African Theatre 18 1847012361, 9781847012364

Citation preview

African Theatre 18

Volume Editor Chukwuma Okoye

KRISTINA JOHNSTONE Reviews Editor Sola Adeyemi

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Published titles in the series: African Theatre in Development African Theatre: Playwrights & Politics African Theatre: Women African Theatre: Southern Africa African Theatre: Soyinka: Blackout, Blowout & Beyond African Theatre: Youth African Theatre 7: Companies African Theatre 8: Diasporas African Theatre 9: Histories 1850–1950 African Theatre 10: Media & Performance African Theatre 11: Festivals African Theatre 12: Shakespeare in & out of Africa African Theatre 13: Ngug˜ ˜ ı wa Thiong’o & Wole Soyinka African Theatre 14: Contemporary Women African Theatre 15: China, India & the Eastern World African Theatre 16: Six Plays from East & West Africa African Theatre 17: Contemporary Dance African Theatre 18 Forthcoming: African Theatre 19: Opera & Music Theatre Articles not exceeding 5,000 words should be submitted preferably as an email attachment. Style: Preferably use UK rather than US spellings. Italicize titles of books or plays. Use single inverted commas and double for quotes within quotes. Type notes at the end of the text on a separate sheet. Do not justify the right-hand margins. References should follow the style of this volume (Surname date: page number) in text. All references should then be listed at the end of article in full: Surname, name, date, title of work (place of publication: name of publisher) Surname, name, date, ‘title of article’ in surname, initial (ed./eds) title of work (place of publication: publisher). or Surname, name, date, ‘title of article’, Journal, vol., no: page numbers. Reviewers should provide full bibliographic details, including extent, ISBN and price. Copyright: Please ensure, where appropriate, that clearance has been obtained from copyright holders of material used. Illustrations may also be submitted if appropriate and if accompanied by full captions and with reproduction rights clearly indicated. It is the responsibility of the contributors to clear all permissions. All submissions should be accompanied by a brief biographical profile. The editors cannot under­ take to return material submitted and contributors are advised to keep a copy of all material sent in case of loss in transit. Editorial address African Theatre, c/o Jane Plastow, Workshop Theatre, School of English, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK • [email protected] Books for review & review material for future volumes: Sola Adeyemi, Reviews Editor, African Theatre, 107 Windmill St, Rochester, Kent ME2 3XL

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African Theatre 18

KRISTINA JOHNSTONE Series Editors Yvette Hutchison, Chukwuma Okoye & Jane Plastow

Reviews Editor Sola Adeyemi Associate Editors Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka

Dept of Theatre, 1530 Naismith Dr, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045–3140, USA

Awo Mana Asiedu

School of Performing Arts, PO Box 201, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

David Kerr

Dept of Media Studies, Private Bag 00703, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana

Patrick Mangeni

Head of Dept of Music, Dance & Drama, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

Christine Matzke

Dept of English, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany

Olu Obafemi

Dept of English, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

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James Currey is an imprint of Boydell and Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF (GB) and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620-2731 (US) www.boydellandbrewer.com www.jamescurrey.com © Contributors 2019 Playscript The Inspector & the Hero © Femi Osofisan Playscript copyright information: For all enquiries for performance or reproduction please contact the copyright holder. All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library ISBN 978-1-84701-236-4 ( James Currey cloth edition) This publication is printed on acid free paper

Typeset in 12.5/13.5 pt MBembo by Kate Kirkwood, Cumbria, UK

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Contents

Notes on Contributorsix Introductionxiii

CHUKWUMA OKOYE

I ARTICLES

1

‘Man in the Mirror’ The Issue of Appropriation in the Exchange between African & African American Popular Cultures

3



STEPHANIE SHONEKAN

NAFEST Danceturgy in Search of  Integration & Identity A Study of Selected Nasarawa State Dance Entries

’TOSIN KOOSHIMA TUME

Carnivalization of Indigenous Performance Forms  & the Demystification of Ritual Essence in Costume & Mask Designs of Masquerade Art

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42

BERNARD EZE ORJI

An Initial Investigation into  Contemporary Theatre Audiences in Malawi

22

63

AMY BONSALL

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vi  Contents

Exploring Educational Theatre & Peer Learning  to Combat Stigma & Myths about Albinism in School Settings in Malawi

83

ZINDABA CHISIZA

Performing the Nation 100 Incorporating Cultural Performances into Theatre in Ethiopia

ZERIHUN BIREHANU SIRA

Orality & the Folktale Reflections on Anansesɛm & its Metaphysical Content

121

Playscript The Inspector & the Hero • Femi Osofisan

139



SARAH DORGBADZI

Book Reviews edited by Sola Adeyemi Christine Matzke on Yvette Hutchison & Amy Jephta (eds), Contemporary Plays by African Women Kene Igweonu on Tiziana Morosetti (ed.), Africa on the Contemporary London Stage

169

176

Charles E. Nwadigwe on 180 Austin C. Okigbo, Music, Culture, & the Politics of Health: Ethnography of a South African AIDS Choir Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong on Emmanuel N. Ngwang & Kenneth Usongo, Art & Political Thought in Bole Butake

186

Sola Adeyemi on Samuel Kasule, Walukagga the Black Smith

189

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Contents  vii

Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong on 192 Judith G. Miller (ed.) & Chantal Bilodeau (trans.), Seven Plays of Koffi Kwahulé: In & Out of Africa Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong on Frida M. Mbunda-Nekang, Thorns & Roses: A Play

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Contributors

Amy Bonsall is a theatre director and academic. She is the co-artistic director of Bilimankhwe, an intercultural theatre company based in the UK, and she has worked as a freelance director for over fifteen years. Amy gained her PhD from the University of Leeds, UK and her thesis was formally recognized for its research excellence. She has published journal articles and has a number of forthcoming book chapters, and has also co-edited the forthcoming Talking Bodies ii for Palgrave Macmillan and she is working on her first monograph. She is currently a researcher at the University of Manchester. Amy is the founder and a director of the global Women in Academia Support Network, an online network with over 10,000 members. Zindaba Chisiza is currently senior lecturer in drama and head of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Malawi, Chancellor College. He is a Theatre for Development practitioner, theatre director and playwright. He received his PhD from the University of Leeds, UK. Since 2017 he has been involved in a number of international community art-based projects involving Malawi, Uganda and India. His current project entitled ‘Brother2Brother’, funded by the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, looks at how creative arts (theatre, rap music, film and radio drama) alongside peer-

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x  Notes on Contributors

to-peer learning can empower young Malawian men to develop more gender-equitable identities. Sarah Dorgbadzi is a theatre artist and a member of faculty of the School of Performing Arts University of Ghana, Legon. As a theatre researcher, her field of interest is folk performance in general and storytelling in particular with a special leaning towards performance aesthetics which includes the use of folklore and body language. She has been involved in reviving and documenting storytelling traditions in various Ghanaian communities, with over four hundred folktales and storytelling sessions documented in audio visual format. From her research, she has given a number of presentations at both national and international conferences. Dr Dorgbadzi is also interested in writing and directing children’s theatre. Her publications include Language and Body in Performance: Working across languages in the Ghanaian Production ‘I Told You So’ and Competitive Youth Theatre Festivals in Ghana: Stage Motion and Studrafest. Chukwuma Okoye is a dramatist, choreographer and costume designer. He studied at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he is currently a Reader in African Theatre and Performance at the Department of Theatre Arts. His fellowship awards include the British Academy’s Newton International Fellowship, UK (2009–11), and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, Germany (2005–07). His first published drama text, We the Beast, won the Association of Nigerian Authors’ Drama Prize in 1991. He has published widely on indigenous and modern Nigerian drama and theatre, film, music video and contemporary Nigerian dance. His current research interest is in popular and contemporary African dance, music and music videos. Bernard Eze Orji (MA, University of Ibadan) is a lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts, Alex Ekwueme Federal

