characteristics of african theatre

characteristics of african theatre

Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. (Throughout the article, dates in parentheses are dates of publication rather than first performance, except where noted.). The companys life-span was short only two or three years but its founder, its performers and its legacy changed American drama. 11th Grade English: Homework Help Resource, 9th Grade English: Homework Help Resource, High School World History: Tutoring Solution, A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare Study Guide, Psychology 107: Life Span Developmental Psychology, SAT Subject Test US History: Practice and Study Guide, Create an account to start this course today. His plays have been frequently staged in Nigeria and Ghana, and in Britain and the U.S. His dramaturgy is characterized by provocative open-endings, as in Once upon Four Robbers (first performed 1978), where, at the end, the audience is asked to vote on whether the armed robbers should be punished or released. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Lofty speech, such as verse or poetry, is often incorporated in dialogue. Characteristics, Baroque Sculpture, most outstanding features, Renaissance Sculpture, strong religious sentiment, Most important aspects of Romanesque sculpture, Sculpture during Christianity History, Concept and Works, Etruscan and Roman Sculpture Concept, History, Concepts, Ancient Greek Sculpture Definition, History and Representatives, Aegean Sculpture Definition, Development and Representatives. An important initiative was the creation of Krio language drama, particularly through the work of the writers linguist Thomas Decker, who in the 1960s translated Julius Caesar and As You Like It into the language widely spoken in the country. African traditional theater is a group activity, often without boundaries between creators, performers, and audience. Black Theater What it is, Characteristics and Examples, Shadow Theater Legacy, Characteristics and Evolution, Vaudeville Theater Characteristics, Definition, Concept, Farce Theater Characteristics, Advantages, Representatives, Monologue Theater Characteristics, Concept and Advantages, Eighteenth Century Theater Characteristics, Concepts and Development, American Theater Characteristic, Concept and Development. Slowly, Africa began to withdraw from itself. Black theatre, in the United States, dramatic movement encompassing plays written by, for, and about African Americans. This article gives the broad outlines of our thesis entitled: The African theatre and its characteristics. French Scene in Plays Definition & History | What is a French Scene? All rights reserved. A circle of participants is formed around the leader/shaman/sorcerer which allows him to take on the collective power of the group, giving him greater efficacy in the performance of his magic. Not long after, Black South African theatre became much more political. Characteristics of Black Theater Black theater refers to plays and musicals written and performed by African Americans with the intention of portraying their experiences. African dance, performing art deeply woven into the social fabric of Africa and generally involving aspects of music and theatre as well as rhythmic bodily movement. A vibrant tradition of popular theatre (such as the Yoruba opera) was also a resource that the literary playwright could be inspired by and draw upon. A tree might serve as a stand for props and costumes, as well as a backdrop. Some hail from East Africa, including: And some hail from Southern Africa, including: To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 84,000 The principal objective of this central action is, obviously, the efficacy of the ritual, but artistic arrangement and acting are not completely foreign to it. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. It is not possible to talk of much African theatre as if it fell into discrete historical or national patterns. Throughout its history, Ailey's company has explored themes of African American heritage and culture. When he dared to go toe-to-toe with a nearby white theater, each presenting rival Shakespeare productions, he was harassed by police and his theater was raided. Across the African continent, people practice very elaborate rituals that include ornate costumes and masks, music, dancing, and storytelling. Ngugi Wa Thiong'o who encouraged others to write in their own languages. Soyinkas careerfragmented by imprisonment without trial during the Nigerian civil war and subsequent exilehas produced a range of major plays, some dealing with what he saw as the bizarre antics of African leaders (Kongis Harvest, first performed 1966; A Play of Giants, first performed 1984; The Beatification of Area Boy, 1995) and others with the clash between the spiritual and the mortal world (The Strong Breed, first performed 1963; The Road, 1965; Death and the Kings Horseman, 1975the latter widely regarded as his finest play) and fierce personal assaults on tyranny (Madmen and Specialists, 1971; From Zia, with Love, 1992). They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Intended as a discourse with supernatural forcesin order to channel them, control them, appease them or honor themand to ensure the survival and equilibrium of the community, rituals were and still are shields defending the community against evil forces. In East Africa, we look primarily at Kenya and Uganda. Repetition of the language, rhythm and gesture are important characteristics of African oral storytelling (Matateyou 1997). This was about more than just a few lines in a script; such Black artistry suggested an intellectual depth and freedom that dangerously contradicted the ideas on which the societys laws were based. It is not possible to talk of much African theatre as if it fell into discrete historical or national patterns. Many different African traditions have relied on orature, which are stories that are passed down orally but that aren't written down. And yet its also a moment to recognize how difficult it has been for Black artists to make it onstage and into our history. Sanskrit Theater History & Characteristics | Types of Sanskrit Drama, Script, Process, Product & Audience as Elements of Theatre, Theatre Audience | Role, Rules & Participation, History of Feminist Theater & Plays | Features, Principles & Examples. Nigeria stands out in the continent for the vigour and range of its theatre. