEATRE
PERFORMANCE
Theatres and performances have many uses in contemporary Africa and they
keep reinventing themselves. In Africa, attempts are made to build communal
strengths using performance from a gender focal point. Using theatre to
deconstruct patriarchy, social, economic and political challenges people face is a
current paradigm thrust in intervention strategies with development as their
focus.
Performance is power and when gender constructs are performed, communities
undergo mutation and empowerment. Specifically, women’s performance of the
issues that concern their lives and aspirations has become a prototype to facilitate
empowerment strategies, policy implementation and interpretation.
Here, women’s rights become models of the peoples’ rights on which community
strengths are built. One means of actualizing this is through political
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engagement, economic participation and governance. This ethos based on the
female outlook is one channel of co-opting other members of the community into
the process of development and other routes of daily communal living especially
in rural communities.
This paper attempts to:
Look at the sources of these performative intervention efforts, whether they are
communally exogamous or endogamous.
Decipher whether there is a female ethos in Nigerian Theatre performance; and
what forms does it take?
Ask- what the kinds of women’s participation in Nigerian theatre are?
Do we find connections between the female ethos and development paradigms?
If the answer is in the affirmative, what are these paradigms? If negative, why is
this so?
To answer these questions the present writer shall look at one hypothetical and
one real community in Abuja.
Hassan, Ms. Grace Uche and Ms. Regina Kwakye-Opong
COSTUME AND MAKEUP AS MEDIUM FOR CULTURAL EXPRESSION IN STAGE
PERFORMANCE
Costume and Makeup is not just about clothing an actor or applying cosmetics on
an actor’s face or parts of the actor’s body that is not concealed by the costume,
it is more than that, it is the process of studying who and what the character in
the script is. In character description, costume and makeup play important roles,
this is because what the audience sees gives a more immediate impression of
who the character is , than what he or she says , that is , what they (the audience)
hear from the characters mouth. For instance, in real life costume naturally gives
a form of expression about an individual either of his or her social status, culture,
religion, profession, sex, age and so on.
This ability to dress and make up to make an impression about the wearer on an
onlooker is even more profound in the theatre because once a character appears
on stage the audience instantly begins to interpret that character by what they see
on him, in this respect, costume and make up perform a primary role in helping
the audience to understand the character as well as his cultural background. This
study will be centred on the African culture as reflected in a few theatrical
performances in Ghana and Nigeria, with focus on how costume and make up
help to express the culture and identity of the community and persons in these
stage performances.
Iguanre, Mr. Solomon
LAFFOMANIA: A PHENOMENAL VAUDEVILLE
This paper is a personal experience of a Nigerian campus-based comedy group
that made waves between 1986 and 1996 in and around the University of Ibadan
environment. The group called Laffomania fabricated a potpourri of drama skits,
21
songs, and dance for the new intakes. Though scanty number of references had
been made to the group in scholarly work, it is still far in between and falls short
of expectation. In consequence, this study, using the vaudevillian concept aims to
justify the phenomenal influence of the Laffomania as a unique comedy group
that made its mark in the realm of campus entertainment.
Kasule, Dr. Sam
SIMBAWO AKATI: CHANGING CONCEPTS OF POPULAR MUSIC THEATRE AND
PERFORMANCE IN UGANDA
This paper is an attempt to examine how concepts that redefine contemporary
Ugandan theatre and popular performance are drawn from indigenous oral folk,
and ritual performance texts, traceable to popular culture and socio-political
contexts. The paper explores how these concepts have been cleverly used by the
community to describe new developments in performance styles and forms in
changing socio-political and economic environments. The paper argues that in
the context of the post conflict Uganda, corporate sponsorship has impacted on
the performance landscape.
Ladan, Mr. Victor L.