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Notes on Contributors  xi

University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. He obtained his Diploma in Theatre Arts from the University of Calabar; BA in Theatre Arts from Lagos State University, Ojo and MA in African Performance from University of Ibadan. He is presently awaiting defence of his doctoral Thesis at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He has participated and presented his papers in both local and international conferences. He has also published articles in reputable local and international journals, and contributed chapters in books. His research and teaching interests cut across African performance forms, carnival and masquerade studies, and women and cultural studies. Bernard Orji is a member of the African Theatre Association (AfTA), the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists (SONTA), Igbo Studies Association (ISA) and Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM). Femi Osofisan is a well-known Nigerian poet, playwright and dramatist with over fifty plays to his name. Since his retirement from the University of Ibadan, Professor Osofisan has continued to write, guest-direct his own plays and teach at universities and professional theatres around the world, including Canada, Germany and China. Zerihun Birehanu Sira studied theatre at Addis Ababa Univer­sity where he is a lecturer now. He pursued his graduate degree at the University of Warwick, UK and University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, in International Performance Research. He is a recipient of the 2018/19 African Presidential Fellowship award from the University of Michigan in the USA. His research interests are the relationship between theatre and politics in Ethiopia and Africa – in broad, the link between indigenous perform­ ances, theatre art and site-specific performances. He now actively writes essays for local and international theatre and art-related websites and magazines and experiments on different theatre genres while teaching at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

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xii  Notes on Contributors

’Tosin Kooshima Tume is a performing artist, choreo­ grapher, director, and playwright. She holds a BA in English Arts from the University of Ilorin, an MA in Theatre Arts from the University of Abuja, and PhD in Performing Arts from the University of Ilorin. Her research interests include the aesthetics of African festivals and performances, the recreation of African traditional dances and music for global appeal, and trends in African dance practice. She currently teaches in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria.

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Introduction

CHUKWUMA OKOYE

African theatre has a long history steeped in very rich oral traditions. From this ancestry, diverse performance forms and styles have evolved, such that today African theatre boasts of a rich tapestry of performance practices, reaching from the oral to the literary. Martin Banham acknowledges ‘the extraordinary complexity of African performance culture, of its richness, agelessness and beauty’. (2004: xvii) He observes that the ‘variety of performance forms in African societies is immense, ranging from dance to storytelling, masquerade to communal festival, with a vibrant and generally more recent “literary” and developmental theatre’ (xv). Similarly, this variety of forms is replicated in a thematic gamut that embraces practically every sphere of material and spiritual existence: from the social to the political, the sacred to the profane, the esoteric to the everyday. As an area of study, scholars have engaged the phenomenon from a wide range of perspectives. Although much progress has been made in this pursuit, the heterogeneity of performance forms and their structural diversity, as well their productive interactions with Western and Eastern cultures, continue to enrich the variety of forms as well as the vigorous debates they generate on the traditions of African theatre and performance today. This first open issue of African Theatre signals a departure from the traditional themed format. It compositely exempli­fies

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xiv  Chukwuma Okoye

the acknowledged plethora of performance forms, approaches and perspectives that populate the con­tem­porary field of African theatre and their continuous evolve­ment informed by the ever-changing realities of every­­day encounters, as well as the wealth of discourses they continuously beget. Focusing on case studies, contri­butors from Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana engage a variety of performance forms from diverse method­ological and thematic lookouts. These range from investiga­tions of radical dramatic and popular musical performances, through ‘street theatre’ (festivals and masquer­ ade shows) and popular culture, to ­applied theatre, dance, audience/spectatorship, cultural performances and folktales. Thematic coverage embraces African-American and African cross-cultural dialogue, choreographic fiesta and the search for national identity, carnivalization and the demystification of ritual essence in emergent Nigerian carnivals. Others include a study of theatre audience behaviour, challenging stigma­tiza­tion of disability through Theatre for Development, incorporation of indigenous cultural and dramatic elements in play performance, and meta­ physical essence in folktale performance. The issue opens with Stephanie Shonekan’s ‘“Man in the Mirror”: The Issue of Appropriation in the Exchange between African and African American Popular Cultures’. It examines the evident influence of Michael Jackson, whom she considers the most visible African American pop cultural export to Africa, on Nigerian pop culture. Citing the influence of Ghanaian popular dance, Azonto, on the African American pop music star, Chris Brown, and Beyoncé’s engagement of the Mozambican dance trio, Tofo Tofo, in the making of her hit music video, ‘Run the World’, Shonekan concedes to the influence of African culture on African American popular culture. She avers, however, that, since the second half of the twentieth century, Africans have liberally appropriated from African American cultural production. She illustrates her thesis by citing the obvious influence of Michael Jackson’s dance style on the Nigerian twin-brother pop music group,

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Introduction  xv

P-Square, and, more profoundly, on the less known artiste, Michael Chikaria (aka Walko Chilko) who copies major aspects of Jackson’s public lifestyle. Shonekan argues, however, that this is not a unidirectional appropriation of cultural capital even as there is a clear degree of dominance in the transaction. This is because all the artistes concerned share a common cultural backcloth that is decisively African. She likens this otherwise ‘authentic exchange’ to the passing of batons by runners in a relay race. Some are decisively more powerful than others, but they are all running the same race. Thus, African American and African popular culture are largely the same Black culture. ’Tosin Kooshima Tume’s ‘NAFEST Danceturgy in Search of Integration and Identity: A Study of Selected Nasarawa State Dance Entries’ examines the viability of Nigeria’s National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) as a purposively designed event for the celebration of the tangible and intangible arts of the diverse ethnic identities that reside in each state of the country, and for the sustenance of ethnocultural equity in the affairs of the State. She observes that these twin objectives of the Festival are marred by such factors as political influence, self-serving interests and lack of in-depth research. What obtains in practice, therefore, is an uneven representation of the constituent ethnicities that populate the states; a situation where the most influential ethnic groups marginalize the minorities. Focusing on Nasarawa State as an exemplification of the multi-ethnic nature of Nigerian states, Tume examines cultural integration and identity in two entries of Nasarawa State for NAFEST, namely NAFEST 2011 and 2012. Deploying participant-observation and structured interviews Tume observes that the Nasarawa State’s choreographic style has tremendous implications for national integration and identity. She notes that the ethnocultural interactions within the State observed in dance movements, adornments, costume, make-up, accessories, music, song lyrics and cultural nuances evidences dynamic intercultural collaborations. She therefore recommends the

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xvi  Chukwuma Okoye

Nasarawa State’s choreographic approach as a viable model for negotiating cultural integration and identity in State entries for NAFEST. Like ’Tosin Kooshima Tume’s essay, Bernard Orji’s ‘Carnival­ization of Indigenous Performance Forms and the Demysti­fi­cation of Ritual Essence in Costume and Mask Designs of Masquerade Art’ focuses on festival. This time, however, the festival is one that is state sponsored and styled after the Caribbean carnival. First hosted by Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State in 2005, this carnival model has proliferated and installed itself as a regular feature in Nigeria’s contemporary cultural calendar. Not only have new forms evolved, such as the Abuja and Port Harcourt carnivals, some indigenous festivals, such as the Lagos State Eyo, Benue State Youth, Anambra State Ofala, and Kebbi State Argungu festivals have begun to assume the character of this new Caribbean-style carnival. In the indigenous festivals the masquerade is culturally cast in a mystified spirit persona. Its appropriation in these new carnivals compromises the masquerade’s mythic and spiritual essence in favour of aesthetic considerations. Using the appropriation of the masquerade in Abuja Carnival in the years 2007 and 2008 as case studies, Orji observes that, in the quest for popularity via entertainment, the masquerade is divested of much of its ritual character. By inflating its spectacular and aesthetic attributes, especially in dance, music and costume, the masquerade has conveniently inserted itself into the processional schema of the new carnivals. Orji concludes that, judging by its popularity in its new home, the masquerade will continue to feature prominently in these new carnivals. Amy Bonsall’s ‘An Initial Investigation into Contemporary Theatre Audiences in Malawi’ examines an important but largely neglected component of the theatre: the audience. She observes that, despite the fact that theatre plays a substantial role in the cultural life of Malawians, the behaviours and views of its enthusiastic audiences have been largely neglected in theatre scholarship. In this regard her