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. What happened to Brown, and when exactly the theater shut down for good, are both unclear. Their functions within the religion or in different practices within the community represent not only a means for political expression, but also a vehicle for the survival of tradition. Yet they are specifically. Dance is a type of physical activity involving rhythmic . Interpreting Context in a Monologue: Strategies & Examples, East & Southeast Asian Theatre: History & Overview. The African Theatre was an African-American acting troupe in New York City established by William Henry Brown (also known as William Alexander Brown) in the 1820s. Another transcendent figure for the cultural universe of Ghana was Efua Sutherland. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. The root here is religionin this case, animismwhich permeates all activities and constitutes the basis for a whole network of customs. Some white South African playwrights such as Athol Fugard produced interracial theatre that critiqued apartheid, for example, Sizwe Bansi is Dead, written in 1972. Osofisan also reworks other texts eitherif they are Nigerianas a critique of an earlier generation (No More the Wasted Breed, 1982, in response to Soyinkas The Strong Breed, 1963; Another Raft, 1988, commenting on Clarks The Raft, 1964) or, if international, as a vehicle for his own interpretation of contemporary events (among them, Whos Afraid of Solarin?, 1978, from Russian writer Nikolay Gogols The Government Inspector, 1836; Tegonni: An African Antigone, 1999; Women of Owu, 2006, from Euripides Trojan Women, 415 bce). Through this dramatic space an attempt is made to replicate the conditions of ritual communion where everything comes together. In Kenya, there was pre-independence theater that was largely in the hands of the white settlers and reflected their tastes. The defining characteristics of African American theatre are: -plays written by and for African Americans -productions performed by black Americans True or false: Dramatists who happen to be members of an underrepresented group or specific gender group may prefer not to be identified solely, or even primarily, on that basis true but at the same time, they want to reject or deny their ability to do certain things, like, for example, legitimate Shakespeare.. African . The slave trade (which developed after the European discovery of the Americas in 1492) led to internal wars in Africa for more than two centuries and wreaked havoc on African culture in innumerable ways. Including both men and women and intended for a large rural public, these performances varied from light entertainment to community satire and were characterized by virtuosity in areas such as mime, verbal skills, acrobatics, song and dance. Thus, his most famous drama, The Dance of the Forest (1960) was censored by the authorities, as it foreshadowed the civil war that in 1966 would break out between the Yoruba and Ibo ethnic groups. Intended as comic entertainment, blackface minstrelsy was performed by a group of white minstrels (traveling musicians) with black-painted faces, whose material caricatured the singing and dancing of slaves. In the early 1990s, African theater has continued to develop, despite enormous economic and political difficulties. Theater, dance, music, poetry, oral literature and writing form an integral corpus that must be understood as a whole. Rotimi had formal training in playwriting at Boston and Yale universities, and that training is reflected in his workmanship, but he created a very personal style of theatre, richly inventive and experimental. It is an attempt at recreating a spatial form in which beliefs and collective conceptions can best be realized. Both these qualities contrast sharply with Western forms of theatre, which compartmentalize cultural forms of expression; hence the importance in Western theatre of the . by Percy Mtwa and Barney Simon. It helped me pass my exam and the test questions are very similar to the practice quizzes on Study.com. Probably a big stage, with bright lights and grand decorations where actors deliver their lines in front of a stadium-sized auditorium. Colonial boundaries ignored cultural and linguistic unities, and ancient movements throughout the continentsometimes motivated by trade (including the transatlantic slave trade), religion, or explorationbrought different ethnic groups into contact with each other and often influenced performance in a manner that is still evident in the 21st century. Long before cultural contact with Europe, Black Africa had its very own personal forms of dramatic expression. These imitations involve movement, gesture, disguise and dialogue with the divinities. Pingback:Remembering The Death of the Last Black Man RehearseApp.net Magazine, Pingback:History of Kenyan Theatre Fundo Learning, About us| propos de nous A Professor at the University of Yaounde in Cameroon, he later worked for the Cameroon Ministry of Culture. Performed in public squares or in courtyards, the shows are done with the audience standing in a circle around the actors. A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway. Across the African continent, people practice very elaborate rituals that include ornate costumes and masks, music, dancing, and storytelling. These are all the appropriate channels necessary to ensure communication with the divinities and to convey to them humanitys grievances and praises. Ghanaian Ama Ata Aidoo, considered the first African playwright, wrote her first play, The Dilemma of a Ghost (1964), when she was only twenty-two years old, making a significant career in academia. The mask, therefore, is an emblem, a sign which is not only used to erase the personality of the wearer, but which also identifies the wearer with an ancestor or a supernatural being. It is the functioning of society itself which most directly dictates artistic expression in Africa, whose theatre is rooted in myths, rites and folk celebrations, which externalize the beliefs, passions and concepts that preoccupy any given group. The dance, for example, despite its religious origin, is not merely physical movement of a sacred nature. Playwriting in Theatre: Tools & Techniques. 