TRANSCRIBING THE LEXICON OF “CULTURE OF SILENCE” IN THEATRE FOR
DEVELOPMENT: LESSONS FROM ENULA TFD PROJECT AMONG ABANYOLE
COMMUNITY OF WESTERN KENYA
In this paper I demonstrate the importance of a Theatre for Development (TfD)
practice which does not merely engage micro-level analysis of issues but also the
macro-level as well. I focus on Enula project, a TfD endeavour undertaken
among Abaluhya community of Ebunyole in Western Kenya in 2006, in which I
resisted to view the oppressed as victims of a ‘culture of silence’, or a group of
domesticated individuals lacking agency. The experience with Abanyole
subalterns deconstructed Freire’s discourse on culture of silence. In fact, behind
the customary ‘mask of silence’ was found (an) elaborate lethal but crude arsenal
of intervention strategies and techniques based on culture, religion and
experience of oppression by Abanyole. The current practice of TfD which offers
it as a finished product, or a set of techniques meant to give “voice” to the
silenced, must re-image itself from being a problem-solving practice to that of
confidence-builder for affected communities by privileging interrogation of their
collective intervention strategies as a pre-requisite for achieving praxis. I argue
that TfD scholarship can be advanced best by research whose aims at decoding
or transcribing the lexicon of silence (as a weapon of the subjugated) to gain
insight into local perspectives of imbalanced power relations, rather than seeking
to effect a “voice” transplant among the “voiceless”. I also question whether the
binary between the “oppressors” and “oppressed” holds any relevance,
particularly in societies whose history of patriarchal and autocratic power
relations has effectively institutionalised hierarchies of power, hence requiring
broader analyses.
22
Lawal, Mr. Hameed Olutoba
AFRICAN ETHOS IN COMMUNITY THEATRE
Pioneered in Nigeria by the Drama unit of the Department of English, Ahmadu
Bello University, Zaria in 1976, Community Theatre is a kind of theatre that
employs the artistic idiom of the people to dramatize community related
problems. This technique encompasses the use of the songs, dances and local
language of the targeted community in the dramaturgy. This blend of indigenous
and modern conventions makes it an effective medium of communication and
sensitization. Over the years, what informed its sustenance in the curriculum of
the Departments of Theatre Arts in the Universities and Colleges of Education is
its efficacy in enlightenment and conscientization of mostly illiterate rural
populace. An attestation to this fact are the Samaru project of ABU, Zaria,
Community Theatre projects of the University of Jos and that of the Department
of Theatre Arts, Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo. Problems
explored in these presentations include, fertilizer racketeering, illiteracy,
unhygienic habits, water scarcity, teenage pregnancy and politics. This paper
would therefore examine African Ethos in the performance of community
Theatre in the four local government areas of Oyo town, namely, Afijio, Atiba,
Oyo West and Oyo East.
Mbajiorgu, Mr. Greg
TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOLO THEATRICAL SUB-GENRE IN
NIGERIA: A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF ITS MAJOR HANDICAPS
The art of solo performance is becoming popular in America and Europe in every
sense of the word. The increasing success of this theatrical form has created fresh
motivations and objectives for theatre producers, playwrights, directors, actors
and even designers. Though this minimalist theatre thrives in the domain of the
individual, recent studies in America, in particular, has shown that monodrama
poses exciting challenges, not just for actors but playwrights, directors,
producers, designers, technicians and theatre scholars, who have found this
vibrant and unique art form a valuable educational tool with
extreme creative and innovative possibilities that can enhance and develop
playwriting, acting and directing skills. But despite the scholarly and artistic
breakthroughs that have been recorded in this sub-field in recent times, Nigerian
theatre scholars, playwrights, directors and producers are still unwilling to
explore the potentials of monodrama. Strangely, theatre scholars in Nigeria still
regard this form as a theatrical sub-field that is incapable of stimulating
significant academic discourse. Similarly, most theatre artists and professionals
in Nigeria tend to dismiss the solo play as an individualistic art that has little
regard for theatre concept of inter-relationship.
On the basis of this background, the researcher hopes to critically re-examine
these contentious issues and to x-ray all other factors that have impeded the
academic and artistic growth of the solo performance art in Nigeria. Through this
study, we may also be placed in a better position to appreciate why the seemingly
popular appeal and economic success of solo performances in Nigeria rest
squarely on sheer guts and creative resourcefulness of multi-skilled and talented
23
upcoming Nigerian actors (such as the late Funsho Alabi and others) whose
efforts in this direction can be greatly enhanced and consolidated by the interest
and support of seasoned and notable Nigerian theatre historians, scholars, artists
and critics who seem to have completely neglected and ignored this bourgeoning
art form.