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Introduction  xvii

essay addresses this lacuna by examining the responses of three sets of different audiences to the performance of his Romio ndi Julieti, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Bonsall, wanting to determine if different categories of Malawian audiences would react differently or otherwise to a particular performance, had her play performed before three distinguished audiences: secondary school children; university students and rural community residents. Through interviews, surveys and personal observation, Bonsall arrived at interesting findings. Describing them as ‘striking,’ she reports that all the audiences reacted in more or less the same way, and that their reactions were not far from what she would expect of a typical European audience. Zindaba Chisiza’s essay, ‘Exploring Educational Theatre and Peer Learning to Combat Stigma and Myths about Albinism in School Settings in Malawi’, is based on a Theatre for Development project on albinism awareness com­mis­ sioned by UN Women Malawi, with support from the Department for International Development (DFID). The project was designed as a remedial creative response to the incessant incidents of abduction, murder and exhumation of interred remains of people with albinism. These heinous practices are founded on dominant myths, superstitions and beliefs which have it that their bodies or parts could be used for the preparation of magical potions that bring wealth and cure diseases and strange afflictions. Chisiza sought to use participatory arts-based techniques to engage school children aged 10–20 in combatting stigma and superstitions surrounding albinism. In February and March 2018, the project was implemented in seven primary and four secondary schools in the districts of Kasungu, Machinga, Mulanje and Zomba. It engaged an estimated 6,303 pupils. Through the project, the author interrogated their received attitudes and beliefs about albinism and tried to make them understand the harm such attitudes and beliefs inflict upon such people, and explore ways in which young people with albinism can be supported and protected. The outcome was positive.

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xviii  Chukwuma Okoye

According to Chisiza, the children admitted to a change in their perception of albinism. Their experience debunked the myth and superstitions that informed the victimization of albinism. Evidently, the intervention would help in building a more tolerant and supportive society. Zerihun Birehanu Sira, in ‘Performing the Nation: Incor­ pora­ting Cultural Performances into Theatre in Ethiopia’, argues that more than one hundred years after the first Ethiopian playwright, Tekelehawaryat Teklemaryam, intro­ duced the Ethiopian audience to its first European style drama in 1921, indigenous performance forms were yet to be vigorously incorporated into the Ethiopian theatre. Although many plays do try to portray indigenous cultural practices, a small group of Western-trained playwrights dominate the scene with their realistic European theatre models. In this essay Birehanu looks at two notable exceptions, Ye Asha Lij (The Daughter of Asha) and Ye Qaqe Wordewot (Wordewot, the Daughter of Qaqe), two plays staged at the Ethiopian National Theatre. He examines how the plays incorporated indigenous performance aesthetics and the audience’s wholesome reception of the plays. He recommends a robust exploration of the rich potentials of Ethiopia’s cultural performance forms by dramatists, and a blending of these with the prevailing European realist dramas, in order to produce plays that would have both national and international appeal. This would enable the production of new plays, open up the theatre to new audiences and offer new and exciting challenges to writers, directors and actors. The last essay, Sarah Dorgbadzi’s ‘Orality and the Folktale: Reflections on Anansesɛm and its Metaphysical Content,’ begins with an explication of the socio-cultural values of the folktale in Ghana and how the term Anansesɛm, which literally means ‘spider stories’, is so prominent that the term not only refers to folktales about the exploits of the spider but to practically all folktales in Ghana. Proceeding with a literature on the nature, import and practice of folktales in African societies, Dorgbadzi observes that the folktale plays very

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Introduction  xix

important educational and aesthetic functions in Ghanaian societies. She, however, observes that not much attention has been given to the metaphysical content of the Anansesɛm in scholarship. Using the example of Aku Sika, the story of a poor lonely orphan girl with an amputated arm who became not only a royal bride but also had her arm restored by a spirit being, Dorgbadzi demonstrates the preponderance of metaphysical content in cultural performances and narratives in Ghana and most of Africa. These contents are not only didactic but are woven into very entertaining stories. As a departure from the series’ traditional themed format this volume of African Theatre proffers a prevue into the complexity and diversity of the forms that consti­tute contemporary African theatre, a discipline which productively hosts the often con­ tentious but continuous and vibrant engagement between the new and the old, the local and the foreign, engendering perspectives and approaches that enliven the field of African theatre studies. Its accessible style of presentation and the wide range of forms examined commend the volume to both specialized and general interests. For sure, this is a welcome addition to the exciting and robust field of contemporary African theatre and performance studies. Highlighted in this volume is the detective play, The Inspector and the Hero by Femi Osofisan, one of Africa’s lead­ ing playwrights. The play has been previously published only in Nigeria.* NOTE * An earlier version of the play was first published by Malthouse Press (Lagos 1990), and then subsequently as one of five plays collectively titled, SEASONS OF WRATH by Concept Publishers (Lagos 2002).

REFERENCE Banham, Martin (ed.) (2004), A History of Theatre in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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I Articles

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‘Man in the Mirror’

The Issue of Appropriation in the Exchange between African & African American Popular Cultures

STEPHANIE SHONEKAN

Michael as a human being had everything it takes to be a superstar and every step he made was so unique and enticing that everybody knew that he was incredible and that is what I am too … Everything about Michael is me … People are saying that I look and dress like him … and that I could actually be a replacement for him, though coming from Africa; his ancestral home. (Njoku 2013)

In June 2009, Nigerian performer and Michael Jackson imperson­ator Walko Chilko, or Michael Eze Chikaria, was devastated when he got the news of Michael Jackson’s death. Chikaria’s whole persona had been modelled to replicate the legendary pop artist, from his bleached skin and his chemically straightened hair to his ethereal voice and distinct dance moves. Indeed, Chikaria had presented himself as a blurred, distorted, mirror image of Michael Jackson, from circa 1985. The extent to which Jackson impacted Chikaria and millions of Africans throughout the 1980s and 1990s cannot be overstated. Jackson’s music and performances set an important precedent for twenty-first-century African American artistes who are extremely popular in Africa and are now booking shows in different African countries, charging top dollar for their concert tickets. For decades, African audiences were mesmerized and inspired by African American artistes. More than anywhere else in the world, African American music and culture finds a comfortable home in the motherland. 3

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4  Stephanie Shonekan

Black music is perhaps one of the best examples of what Paul Gilroy would call ‘a circulation of ideas’ in the Black Atlantic (Gilroy 1993: 4). The notion of give and take is exemplified in the music from America that has returned to the place from whence it came and young people have recognized the familiar beats, the energy, the approach to improvisation, and the close connection to audience and community in the performance. Therefore, across different African countries, each generation has been attracted to and inspired by African American music. As a result, they have adopted and adapted it, customized it in some instances, and created a new version of African American music. Other cultures have done the same. When would-be British rock stars borrowed liberally from African American blues musicians in the 1950s and 1960s, they produced their own versions of blues and rock ’n’ roll, a phenomenon that many critics and blues fans might identify as appropriation. Likewise, when Paul Simon worked with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, he infused their South African mbube sound into his award-winning Graceland album. However, in this article, I contend that a different mode of exchange was happening when African American jazz drummer Max Roach created African rhythms in his ‘All Africa’ track on his classic album We Insist (1960); or when African American singer Harry Belafonte worked with South African singer Miriam Makeba on their self-titled album (1975); or more recently, when Canadian-American rapper Drake and Nigerian rapper Wizkid collaborated on hip hop projects, which I will return to later in this article. This article raises the question of how to frame the phenomenon of musical and cultural appropriation when Africans and African Americans borrow cultural artefacts from each other. I will argue that the term ‘appropriation’ does not quite fit the exchange when it happens in these cases. I will analyse music videos of Nigerian duo P-Square and African American superstar Beyoncé in order to trace out how the cultural artefacts are exchanged, all with a view to determining the nature of this interchange. I will posit

