Edited by Martin Banham, James Gibbs, and Femi Osofisan

October 1999

African Theatre in Development pays tribute to the role that African theatre has played, and continues to play, in developmental agendas across Africa. The book also serves as a historical review of this discourse, addressing the contributions of Alec Dickson, for example, who in the 1940s in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) began to introduce drama techniques as a tool for empowering local people.The book presents contrasting opinions about the role of Western European and American aesthetics as well as funding for African theatre.

In addition to providing a variety of interpretations on the pros and cons of Western influence on theatre for development (TfD) in Africa, the book also recognises the contributions to African TfD from marginalized countries such as the Mauritius and Eritrea. These case studies stress the role of theatre as a development tool.

The book is divided into four sections. The first section discusses the usefulness of TfD strategies, their origins, and how specific seminars and conferences, such as the Arts for Development Seminar held in Harare in 1997, have affected the nature of TfD in Africa. This section also explores the work of some of Africa’s renown playwrights, such as Zakes Mda (South Africa), Alec Dickson (Gold Coast, i.e. Ghana), Alemseged Tesfai (Eritrea) and Femi Osofisan (Mauritius).

The second section is titled 'The Noticeboard' which contains a compilation of information about recent research projects and publications dealing with TfD in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan and Tanzania as well as a comment on the attempt to coalesce anglophone and francophone theatre in Africa. Reviews for international Afrocentric plays headline this section.

The third section is a play script titled 'Babalawo: Mystery-Master', by Agbo Sikuade. Accompanied by notes, the play is the first published version of the BBC radio play, originally recorded by the BBC Africa Service.

The final section provides reviews of 17 books concerning African theatre published between 1994 and 1998. Some of the books reviewed include Olu Obafemi's 'Contemporary Nigerian Theatre: Cultural Heritage and Social Vision' and Marion Frank's 'AIDS-Education through Theatre' .

192

English