Muebake, Professor Denis
THEATRE AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN EQUATORIAL GUINEA
My paper is going to focus on the part or role that theatre (especially Nollywood)
plays in the learning of English Language in Equatorial Guinea. The EquatoGuineans are Spanish speaking people and with the advent of English theatre
works mostly from Nigeria and to a very lesser extent Ghana has made the
learning of English desirable and fun. The desire for learning English has
dramatically skyrocketed as everyone who enjoys the theatre pieces have got to
understand a bit of English, so thanks to theatre more and more people here are
learning English.
Ndah, Dr. Ubong S
THEATRE AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: A STUDY ON MEDIA SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILTY
The theatre medium has been variously accepted as a most didactic medium, as it
effectively coalesces its teaching and entertaining propensities into an avenue
that is most potent in social orientation. The various researches on theatre in
Africa, in the pre-colonial era, and even in the post-colonial times, point to the
possibility and plausibility of adopting this medium in the development
information process. Unfortunately, the medium, especially in countries like
Nigeria, continue to serve purely entertainment and cultural exhibitory purposes,
without a conscious effort at employing it for developmental purposes.
This paper seeks to review some of these existing usages, and the popularlyaccepted capabilities of the theatre as a medium of communication, and proceed
to present suggestive frameworks within which the theatre could be rightly
accorded the societal responsibility of effectively participating in the gingering of
development.
Ntangaare, Dr. Mercy Mirembe (KEYNOTE)
AFRICAN THEATRE: ITS LIFE AND JOURNEY INTO THE NEW MILLENNIUM
This paper assumes the existence of African Theatre as a dynamic and vibrant
entity that blends historical circumstances and African performance traditions
with the realities in Africa today. The theatre is mutually dependent on but
distinct from its often synonymous perception with traditional and indigenous
performance in Africa. The basic argument is that African theatre is an art as
well as a service. Of recent, however, the theatre practitioner’s unregulated
practice coupled with social reality and global developmental and cultural trends
have tended to paralyse theatre’s artistic side, compounding further the debate
24
and questions about the true identity of African theatre, its definition, nature, role
and utility. Yet African theatre remains a viable and progressive entity, its and
our greatest challenge being the manner we’ve nurtured it over the years and
thus, the way we’re promoting it for the future.
The primary focus of this presentation, therefore, is to encourage self-reflection,
evaluation and debate as intellectuals, theatre artists, practitioners and promoters
on the state and future of African theatre – now in a new Millennium.
Nwaru, Mr. Christian Ikechukwu
DANCE AS A SIGNIFYING PRACTICE: A STUDY OF OMENIMO
Dance has closely been associated with man in his day-to-day activities, yet the
performers of dance art are treated with disdain. This is because most people do
not understand the nature of dance and how it signifies. Therefore, the objective
of this paper is to understand the Omenimo dance in relation to its mode of
meaning generation.
This paper clarifies issues on form and content and the way they function in
generating meaning in dance. It recognises the literal and non-literal mode of
dance communication using Omenimo as a case study and ultimately submits that
dance could communicate through both form and content.
Ofodile, Mr. Reginald
A WORLD IN DRAMA
The subject will be the dramaturgy of the Sierra Leonean playwright, Dr Sarif
Easmon. I propose to examine his published plays, and the unique social
circumstances which inform them. Dr Easmon and his plays were products of
that remarkable social phenomenon, the Creoles of Sierra Leone. A fantastic
cultural cocktail, they were, in some ways a replica of Victorian Britain in
Africa, and in other ways a peculiarly integrated African community. The
Creoles substantiated the Biblical statement about the last becoming the first.
They were mostly people who suffered the worst nightmare of their era - being
sold and packed into the holds of slave ships. However, they moved from slave
ship to dazzling eminence with astounding rapidity. They produced most of the
first professionals of modern Africa. Their college, Fourah Bay, was affiliated to
Durham University in the 1870s, thus becoming the first University College in
modern Africa.
That there should be a gulf between the Creoles - who inhabit Sierra Leone's
coastal region - and the traditional inhabitants of the interior is hardly surprising.
That difference, and how it was maintained and articulated are part of Dr
Easmon’s oeuvre. The non-dramatic writings of Dr Easmon will be utilised for
background and drift of the plays. Relevant too, will be other writings and
cultural resources by Sierra Leoneanians or about Sierra Leone and its citizens.