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Appropriation between African & American Popular Cultures  5

that the theory of cultural capital can be employed in this analysis. The theory of cultural capital first introduced by Pierre Bourdieu is useful for understanding the dynamics between African and African American culture. If, as Bourdieu and others have argued, culture is a resource, then African and African American artistes have certainly shared this resource, ‘one that provides access to scarce rewards, is subject to monopolization, and … may be transmitted from one generation to another’ (Lareau and Weininger 2003: 567). Turning on its head the typical use of cultural capital in educational studies as having to do with high-brow culture, I intend to use it to denote shared black culture that does afford its ‘owners’ access – and monopoly – to the rewards of black performance approaches, and is passed down from one generation to another. In other words, what the Beatles or Elvis Presley did with black music must be read differently from what African artistes have done with African American music and vice-versa.

Back and forth / give and take The fact that African music and African American music are connected in a cyclic continuum has been discussed by several scholars (Waterman, Maultsby, Shonekan). Often, the point has been made that Africans have absorbed African American aesthetics with the result that, for instance, several Nigerian artistes imitate the performance styles of African American artistes like Michael Jackson. After the 1980s, a steady stream of Michael Jackson imitators and impersonators emerged on the Nigerian scene, among them the aforementioned impersonator Michael Eze Chikaria, known as Walko Chilko. Another more recent example is the young impersonator, David Arebame who auditioned for the TV show Nigerian Idol. Like many other hopefuls, Arebame had the hair, the jacket, and the painfully shaky falsetto voice that indicated an attempt to emulate Michael Jackson. Arebame was one

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6  Stephanie Shonekan

of many Michael Jackson impersonators, but Chikaria stands out as one of the most colourful. Like Chikaria, African artistes have been inspired by these returning sounds of Black American music. Hugh Masekela was influenced by Dizzy Gillespie and Mahalia Jackson; Youssou N’Dour by Jimi Hendrix and James Brown; Fela Kuti by James Brown and Miles Davis; Manu Dibango by Louis Armstrong. These African artistes were able to take the flavour of the African American music and mix it with their own indigenous roots. Masekela’s jazz had a South African flavour; Youssou Ndour is reminiscent of the griots of old; and Fela created a new sound called afrobeat. During the 1970s and 1980s, African American music and culture were reachable only through the television screens, radios, and later records and CDs. In the new millennium, these artistes are more immediately available via social media and live concerts. Chris Brown, Rick Ross, Beyoncé and Jay-Z travel to cities in Africa and perform for audiences who pay $100–$300. So, via social media, the material is much more within reach of African audiences, and has spawned some indefensible cases of imitation. For instance, Sudanese rapper Bangs, Nigerian singer Vic O, and scores of others adopt cloaks of imitation that are ill-fitting and comically tragic. However, something else is happening. After a performance in Nigeria in 2012, Chris Brown appeared on BET’s ‘106 & Park’ and showcased a dance move called the ‘Azonto’. Interestingly he explains that he learned the dance move in Nigeria (although Ghanaians have reacted quite heatedly on social media, claiming the Azonto as a Ghanaian invention) but Brown then suggests that the style closely resembles one of Michael Jackson’s dance moves. While not necessarily intending to do so, by pointing to Nigeria and Jackson as the creative basis of the Azonto, Brown alludes to some degree of reciprocity, suggesting shared cultural capital between Africans and African Americans. He suggests that an African pop cultural expression is influenced by both African and African American culture.

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Appropriation between African & American Popular Cultures  7

This notwithstanding, it is true that on first glance the balance seems skewed and that the same degree of influence is not equal from African artistes to African Americans. This is not surprising as the flow of popular culture, its marketing and dissemination, is most dominant from the United States to the rest of the world. Much has been written about the initial contribution of African music to the African American experience, with slaves bringing their sensibilities and performance techniques to bear in their approach to music making in the New World, which has endured through the generations of African American musicians and performers. Ethnomusicologists Mellonee Burnim and Portia Maultsby cover this evolution in their seminal book. ‘The gradual trans­formation of African culture to something that came to be called African American began almost as soon as the Africans landed in the new world’ (Burnim and Maultsby 2005: 41). Over three hundred years after slaves first landed in the Americas, the music of African Americans – new and distinct in its New World manifestation – does not now have a readily identifiable link to Africa, even though the performance aesthetics are powerfully linked. There are a few examples in contemporary African American popular culture where African music is seen and heard more literally than as vague cultural memories. The rapper Common’s ‘Time Travelin’’ on his Like Water for Chocolate (2000) album is subtitled ‘A Tribute to Fela’ and begins with the sound of seagulls and the ocean, a symbolic reminder of the Atlantic waves that brought Africans to the New World. It then moves into a funky afrobeat section, complete with horns, traditional drums, a communal chorus of women chanting and singing, all of which is reminiscent of Fela’s aesthetics, and follows with Common rapping ‘What’s up y’all / What’s happenin’?’ It is pertinent to note that the horn section of Common’s intro includes Fela’s son, Femi Kuti, a nod to the motherland, and that the women are singing in Spanish, a reference to other parts of the New World – Central and South America and the Caribbean

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– where African slaves came, bringing their culture and traditions. This brief section on ‘Time Travelin’ speaks volumes about the common origins and cultural aesthetics that endure between Africa and the African Diaspora. So, there is back and forth between Africa and the Americas. The focus of this article is to assess the character of the give and take in the context of the back and forth, since discourses of appropriation have gained such wide attention in the study of cultural production and in mainstream commentary. In fact, the complications that technology and mass production would present to the cultural exchanges of the twenty-first century have been expected, ever since philosopher Walter Benjamin’s 1936 article that applied Marxist/Capitalism theory to the production of art: In principle, the work of art has always been reproducible. Objects made by humans could always be copied by humans. Replicas were made by pupils in practicing for their craft, by masters in disseminating their works, and, finally, by third parties in pursuit of profit. But the technological reproduction of artworks is something new. (Benjamin and Jennings 2010: 12)

The debate about imitation and replicas might be easily applied to minstrelsy and blackface. However, as Benjamin points out, technology brings an added dimension to the analysis of exchange, and certainly Africans and African Americans have drawn from the technologically reproduced art of each other. Chikaria’s careful styling of himself as Michael Jackson could only have been the result of watching music videos on a television in Nigeria. But is this appropriation? According to media and performance scholar Claudia Kappenberg, ‘appropriation as art practice rests on the idea of borrowing or copying rather than making something “new,” that is, the incorporation of everyday objects and images into works of art or the copying of already existing works of art’ (Kappenberg 2010: 27). Perhaps this is what Chikaria has done with Jackson. He has simply copied the

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look and performance qualities of Jackson without adding anything of his own. However, if ‘appropriation’ also has to do with power and gain, Chikaria and other imitators of Jackson have not gained any tangible significant advantage over Jackson and African American culture, at least not in the overall context of popular culture. So, in this case, appropriation does not quite fit. In some ways, Chikaria, Vic O and imitators like them stand as distractions to a more comprehensive study of the mirroring and sharing that is happening across the Atlantic between African and African American artistes and audiences. The notion of a shared cultural heritage is important to this line of inquiry. Bruce Ziff and Pratima Rao contend that ‘the idea of a “culture” is at the heart of the concept’ of appropriation and that the concept must be concerned with ‘relationships amongst people’ (Ziff and Rao 1997: 2–3). With this critical idea at the root of the study, the analysis shifts from one of just assessing the characteristics of cultural expression or performance practice to one that is grounded in the history of black people, as an extension of African cultural being. In other words, with regard to black-onblack appropriation, it is critical to see Michael Jackson not just as a pop star, but as a black pop star; to see his imitators in Africa as more than just mirror images. It is equally vital to connect the artist to the art and the culture within which it is situated. If we follow the lyrical direction of Jackson’s iconic song, ‘Man in the Mirror’, then more analysis is important.