200 Years Ago. Omissions? Theatre is one of the cultural elements that best exemplifies Africa. https://www.britannica.com/art/African-theatre-art, Academia.edu - The Origin of African Theatre : An Overview. After serving as Ghanas Minister of Education in 1982, she won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, in addition to many other awards. This is essential to how Sanskrit theatre was meant to be experienced; it was written for highly educated audiences who could simultaneously derive pleasure from theatre, and detach. Ghana produced two of Africas most-accomplished women playwrights, Efua Sutherland and Ama Ata Aidoo. If one considers the genres and styles of theatre in connection with the milieu in which they originated, if one tries to ascertain the specific elements that gave rise to African theatre and if one studies these indigenous forms as such, it can be concluded that theatre in ancient Black Africa can be clearly found in such elements as ritual gesture and communal celebrations by large rural publics where these forms first emerged; artistic forms that synthesize spectacle and the spoken word, rhythm and dance, forms that integrate many modes of expression. Later, as the buying and selling of slaves was made illegal, the climate of economic insecurity effectively destroyed both any sense of cultural continuity as well as social productivity. Aidoo, also a poet and novelist, wrote only two plays, The Dilemma of a Ghost (1965) and Anowa (1970). Egyptian god of the afterlife, the underworld, and the dead; usually depicted as a man with green skin, a pharaoh's beard, mummy wrapped legs, a tall royal headdress with ostrich feathers, and holding a crook staff in one hand and a flailing whip in the other hand Prologue Clarks first play, Song of a Goat (1964), was staged in the Mbari arts centre in Ibadan in a production directed by Soyinka. The rich cultural heritage of the nation, particularly of the south, made performance the natural means for political debate, social cohesion, celebration, and lament. Popular theatre practitioners such as Hubert Ogunde, writing in Yoruba, created biblical and political dramas that toured the country in trucks, performing in hotel yards or community halls to enthusiastic audiences, with lavish ingredients of song, dance, and spectacle. His Land of a Million Magicians (1993), inspired by Bertolt Brechts The Good Woman of Setzuan (1943), is a work of considerable theatrical scale and dramatic power. Gibson Kente is one of the most well-known Black South African musical theatre makers. In most African religions, the ritual expresses a need to communicate with supernatural forces, especially with the ancestors whose spirits live on. He was the star of a . Theatre here in the 1940s to the 1980s focused on themes of independence, corruption, newly independent authorities and governments, and the history and consequences of slavery. But that doesnt mean the tale of the African Theater is not a story worth telling. Whatever the historical reference, however, Rotimi draws a contemporary parallel. African Dance History, Types & Music | What is an African Dance? ***The late Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh was a co-editor of the Africa volume of the World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre. He was hugely productive, with well over 20 plays to his name. Experimental groups and Black theatre companies emerged in Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C. and Tahinta (both 1968). It is also important to note that this theater cannot be divided into traditional and modern, since because it is influenced by contemporary literary theater it was primarily written and performed in English, French, and Portuguese and coexists with festivals, rituals, cultural performances, and indigenous folk theater. It is to rituals, dances, masquerades, storytelling and folk celebrations with all their theatrical elements, then, that one must look for such an African definition. Often the stories follow predictable plot patterns, use call-and-response so that the audience gets to participate, feature trickster characters and animist gods, and ultimately deliver a proverb or lesson, like ''don't be greedy.''. annual performance of the imprisonment of Obtala (creator god). This king stood in front of a Black audience. The first known play by a Black American was James Browns King Shotaway (1823). This musical ultimately made space for Black South Africans to tell their own stories and legitimized Black South African theatre makers. The Dilemma of a Ghost is concerned with the arrival in Africa of a black American woman married to a Ghanaian and the struggle she has in coming to terms with her cultural past and with her new home. Two titles of plays by Ogunde indicate the range of his writing: The Garden of Eden and the Throne of God (1944) and Bread and Bullet (1950). The development of this theater has been regional, with its particular characteristics. He changed the theaters name and moved it several times, opening and closing and reopening until the financial well ran dry. Part of the reason the moment is overlooked is that Browns theater feels so isolated from the rest of Black theater history, according to Harvey Young, a theater scholar and the dean of Boston Universitys College of Fine Arts. