African Theatre for Development

First Published in 1998 by Intellect Books, PO Box 862, Bristol BS99 1DE, UK Copyright ©1998 Intellect Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission. Copy Editor: Cover Design: Production: Production:

Lucy Kind Amanda Brown Valerie Massicot Sophia Dartzali

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Electronic ISBN 1-84150-868-3 / ISBN 1-871516-77-3

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Eastbourne

Contents Acknowledgements Introduction 1.

iv 1

Neither ‘Fixed Masterpiece’ nor ‘Popular Distraction’: voice, transformation and encounter in Theatre for Development 5 Frances Harding

2.

Product or Process: Theatre for Development in Africa

23

Osita Okagbu

3.

Didactic Showmen: Theatre for Development in Contemporary South Africa 43 Page Laws

4.

Post-Colonial Theatre for Development in Algeria: Kateb Yacine’s early experience 69 Kamal Salhi

5.

Uses and Abuses of Theatre for Development: political struggle and development theatre in the Ethiopia – Eritrea war 97 Jane Plastow

6.

Satires in Theatre for Development Practice in Tanzania

115

Juma Adamu Bakari

7.

Popular Theatre and Development Communication in West Africa: paradigms, processes and prospects 135 Bala A. Musa

8.

Werewere Liking and the Development of Ritual Theatre in Cameroon: towards a new feminine theatre for Africa 155 Valerie Orlando

9.

Women Playwrights and Performers respond to the project of development 175 Laura Box

Acknowledgements My thanks go to Professor Martin Banham and Dr. Jane Plastow, both from the University of Leeds, and Professor Peter Thomson and Leslie du S. Read, both from the University of Exeter. They graciously offered unstinting encouragement throughout the period of the preparation of this book. I should also like to thank the Department of Drama at the University of Exeter for offering me a long stay as research fellow and the British Academy for the three-year scholarship without which my research would have not been possible. I moved to the University of Leeds as a lecturer in the school of Modern Languages and Cultures where , among other projects, I have been able to finalise this publication thanks to the understanding of the French Department. My thanks go to all those who sent their contributions but, be ause of time contraints, could not have been included in this particular project. This book has been made possible thanks to the following unfailing colleagues: Frances Harding, Osita Okagbu, Page Laws, Juma Adamu Bakari, Bala A. Musa, Valerie Orlando and Laura Box, all scholars developing expertise in the areas they discuss in the respective chapters of this book. This book is in memory of those African artists, writers and dramatists who strived to contribute to their peoples’ liberation and Independence. They died while hoping for more or were assassined because they possessed the key to their nation’s future.

African Theatre for Development Art for self-determination Edited by Kamal Salhi This book acts as a forum for investigating how African theatre works and what its place is in the post-modern society. The subject requires both the precision and the degree of detail provided that has rarely been given in previous books, reflecting a new approach to the study of performing arts from this region. This collection: • reveals the dynamic position of the arts and culture in post-independent countries through changes in both influences and audiences, • shows African theatre to be about aesthetics and rituals, the sociological and the political, the anthropological and the historical, • examines theatre’s role as a performing art that represents ethnic identities and defines intercultural relationships, • investigates African theatre’s capacity to combine contemporary cultural issues into the whole artistic fabric of performing arts, • considers the variety of voices, forms and practices through which contemporary African intellectual circles are negotiating the forces of tradition and modernity. The book provides an opportunity to discover contemporary material from experts, critics and artists drawn from across the world. The contributions are in a language and style that allow them to be read either as aids to formal study or as elements of general interest to the informed lay person. Editor Kamal Salhi is Lecturer/Researcher at the University of Leeds, and the editor of the International Journal of Francophone Studies. He has published across the areas of literature, language and politics, and is currently developing expertise in African cultural studies and Postcolonial French Studies.

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