Descriptive analysis of P-Square and Beyoncé With a view to this critical need to focus on the concept of cultural capital, i.e. culture and people, a study of P-Square and Beyoncé will allow us to analyse the art, and decipher the parameters of influence, then reconnect it to the global black space as a cultural and political entity. Ziff and Rao insist that ‘the important questions about cultural appro­

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10  Stephanie Shonekan

priation are the political ones’ (Ziff and Rao, 1995: 5) and communications scholar Richard A. Rogers confirms that ‘cultural appropriation is … inescapably intertwined with cultural politics’ (474). Thus, a view of particular items from these two artistes will allow for some deeper discourse on the transnational politics of blackness.

P-Square and Beyoncé ‘Personally’ is the hit single from P-Square’s Double Trouble album (2014). Listening to the song presents a different experience from watching the video. The lyrics are in pidgin English, the vernacular of the masses, a creolized version of English created by Nigerians as a subversive response to the British. The meaning of the song is unremarkable as the singers imagine the sexual feats they would do during the night, a common theme in black popular music of the 1990s and 2000s. However, the visual production of the music video offers a clear comparison to Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’. The P-Square twins, Peter and Paul Okoye, are famous for their nimble dance moves, carefully choreographed to enhance their music. That they move brilliantly through ‘Personally’ is nothing new. However, the literal tribute to Michael Jackson is very clear as the music video opens. Like Jackson, Paul starts ‘Personally’ wearing a hat and a suit, playing with the black and white aesthetic. Peter carries it on, dressed in a three-piece suit, the hems of his trousers suspended just above his ankles, so that we see the sparkling white socks. It is not only the costuming that is interesting, it is also the choreography down to the specific movements that are distinct to Jackson. Paul is surrounded by five women and does not move much, but Peter brings Michael Jackson to the screen, with each frame reflecting the essence of both the ‘Smooth Criminal’ and the ‘Billie Jean’ videos: short staccato movements, sharp precise leg thrusts, brief sections of the moonwalk, the four other male dancers fanning out behind him, mirroring his

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movements but holding back just enough to make Peter shine. The smooth funky performance flows from one trademark Michael Jackson dance move to the other, with short bursts of flare and then the pregnant pauses that set the audience up for the next explosive move, such as the iconic and unbelievable move of leaning forward. To cap off the nod to their inspiration, P-Square includes a large silhouette of Jackson in some of the frames towards the end of the video. For all the similarities, though, there is still something very local about this video. The dancing is nothing without the music, which is clearly rooted in its local environment. Another P-Square example to consider is their ‘Alingo’ music video, again from their Double Trouble album of 2014, which has various elements of Usher’s ‘OMG’ music video. The Okoye twins, clad in black and joined by other male dancers execute some of the dance moves for which African American R&B stars like James Brown, Michael Jackson, Usher, Chris Brown, and Neyo are well known. In the ‘Alingo’ music video, the P-Square twins appear in cages, bound within a limited amount of space in which to execute their moves. This seems to signify the ‘slave to the dance floor’ motif. The same is true in Usher’s ‘OMG’ video, which features will.i.am. Instead of a physical cage, though, there are laser beams that constrain the amount of performance space that Usher has at his disposal. By the middle of the video, when Usher is joined by other dancers, the dance floor has bars around it that reach halfway up to the ceiling. Whether P-Square used ‘OMG’ as inspiration is unclear, but the viewer cannot but draw these parallels between the two videos. Interestingly, towards the end of the ‘OMG’ video, Usher is wearing black and white and a hat that he moves around like Michael Jackson did in ‘Billie Jean’ and as P-Square did in ‘Personally’. The back and forth of this particular move is indicative of a familiarity with material that is shared by all these artistes, both African and African American. That African artistes like P-Square dip into the wealth of

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12  Stephanie Shonekan

African American popular culture is evidence of the strength of the latter’s influence in the motherland. By the 2010s, a newer trend of African American stars borrowing elements of African popular culture was emerging. Beyoncé’s ‘Run the World (Girls)’ brings a message of female empowerment. Describing the vocal style as ‘rhythmically chanting’ sociologists Pomerantz et al. examine the notion of the ideal and idea that girls and women indeed run the world (2013: 186). The message is very American in the sense that it presents an Americanized version of feminism that is not completely aligned with African notions of women’s empowerment or ‘Africana womanism’ (Hudson-Weems 1994). However, a study of the music video is illuminating for the threads of influence that emerge in the choreography. The video features Beyoncé’s usual energetic athleticism and rhythmic management of her body movements. The women with her in the music video mirror her movements, beginning in the first few frames when they stand militantly, as if waiting for a fight. They face off against an approaching army of men. There is defiance and urgency in the stance of the women as the suspense builds. Then, Beyoncé steps forward, stands centred, and whips her head back, beginning a fast shoulder motion that will become a distinct part of her choreography in other music videos. When the camera zooms back, we see that she is standing between and two steps behind two men, whose heads are at first cut off the screen. These two men are Mario Abel Buce (Kwela) and Xavier Manuel Campione of the Tofo Tofo dance group of Mozambique. Tofo Tofo performs unique dance moves that are recognizably Southern African, combining gum boot movements and linked to the Kwaito music of South Africa. According to Lesley Braun, it was a music video of Tofo Tofo that attracted Beyoncé and her team to the dancers and their uniquely African moves: ‘Tofo Tofo’s YouTube video shows the threesome dancing clad in matching outfits in a local bar … According to one of the members of Beyoncé’s team, it took them four months to track down the group

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in Africa. Tofo Tofo was then flown to the United States to help create the choreography for the dance video. The video evokes a kind of post-apocalyptic scenario in which people from diverse backgrounds are now living together in an ambiguous, dilapidated, urban African shantytown’ (Braun 2011: 36). Beyoncé and the two men of Tofo Tofo execute a series of movements that are different from the movements viewed in the rest of the video when she is dancing either with the women or with the other (supposedly African American) men. The movements are not as lush or provocative as the rest of the dancing. Their movements are clipped, their foot stomps less extended, but the rhythmic intensity and lyricism of the choreography is not disconnected from the rest of the performances. In fact, Beyoncé draws on both Tofo Tofo and earlier African American popular music dance icons like James Brown and Michael Jackson, a feat that signifies her liberal use of the cultural capital that black people share throughout the Diaspora. Another interesting example of Beyoncé drawing on the continent is found in her music video for ‘Sorry’ from her Lemonade album (2015). As with most of the other videos of that album, she begins with a dramatic recitation of poetry written by Somali-British poet Warsan Shire. Although the rest of the video features tennis player Serena Williams prominently as the co-star, the beginning of the video opens with Beyoncé sitting on a train or bus with six women, all with their faces, chests, and shoulders adorned with intricate designs in white paint with their hair fashioned in various West African traditional styles – cornrows and threaded plaits. These styles signify the natural African woman. The effect is reminiscent of the dancers who always accompanied Nigerian afrobeat musician Fela Kuti, who hardly ever appeared without face and body paint, and the distinctly traditional hairstyles. Whenever there was a break in his music, after a keyboard or saxophone solo or a rendition of scathing lyrics, the dancers would return to the front of