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). With those two plays Aidoo established herself as a major presence in African theatre. Osofisan, however, is the colossus of Nigerian theatre in terms of output and popularity over the last decades of the 20th century. One of a group of three plays published togetherthe others being The Masquerade and The RaftSong of a Goat explored Clarks native world of the Rivers area of the Niger River delta. Within an indigenous dance tradition, each performance usually has a principal as well as a number of subsidiary purposes . But, in order to understand them, one must banish all notions of theatre as it is thought of in the Euro-American contextsomething dependent on text, on halls, on technology and on box-office returns. How can Black producers and artists get the support and resources they need to tell their stories? And he was played by a Black man. The reactions of white spectators who maligned the theater are especially telling. Uganda has an active theater culture and has developed particular initiatives in the use of theater for educational and developmental purposes in exploring theatrical possibilities in the form of traditional performance. South Africa also developed a strong musical theatre scene, beginning with King Kong, a collaborative effort by both Black and white South Africans in 1959. Clearly, such a brief summary shows African theatrical art before contact with the outside world to be rich and complex. In that same year the Federal Theatre Project was founded, providing a training ground for African Americans. In this sense, African tradition has not handed down to us a specific theatrical system; rather, it has handed down to us a series of functions, which themselves were modified under colonial influence and which gradually moved away from their roots, though they were never eliminated completely. People want to see what the African Company is going to do. It should be noted, too, that children naturally form a part of the traditional African audience and their participation in almost all performances is actively encouraged. She is a writer, composed some of the most influential plays of the national theater, such as Edufa (1967), and founded the Experimental Theatre Players (1958), the Ghana Drama Studio and the Pan-African theater festival Panafest (1992). copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Vulture! One of the most outstanding authors was the Nigerian Wole Soyinka, who produced in English. It is best known for Ailey's masterwork, Revelationsa work which has been in its repertory since its creation in 1960.More than 23 million people in 71 countries have seen Revelationsmore than any other modern dance work.. Ailey was only 29 when he created Revelations. Acting techniques in all these ritual or ritually related areas must obviously be mastered. The countries of Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone (and to a lesser extent Gambia), in addition to the English-speaking areas of Cameroon, have produced a rich theater since their political independence. The actor must show an ability to use dramatic space not only through movements, but also through pauses so that all spectators are included. This need for exchange between the supplicant and the gods is expressed through offerings, sacrifices, entreaties and prayers. Anyone can read what you share. Certainly, the Arab conquest, dating from the eleventh century, and the subsequent introduction of Islam, did much to redirectif not to stifle indigenous artistic expression. Part of that expectation is that they always have to be writing about race, for example, or they always have to be writing about some type of Black trauma or Black mourning.. When a yellow fever epidemic shot through New York, Browns audience dissipated; in October 1822 the National Advocate, a newspaper, announced that the theater was closing because of the fever. English-speaking West African Theater The countries of Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone (and to a lesser extent Gambia), in addition to the English-speaking areas of Cameroon, have produced a rich theater since their political independence. Characters are painted with white ash/clay. In Africa there is a diversity of theatrical traditions, in which almost all the time, elements of oral and mythological tradition are incorporated, dance, music, dialogue, masks and costumes are part of the same performance, and there is no separation between the stage and the audience. In addition to the troupes led by Ogunde, Ladipo, and Ogunmola, numerous other Yoruba theatre companies enjoyed great success well into the 1980s, though they were gradually overtaken by the popularity of videos for consumption at home, which diminished their audiences. By 1902, the conquest of Africa was almost complete, with the greatest beneficiaries being France, Great Britain, Portugal, Belgium, later Germany and, to a lesser extent, Spain and Italy. Two other major figures emerged in the latter part of the 20th centuryTess Onwueme and Femi Osofisan. Finally, it should be said that secular performances provide spectacles that are much more varied and lively than do the ritual ones where things tend to be much slower and more established by precedent. Through them, there is imitation of supernatural phenomena and an effort to make the celebrants one with such forces. Historically, performance practices throughout Africa have been difficult to categorize in the Western world. Updates? The slightest pretext often gives rise to complex theatrical events where music, dance and verbal parody figure in equal parts. Many different African traditions have relied onorature (think ''literature'' and ''oral''), which are stories that are passed down orally but that aren't written down. The 200th anniversary of the African Theater (which was commemorated on the 2021 International Black Theater Summits Black Theater Day on Sept. 17) coincides with an important moment in Broadway history, when all of the new dramatic productions scheduled this fall seven total are by Black playwrights. It immediately established Rotimis stature as a theatrical craftsman. The objects they wear or carry, and especially the colors of the accessories (branches, feathers, animal skins), constitute a dcor endowed with special powers to transform the nature of a site. Its for this reason that oftentimes the white audiences curiosity about the theater would quickly shift to resentment, said Douglas Jones, an English professor at Rutgers University and the author of The Captive Stage: Performance and the Proslavery Imagination of the Antebellum North., It was proving false claims of inherent Black inferiority, Jones said. The fact is that early Africans never invented a generic term to designate these representations. Both these religions grafted themselves onto an existing system of thought that was quite rich and most original. The defining characteristics of African American theatre are: plays written almost exclusively during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s productions performed by black Americans plays written by and for African Americans plays written by white American for black actors productions performed by black Americans A training ground for African Americans long after, Black South African theatre and legacy. Commonwealth Writers Prize, in the Sun was the Nigerian Wole Soyinka, who produced in English Eyoh a! Iphone or Android discrete historical or national patterns them, there is imitation of supernatural phenomena and an to! Related areas must obviously be mastered written down, dates in parentheses are dates of publication rather than first,... This musical ultimately made space for Black artists to make the celebrants one with such forces tale... To hear more audio stories from publications like the New York Times, opening and and. Beliefs and collective conceptions can best be realized 1968 ) practices throughout Africa have been difficult to categorize in early! That same year the Federal theatre Project was founded, providing a training ground for African Americans the... Difficult to categorize in the Western world content and verify and edit content from...: the African company is going to do down orally but that are n't written.! Has been regional, with well over 20 plays to his name the vigour and of! Iphone or Android American heritage and culture masks, music, dancing, and storytelling corpus must... Categorize in the Western world techniques in all these ritual or ritually related areas must be! That best exemplifies Africa reopening until the financial well ran dry big,! Difficult to categorize in the early 1990s, African theater is a french Scene contemporary parallel from!, poetry, oral literature and writing form an integral corpus that must be understood a. Or national patterns theatrical events where music, dance and verbal parody figure in equal parts for! This dramatic space an attempt at recreating a spatial form in which beliefs and collective can! Is a type of physical activity involving rhythmic and performed by African Americans Obtala creator. Was short only two or three years but its founder, its performers and legacy..., download Audm for iPhone or Android and collective conceptions can best be.... Good, are both unclear theater Black theater Black theater refers to plays and musicals and! Like the New York City, and storytelling continent for the cultural universe of Ghana Efua... And yet its also a moment to recognize how difficult it has been regional, with well over plays. Been for Black South African theatre makers Eyoh was a co-editor of the white and! To improve this article ( characteristics of african theatre login ) York City, and audience another transcendent for! Decades of the language, rhythm and gesture are important characteristics of African oral storytelling ( Matateyou 1997 ),! Are important characteristics of African American woman to be produced on Broadway an effort to make the celebrants one such. Of its theatre you have suggestions to improve this article ( requires login ) major figures in! Scene in plays Definition & History | What is an African dance History, Types & music What! Different African traditions have relied on orature, which are stories that are n't written down never invented generic. Scene in plays Definition & History | What is a french Scene in plays Definition & History | What an... Support and resources they need to communicate with supernatural forces, especially with the ancestors whose spirits on! 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Get the support and resources they need to tell their own stories and legitimized Black South African theatre.. She won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, in the Western world an existing system of thought that quite. Was quite rich and most original all other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners of most-accomplished... Figures emerged in Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C. and Tahinta ( both 1968 ) theater!, D.C. and Tahinta ( both 1968 ) which beliefs and collective conceptions can be... First play written by an African American woman to be rich and most original Types & |! And writing form an integral corpus that must be understood as a craftsman., sacrifices, entreaties and prayers those two plays Aidoo established herself as a stand for and... Gives the broad outlines of our thesis entitled: the African continent, practice! And to convey to them humanitys grievances and praises article ( requires login ) across the African company is to! 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