One thinks of that other physician/writer of Creole backgrouind, Dr Wellesley-
25
Cole. Another Sierra Leonean playwright, Pat Amadu Maddy, will also be
referred to.
Ojuade, Mr. Jeleel O.
DANCE AESTHETICS IN THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE(S) IN AFRICA: THE
NIGERIAN
PERSPECTIVE
Dance has been described as an important aspect of African life. It is a medium
that creates avenue for practical demonstration of different age grades in
performance. This study re-examines the aesthetics embedded in dance(s) of the
people in theatrical performances, within the larger arena of their local languages
as it transforms and feature in both local, stage and theatre performance(s).This
paper therefore focuses on the need to further project and apply local / traditional
dances in our modern theatre experiments.
Oni, Professor Duro
THEATRE TRAINING IN THE NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM: A CRITICAL
ASSESSMENT OF DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY COURSES
From the early 60s, when the first institution for training of theatre artistes and
practitioners in Nigeria was first established at the University of Ibadan, the
Nigerian University system has witnessed a deluge of departments of Theatre
Arts, Performing Arts and Creative Arts, all concerned with the training of
graduates in theatre arts.
This paper attempts to take a critical look at the universities that offer theatre arts
in Nigeria with a view to assessing the impact that they have made and the
obstacles that appear to be in the way of the proper training of the graduates.
Prominent among these universities are the departments of theatre arts at the
universities of Ibadan, Calabar, Nsukka, Maiduguri and Abuja and the
Departments of Creative Arts at the universities of Calabar and Lagos and the
University of Ilorin, Department of Performing Arts.
In doing this, the paper examines the curricular of the universities of Ibadan and
Lagos and the available human and material resources at the disposal of these
universities, especially in the areas of design and technology, with a view to
assessing their adequacy or otherwise for the purposes that they were set up. In
essence, the paper attempts to relate the development of theatre practice in
Nigeria to the training provided by the universities, examining the impact that the
training institutions have made to the development of theatre practice in Nigeria.
Onyekaba, Mr. Cornelius Eze
THE CHANGING TRENDS IN THEATRE TROUPE MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA: A
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FEZI PRODUCTIONS AND CROWN TROUPE OF AFRICA
What is today called contemporary Nigerian theatre has been identified by many
writers and theatre scholars to have effectively taken off between 1944 and 1946
26
under the influence of Hubert Ogunde. The management procedure of the
pioneers of the era came to be known as the Director-Manager style of
management where the owner of the troupe also assumed the role of Artistic
Director, Producer, Playwright and Manager of the company. At the heart of this
practice was the unique method applied by troupe owners in maintaining a steady
supply of actors and actresses by marrying their female members and raising a
large polygamous family. This method is a direct borrowing from the traditional
Nigerian society, where men that have great expanse of landed property, married
many wives and reared many children, so as to have a steady supply of unpaidlabourers to tend to their farms.
This paper takes a look at the merits and demerits of the old traditional
approaches to theatre troupes’ management in Nigeria, as a prelude to
investigating current trends in the industry. Using FEZI Productions and Crown
Troupe of Africa, (both are managed by university graduates) in a comparative
study that will include the use of oral interviews and analysis of publications as
well as company records to determine the managerial style operational in the two
organisations.
Considering the successes the two companies have recorded over the last few
years, the study intends to reinforce the need for more theatre arts graduates to
apply their knowledge in founding and managing theatre/entertainment
companies of their own.
Oteh, Mr. Patrick-Jude
CHARIOT WITHOUT RIDERS – A PERFORMANCE EXEGESIS
The Jos Repertory Theatre was founded in 2000 in the ancient tin mining city of
Jos in Plateau State, Nigeria. It draws its members from theatre graduates,
unemployed youths, theatre teachers and students as well as those with a flair for
the theatre. This last group usually undergo a training process that lasts from two
months to a year.
In 2004, the group had the maiden edition of the Jos Festival of Theatre which
has since grown to the third edition in 2007. One of the landmarks of the festival
was the premiere of a workshop devised play, Our House, which went on to tour
Glasgow, Scotland in 2005 and a repeat visit by our Glasgow partners, the Clyde
Unity Theatre to Nigeria in 2006 for the second edition of the Jos Festival of
Theatre. The Festival has gradually become the home for the premiere of new
plays, as well as old plays within a ten days period.