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14  Stephanie Shonekan

the stage and gyrate furiously in rhythm. This was one of Fela’s devices that signified his proud embrace of African tradition and an associated rejection of Western culture. This contemplation of the natural African woman is explained in his hit ‘Lady’ where he lauds the African woman grounded in an idealistic sense of untouched and pure African culture and tradition. Beyoncé and her team’s choice to bring in an aesthetic that is distinctly Fela – and therefore unmistakably African – is deliberate and reflective of the cycling back of musical and cultural influences from Africa to America. In fact, towards the middle of the video, the camera returns to the train/bus and the painted ‘African’ ladies and then flashes back to the house where another set of women – Diasporic or African American – are interacting with Beyoncé. This is a moment of clarity that exposes what we might call a liminal space between tradition and modernity, a rootedness in and endurance of African culture and its continuity in the New World. Also worth mentioning is the outfit Beyoncé wears in the ‘All Night’ video from the same album. The dress is an elaborate puffy-sleeved creation made from Dutch wax fabric that is popularly worn by women in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. The symbolism of this gesture, along with her use of traditional Yoruba worship symbolism in the video, reveals clearly the direction towards which Beyoncé is looking for inspiration.

Theoretical analysis The critical question to consider now is whether the P-Square and Beyoncé examples fit squarely in the category of cultural appropriations, joining other famous examples like Bo Derek’s cornrows, or the rock ’n’ roll of Elvis Presley, the hip hop of Vanilla Ice and Iggy Azalea’s blackened speech or, more recently, the twerking of Miley Cyrus. If all these

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artistes are accused of borrowing from another culture, then might we accuse P-Square of doing this with Michael Jackson and Usher, or Beyoncé of doing so with Tofo Tofo and Fela? Many definitions of appropriation highlight the aspect of borrowing or imitating of one culture from another. For instance, communication scholar Helene Shugarte defines appropriation thus: ‘Any instance in which a group borrows or imitates the strategies of another – even when the tactic is not intended to deconstruct or distort the other’s meanings and experiences – thus would constitute appropriation’ (210– 11). That there are aspects of imitation in all the examples above is not in question. However, my contention is that there is a difference between the two groups, which has to do with cultural capital, meaning and power. Presley, Vanilla Ice and Iggy do not draw from a shared cultural capital. Black cultural expression is beyond their cultural reach. Shugarte’s definition points to the aspect of meaning too. When Elvis imitates Big Mama Thornton in ‘Hound Dog’ the meanings ascribed to her deep, soulful scolding of the ‘hound dog’ is far removed from Elvis’ fun, skippy rendition, which reduces it from an urgently committed protest of a black woman to a cheerfully trite imitation. Much as Presley studied the musical stylings and practices of black folks, he could not embody the heartfelt groans that come from the core of black women’s experiences with love and life. To use a simplistic metaphor, members of a family might be dispersed across the world, have different encounters with members of other families, but there is a foundational family knowledge they intrinsically understand that allows them to understand the intricacies of the family’s set of values and unique traditions. Most importantly, and certainly pertinent to this analysis, is the extent to which definitions of appropriation include the facet of power. Richard Rogers explains that ‘the symmetry or asymmetry of power relations, the appropriation’s role in domination and/or resistance, the nature of the cultural boundaries involved, and other factors shape, and are shaped by, acts of cultural appropriation’ (2006: 476). Since Beyoncé

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is obviously a global superstar with an international base and earnings in the millions, while Tofo Tofo is still mostly an unknown name outside Southern Africa, it is tempting to view her level of appropriation as being more problematic than P-Square’s. As popular as the Nigerian duo is within Nigeria, and even around Africa, their reach is not on the same level as Jackson’s or Usher’s. However, Rogers offers a more nuanced way of thinking about appropriation, that will open up this analysis of the P-Square/Beyoncé dilemma. He presents a framework that includes four types of appropriation, each with its own implications for meaning and power: exchange, dominance, exploitation and transculturation (475). Rogers’ definition of cultural exchange includes ‘the reciprocal exchange of symbols, artifacts, rituals, genres, and/or technologies between cultures with roughly equal levels of power’ (477). An overview of P-Square’s drawing on choreographic devices of Jackson and other African Americans, as well as Beyoncé’s utilization of dance moves of Tofo Tofo, and her embellishment of aesthetics from Fela displays some reciprocity in this exchange across the black world. Further, as Rogers elaborates, ‘multiplicities of power and constraints on agency complicate determinations of the voluntary nature of cultural exchange’ (477). Adopting the cultural capital lens does mitigate the complications these issues present. There are indeed multiplicities of power, but that is balanced by the power of the Diaspora as a shared entity. In other words, the Diaspora can be imagined as a space where black people, whether situated on the continent or dispersed through slavery and migration, are still culturally nourished by some fundamental knowledges which, though rooted in a common heritage, are manifested variously according to particulars of historical journeys and interruptions. Likewise, the next aspect of Rogers’ framework, cultural dominance, does not quite address the dilemma. He describes this type of appropriation as ‘the use of elements of a dominant culture by members of a subordinated culture in

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a context in which the dominant culture has been imposed onto the subordinated culture, including appropriations that enact resistance’ (477). Whether this type of appropriation is at play in the exchange between Africans and African Americans has to do with readings of the globalization of American pop culture and its influence on other cultures. I have argued elsewhere that in the 1990s and early 2000s, the dominance of African American popular culture suffocated the creativity and originality of local African genres (Shonekan 2011, 2013). I point to African American music and culture as a new form of cultural imperialism, which ‘has been both stealthy and seductive in its approach. It has crashed into the West African coast like a tidal wave. Like other waves before it, it has had a significant impact on the culture of an entire generation. But as it washes back into the Atlantic, it takes a crucial piece of Africa away with it’ (2013: 196). Imitations by other 2000s Nigerian musicians like Olu Maintain, D’Banj, Flavour, and even some earlier work by P-Square clearly exemplify Rogers’ definition of cultural dominance. However, the 2010s have produced more nuanced appro­ priations that reflect less dominance and more exchange between artistes. The simple fact that superstars like Beyoncé are reaching back to the continent to draw inspiration, challenges my earlier argument of pure cultural dominance. While ‘cultural dominance’ puts the onus of the borrowing on the subordinated culture, Rogers’ next level of appropriation, ‘cultural exploitation’, puts the burden back on the more dominant culture. He defines cultural exploitation as the appropriation ‘of elements of a subordinated culture by a dominant culture without substantive reciprocity, permis­ sion, and/or compensation’ (477). That Beyoncé has more commercial power than any of the African performers is not in question. However, although probably not equitably compensated, Tofo Tofo was consulted and flown to the USA to teach Beyoncé and her team the dance moves. They also appeared prominently in her music video, a feat that