One of the new plays that had its premiere at the 2 nd Jos Festival of Theatre was a
two man piece of theatre titled Chariot Without Riders which is a post-colonial
examination of colonies in crisis. This play was devised within a workshop mode
by the team of two actors who had undergone our training and a workshop coordinator.
27
This paper will seek to take a look at the creation process of the piece which has
played successfully in Jos, Abuja and to a select group of Canadian International
Development Agency staff on a retreat tour of Nigeria. The paper will also take
an engaging look at the script and the issues raised within it, with the aid of a
recording of the play in performance.
Oyetoro, Mr. Hafiz Adebimpe
STAGE PERFORMANCE IN AFRICA: THE TALE OF A DYING PERFORMANCE
TRADITION
Stage performance in Africa can best be likened to a beautiful rose on a rock
gradually withering away. It is not unusual these days to visit a theatre during a
stage performance and find the auditorium almost empty, whereas the same
auditorium is filled to capacity whenever there is a film-show of any artistic
quality. There is now a complete shift in the taste of not only the audience but
also, and surprisingly, the theatre practitioners: actors, directors and playwrights.
This paper discusses the causes and the effects of this taste shifting. In addition,
through suggestions and recommendations the paper examines the possibility of
the survival of stage performance in Africa, especially in the face of current stiff
competition from both film and television performance.
Princz, Mr. Andrew
THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE AS IMAGE-BUILDING TOOLS FOR AFRICA
Through the culture and travel portal ontheglobe.com, my team has developed
unique projects in Africa. We have presented pioneering country awareness and
tourism development projects in countries like Nigeria and Angola through the
periscope of its dance, theatre and cultural values. We partner with the
governments of Africa in order to discover the cultural and tourism centres of
greatest potential for the development of each country. We visited the Abuja
Carnival in Nigeria, and dance performers of Angola at the invitation of the
countries’ respective governments. We published reports in various international
publications, including CNN Traveller, and Ballet-Tanz Magazine. I would like
to present our unique concept of image-building through cultural production for
African countries. We do what the mainstream media omit to do, in partnership
with African governments. In Abuja, we were among the only representatives of
the international press to attend. In Luanda while we were reporting on cultural
values – other international media were reporting of deadly viruses in Angola
from far off Johannesburg or Geneva. We look for the cultural values in
countries, on the ground and in partnership with the countries themselves. We
begin the first step of infrastructure development: cultural research and
development.
In addition to presenting conference-goers with this unique approach to
promoting Africa, I am also a critic and cultural writer. I will also comment on
ways of transcending barriers of the media when presenting African artists in a
western context.
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Seremba, Mr. George Bwanika
MYTH, MYTHOPOEIA AND ROBERT SERUMAGA’S MAJANGWA
The paper is in two parts, the first section being a discussion of myth. The second
section will focus on mythopoeia as well as Serumaga’s play, Majangwa (A
Promise of Rains). The methodology employed is poststructuralist and
postcolonial. The theorists that will be used for conceptual purposes include
Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, John Mbiti, Victor Turner and Wole Soyinka.
While it is true that myth is a double signifier, in the semiological and
metalinguistic sense, this paper is a deconstruction of Barthes’ secularism and
Strauss’s structuralism with regard to mythology. This paper holds the view that
to explicate mythology is to embark on an elusive, eternal quest, in which the
here and now, the here-before, as well as the hereafter all become one and the
same thing in the name of being, liminality and void. Given this kind of
ontology, the structuralist and the secular are far from the ideal analytical tools.
The paper also examines legends, tragedy and ritual; how they relate or even
differ from mythology. I will then address mythopoeia and the preponderance of
myth in the literatures and dramas of Africa; the Negritude poets; mythopoeia as
a tool of protest, emancipation and decolonisation. Finally, I hope to examine
Fanon’s ‘man of culture’ in the context of Serumaga, the man and his work. The
main theme that will be discussed, in this respect, is the use of mythology as well
as signification and survival in the teeming cauldron of inhumanity that Uganda
became after the dawn of independence.
Siegert, Ms. Nadine (NOT COMING?)
SHIFTING CENTRES - SHIFTING PERCEPTION: CONTEMPORARY DANCE FROM
AFRICA AS CREATIVE OPPOSITION TO STEREOTYPICAL IMAGES OF AFRICANITY
Dance can be seen as a possibility to describe cultural conditions of living within
postcolonial situations. Both the dancer’s habitual structures as well as the
aesthetic frames of understanding generated within cultural spheres can be
explored keeping in mind that contemporary African dance is a way of creating
identities.