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18  Stephanie Shonekan

most artistes anywhere in the world would appreciate. In real terms, one cannot escape the suggestion of exploitation here. However, if Beyoncé’s mode of appropriation, dipping into the shared waters of the Black Atlantic, sits more appropriately with the notion of exchange, then an argument for exploitation may not stand. Finally, Rogers offers the mode of appropriation that he calls ‘transculturation,’ which is the most productive way of thinking about what is occurring with African and African American cultural exchanges. His explanation is that ‘cultural elements [are] created from and/or by multiple cultures, such that identification of a single originating culture is problematic, for example, multiple cultural appropriations structured in the dynamics of globalization and transnational capitalism creating hybrid forms’ (477). My argument is that what is happening between African and African American artistes in the second decade of the new millennium is a form of transculturation to the extent that there is some reciprocal sharing by these ‘different cultures’. However, it is important to recognize the nuances and the commonalities of Black culture. I contend that Beyoncé, P-Square, Usher, Tofo Tofo, Fela and Michael Jackson all share in the same cultural capital that is rooted in African heritage. African American Studies scholar Perry Hall establishes this understanding of black music, which supports my theory that connects these black artistes. He explains that black music is a product of the ‘innovative sensibilities forged wholly within the crucible of African American suffering, struggle and triumph’ (1997: 31). When, for instance, we juxtapose these black artistes with examples like Elvis Presley and Iggy Azalea, we arrive at a different conclusion. Perry Hall points out the deep irony and problems of these types of appropriations: ‘White America seems to love the melody and rhythm of Black folks’ souls while rejecting their despised Black faces’ (1997: 31). Rephrasing the problem, Hall insists that ‘mainstream absorption of aesthetic dimensions of Black culture does not

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lead to comparable embrace of Black culture at the human level’ (32). There is the problematic question of authenticity here. Since these white artistes do not share from the cultural fount of blackness, somehow their art is not authentically ‘black art’ in the same way as that of artistes of African descent. Philosopher Walter Benjamin offers another aspect of authenticity that has to do with technology. He states that ‘the whole sphere of authenticity eludes technological – and of course not only technological – reproduction’ (2010: 13). In other words, art is not truly ‘authentic’ if technology has interfered in its reproduction. This raises an important question about the authenticity of the cultural products shared by black artistes across the Atlantic, as much of the sharing is a result of technological input. For instance, Beyoncé learned of Tofo Tofo through their music videos. P-Square must have studied videos of Jackson and Usher in order to produce their own dance moves. Benjamin insists that ‘technological reproduction can place the copy of the original in situations to which the original itself cannot attain.’ Therefore, he suggests, it devalues the original (14). So the question is whether the appropriated aspects of P-Square and Beyoncé render their art inauthentic. My conclusion is that the technological interventions, interference or mediation does not render them inauthentic for the basic reason that they share in the same cultural capital. The moves that Jackson authored are themselves African because of the heritage and cultural history of his ancestors; and what we are seeing in all these examples is a seamless exchange, like runners in a relay passing the baton from one to the other. While there are traces of dominance and exploitation in the exchange, there is an African-infused transculturation that is at the heart of this critical cultural exchange. Returning to the metaphor of the relay team, there are team members that anchor or lead off who are stronger based on their position, but they are all still part of a unified team.

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20  Stephanie Shonekan

Conclusion The video for Michael Jackson’s ‘Man in the Mirror’ begins with scenes of starving children in Somalia, anti-apartheid marches in South Africa, a black liberation march in the United States, homeless black folks on what looks like a street in the USA, and clips of Martin Luther King and Desmond Tutu. This iconic video is reflective of how well the theory of cultural capital fits this analysis of African and African American cultural exchange. The suffering, the struggle, the oppression and the fight for liberation are shared consequences of a universal black history. When Jackson presents these scenes in the opening of ‘Man in the Mirror’, he is conflating the two spaces. Another way of explaining this is through an understanding of spiritual belief systems shared at different times by Africans on the continent and across the world. According to Ogundiran and Saunders, ‘the materiality of rituals in the Black Atlantic reminds us that tradition is not a static repetition of the past but a fluid, dynamic, innovative practice that looks back to the past but also to the future ritual’ (2014: 18). This fluidity, dynamism and innovation undergirds the system of musical borrowing and appropriating among artistes in the black world. This is well illustrated in the collaborative work of Canadian-American artist Drake and Nigerian rapper Wizkid. In 2016–17, the two artistes have modelled how this third space might work, exemplifying the potential for meaningful (and lucrative) exchange, and the cultural capital that draws them together. In 2016, Drake featured Wizkid in a remix of ‘One Dance’. Later that year Wizkid released an afrobeat-infused song ‘Ojuelegba’. Soon after, Drake remixed it and added his own verse. And in 2017, Wizkid released ‘Come Closer’, which included Drake as well as clear Jamaican dancehall influences. This consistent and symbiotic relationship between Drake and Wizkid – the back and forth and the give and take – demonstrates what we had observed in the P-Square and Beyoncé cases, that there

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are vast possibilities that are available between and among artistes in the black world. WORKS CITED Benjamin, Walter and Michael W. Jennings (ed.) (2010), ‘The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility’. In Walter Benjamin’s Media Tactics: Optics, Perception, and the Work of Art; Special Issue of Grey Room, Spring, no. 39: 11–38. Braun, Lesley (2011), ‘YouTube and the Urban Experience Embodied’, Urbanities, vol. 1, no. 1: 32–42. Burnim, Mellonee and Portia Maultsby (2005), African American Music: An Introduction. New York: Routledge. Gilroy, Paul (1993), The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Hall, Perry A. (1997), ‘African American Music: Dynamics of Appropriation and Innovation’. In Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation, Bruce H. Ziff and Pratima V. Rao (eds). New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press: 29–50. Hudson-Weems, Clenora (1994), Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves. Troy, MI: Bedford Publishers. Kappenberg, Claudia (2010), ‘The Logic of the Copy, from Appropriation to Choreography’, International Journal of Screendance, vol. 1: 27–40. Lareau, Annette and Elliot B. Weininger (2003), ‘Cultural Capital in Educational Research: A Critical Assessment’, Theory and Society, vol. 32, nos 5/6: 567–606. Njoku, Benjamin (2013). “4 yrs after: Nigeria’s Michael Jackson blames self!” Vanguard, 22 June 22 2013. www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/4-yrs-afternigerias-michael-jackson-blames-self. Ogundiran, Akinwumi and Paula Saunders (eds) (2014), Materialities of Ritual in the Black Atlantic. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Pomerantz, Shauna, Rebecca Raby and Andrea Stefanik (2013), ‘Girls Run the World? Caught between Sexism and Post-feminism in School’, Gender & Society, vol. 27, no. 2: 185–207. Rogers, Richard A. (2006), ‘From Cultural Exchange to Transculturation: A Review and Reconceptualization of Cultural Appropriation’, Communication Theory, vol. 16, no. 4: 474–503. Shonekan, Stephanie (2011), ‘Sharing Hip-Hop Cultures: The Case of Nigerians and African Americans’, American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 55, no. 1: 9–23. —— (2013), ‘The Blueprint: The Gift and The Curse of American Hip Hop Culture for Nigeria’s Millennial Youth’, The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol. 6, no. 3: 181–98. Shugart, H. A. (1997), ‘Counterhegemonic Acts: Appropriation as a Feminist Rhetorical Strategy’, Quarterly Journal of Speech, vol. 83, no. 2: 210–29. Ziff, Bruce H. and Pratima V. Rao (eds) (1997), ‘Introduction to Cultural Appropriation: A Framework for Analysis’, In Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

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NAFEST Danceturgy in Search of Integration & Identity A Study of Selected Nasarawa State Dance Entries

’TOSIN KOOSHIMA TUME

The National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) is an annual festival in Nigeria, designed to serve as a veritable index for the promotion of national peace and unity and cultural exchange, as well as a platform for engineering creativity. The festival came into being in 1970 following the protracted Nigerian civil war which lasted from 1967 to 1970. The idea of the festival was conceived to facilitate the reintegration of the war-torn zones into the nation. Since then, the festival, which draws its participants from all the thirty-six states of Nigeria, has solidified, and come to be known as the ‘Festival which unites the nation’ (BenIheanacho 2017). NAFEST features and promotes the diverse tangible and intangible artistic expressions of the many cultures of the Nigerian nation. These cultural arts are showcased in various competitive and non-competitive events of NAFEST such as Indigenous Dance and Music, Traditional Wrestling, Drama, Choral Music, Traditional Cuisine/Food Fair, Traditional Furnished Apartment, Children’s Moonlight Games, Crafts Expo/Fair or Cultural Market, Poetry, Live Presentations of Nigerian Dress Culture, Specialized Exhibitions, Children’s Essay Writing, Children’s Drawing/Painting Exhibition, NAFEST Colloquium/Book Fair, Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Dance, which is an integral aspect of the diverse Nigerian 22