It is precisely the outline of a new corporeality within the processes of reception
and appropriation of identities that will be focused on in the paper. Besides, I
discuss African actors’ possible identity conflicts within hegemonic postcolonial
structures of cultural politics, and how actors cope with required stereotypes of
“Africanity” or “authenticity”. Within the scope of (re)actions one may find
refusals of being labelled as “African”, attempts to determine oneself via
foundations of south-south networks, amongst others, as well as defences of panAfrican identity concepts.
Whether and how it is possible for African dancers to bring about
transformations, that change European gazes permanently, and disintegrate
stereotypical images, thereby, will be one of the questions asked along the
29
considerations. Is one able to perceive “Africanity” and/or “African dance”
without running into degrading stereotypical patterns at all?
Can “African bodies”, when they confirm field specific ways of acting again and
again, also simply through the colour of the skin, step out of this perception?
What does it mean to use new media and unexpected aesthetic forms in
performance? How can subversive corporeality look like and generate a real
opposition and innovation?
Ukaegbu, Dr. Victor
MEDIATING SPACE AND VENUE IN TRADITIONAL AFRICAN PERFORMANCE
This paper derives from two related theoretical positions on the nature of
performance spaces. In Decolonizing the Stage: Theatrical Syncretism and PostColonial Drama Christopher Balme states that “in cultural semiotic terms”,
performances such as “songs, dances, masquerades, costuming, and oral stories”
“exist in their own right as cultural texts with their own specific mechanisms of
production, transmission, and reception” (1999: 4). On the other hand, Marvin
Carlson, in Places of Performance: The Semiotics of Theatre Architecture,
distinguishes between space and venue suggesting that the former, as “places of
performances generate social and cultural meanings of their own which in turn
help to structure the meaning of the entire theatre experience” (1989:229-230).
The two statement draw attention to how a society’s conception of space,
whether as a fixed and stationary feature of performance, or as a loose aesthetic
rubric for different types of spaces and venues, defines the production and
reception strategies of its theatre. This paper distinguishes between space and
venue and how the two function in traditional performances in Africa.
Windapo, Mr. Gbenga
THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE PROCESSES: THE DYNAMICS OF SATO DANCE
Dance is said to be the backbone of theatre in Africa. Most traditional theatrical
performances have roots in dance. Nigeria, and indeed the continent of Africa, is
blessed with a rich variety of dances. Dance in Africa is more than entertainment
or pastime but a way of life. Dance is what keeps the rhythm and soul of the
continent together and in motion. Dance transverses the different cultures and
peoples that make up the Nigerian nation. From the highly pulsating staccato
rhythms of the Yoruba Bata dance to the acrobatics of the Igbo Atilogwu dance,
the richness in the dynamics of Nigerian dances makes them a performance
spectacle in various theatre halls and performance spaces. This paper delves into
the performance process of the Sato dance, one of the many dances of the Egun
people who inhabit the coastal region of South West Nigeria. This paper will
seek to reveal the secrets of this most entertaining yet highly spiritual dance form
and why it is at variance with the gentle flowing dances the coastal regions are
known for. The paper shall also explore recent trends in the performance
processes of Sato dance and its impact on the modern Nigerian theatre and dance
space.
30
31
Registration
Registration
1 Sept.
Saturday
Registration
09:0010:00
31
Aug. Friday
30
Aug.
Thursday
TIME
11.0011:20
Keynote
Lecture
Keynote
Lecture
Tea/
Coffee
Tea/
Coffee
Welcome Address and
Keynote Lecture
10:00-11.00
Panel
7
Panel
4
Panel
1
11:20
13:00
Lunc
h
Break
Lunc
h
Break
Lunc
h
Break
13:00
14:20
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Panel
8
Panel
5
Panel
2
14:20
16:00
Tea/
Coffe
e
Tea/
Coffe
e
Tea/
Coffe
e
16:00
16:20
Panel
9
Panel
6
Panel
3
16:20
18:00
General
Assembly
and
Farewell
Dinner
Performance
Installation
Performance
Installation
18:00 -
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
32