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cultures, has been identified as one of the vital features of NAFEST (ncac.gov.ng). However, beyond the pomp and pageantry which typifies NAFEST, its ideological basis as a unity festival has not been adequately reflected in the choreography of the dances performed on the forum. In spite of their multi-ethnic nature, most participating states at NAFEST are observed to feature mono-cultural dance entries, thereby promoting specific cultures to the detriment of others. More importantly, the unique attributes of the dance art as a device for cultural integration and identity formation have not been properly situated within the context of NAFEST. Consequently, several states that participate at NAFEST have been observed to grapple unsuccessfully with actuating the stipulated themes of its danceturgy, a trans­ position of the idea of dramaturgy on dance art and practice, to mean the study of the craft and techniques of dance composition and the representation of the main elements of choreography in performance.

Nasarawa State: A potpourri of cultures Nasarawa State is one of the most culturally vibrant states in Nigeria. It was created in 1996 alongside five other states under the administration of the former Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha, and has since grown in leaps and bounds, dutifully earning her name which literally means ‘Victory’. With her thirty ethnic groups and about forty languages and dialects, the state has earned the name ‘Mini Nigeria’, reinforcing Chris Iyimoga’s assertion that ‘the people of Nasarawa State illustrates the kind of cultural heterogeneity that Nigeria is’ (2011:15). The multiple ethnic groups in the state have their own histories, arts and cultures. However, they share similar social and cultural ideologies and, in spite of their diverse cultural mix, the people of Nasarawa State peacefully coexist. The multi-ethnic composition of Nasarawa State results

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in a rich variety of cultural festivals that unite and edify the different communities within the state. These festivals, which are celebrated annually, have in turn produced captivating traditional dances which display the historical and moral values of the Nasarawa people, sustain their heritage, and also enhance communal cohesion and development among them. As shall be illustrated later in this article, these festivals also serve as invaluable sources of materials for the Nasarawa State dance entries at NAFEST. It has also been observed that the choreographic structures of her Performing Troupe’s dance pieces at NAFEST are deliberately patterned with diverse cultural elements within the state to achieve cultural integration and identity.

The Nasarawa State Performing Troupe at NAFEST The Nasarawa State Performing Troupe was founded along­ side the creation of Nasarawa State in 1996. The troupe has grown from its initial crop of four performers to about sixty resident artistes. Since its establishment, the Nasarawa State Performing Troupe has had a fair representation at NAFEST almost every year. The state has been outstanding in participating in almost all, if not all the competitive and non-competitive events at NAFEST. Having performed the record-breaking feat of winning the most coveted golden gong prize which goes to the best overall state for five consecutive times (2007–2011), the Nasarawa State Performing Troupe has carved a niche for itself in the Nigerian cultural industry. In spite of its cultural pluralism, the troupe is famed for presenting the identity of a united Nasarawa State through its dance performances at cultural events and festivals. Given the backdrop of ethnic jealousy and distrust that trails the very existence of Nigeria as a multi-ethnic nation, Nasarawa State arouses intellectual curiosity as to how it has been able to pool its cultural and human resources to produce a truly united front of cultural performances, especially at NAFEST.

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The fact that Nasarawa State is culturally diverse makes it a natural prototype for Nigeria, while the state’s choreographic exploits for NAFEST’s danceturgy, makes it an appropriate state to study the evolving of a choreographic approach which could work for other states and Nigeria as a whole. This article therefore, examines two selected dance entries of Nasarawa State at the 2011 and 2012 editions of NAFEST to evidence the cultural integration and identity in Nasarawa State’s choreographic approach to NAFEST danceturgy. It also demonstrates how this approach effectively engenders the festival’s goal of national unity and identity.

Understanding interculturalism The theory of interculturalism refers to a dynamic crosscultural conversation which questions segregations within cultures, and advocates community cohesion. Ted Cantle’s claim that ‘multiculturalism is the past [while] the future is interculturalism’, argues that the framework interculturalism offers for managing cultural plurality and national identity trumps that of multiculturalism (2012: 1). To which John Nagle also states that ‘multiculturalism is perceived to [merely] constitute groups in ethnically defined communities and essentialist cultures’, while interculturalism challenges ‘self-segregation’, and supports ‘cross-cultural dialogue’ (2009: 1). Cantle’s discovery about interculturalism is that it is dedicated to addressing five crucial issues which multi­ culturalism completely ignores (2012: 2): 1 The dynamism of the concept of identity; 2 The recognition of all other forms of difference alongside race; 3 Acknowledgement of how social identity and difference have broken boundaries and moved from national to global/international drivers of difference; 4 The emergence of new power and political structures as a

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result of globalization; 5 An inter-disciplinary approach to understanding and tackling the multifaceted issues that come with culture and its variables. Thus, interculturalism accepts the fluidity of socio-cultural identities and how it may affect relationships within any given social space. It also acknowledges the by-products of cultural diversity in terms of differences in ethnic, religious and political orientations. Although Erika Fischer-Lichte (2010: 404–5) argues that no culture is ‘monadic or self-contained’, she admits that there are differences between cultures. We posit that it is these inter­cultural differences that can be explored and hybrid­ ized to generate new realities and identities. The foregoing submissions, therefore, make interculturalism apt as a theory to interrogate the dance entries selected in this article.

Analyses of selected Nasarawa State Dance entries at NAFEST Kuturo (2011) Kuturo opens with a woman clad in wine-coloured Mada traditional attire, cuddling and rocking her sick baby who is also swathed in Mada wrappers. The woman sings a Koro lullaby to calm the child to no avail. Koro lullaby:

Jee re mi ye, jeye re mi Jeye re kansha ona, ko ra ma na Ini mu za kansha ona, ko ra mana Jeye re kansha ona, ko ra mana

English translation:

Do not cry, my child, oh, be well Do not cry, or you may be lean

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Life has many pleasant things in store for you My beautiful baby, please do not cry

The mixture of cultural materials in terms of costumes and music here implies that the woman is Koro born, but married to a Mada man since in the traditional sense the child belongs to the father, and a woman usually dresses in the colours of her husband’s culture but expresses herself better in her mother tongue. Sadly, the child dies, and the mother’s dirge attracts neigh­ bours. Koro dirge: Mu ga woooooooooooo za go n ma gonma Mu ga wo za gonma – Ki wa di dre di sa ko di ni n mule – Ki wa di dre di sa ko di ni nyo – Ko wa si gbe mu nga ku cho me e – Ko wa si gbe laya ku cho me e –

–

mu ga wo za

mu ga wo za gonma mu ga wo za gonma mu ga wo za gonma mu ga wo za gonma mu ga wo za gonma

English translation How do I become immune to evil My enemies have done their worst Their evil eyes now laugh at me They get evil amulets to harm me They send evil people to harm me Their charms are so potent

– How do I become immune to evil – How do I become immune to evil – How do I become immune to evil – How do I become immune to evil – How do I become immune to evil – How do I become immune to evil

The neighbours, wearing the multi-coloured Alago, pink, blue and white Afo, off-white Fulani, indigo tie-and-dye

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Jukun and Mighili, and wine-coloured Mada traditional attires, show the bereaved woman communal support from diverse cultural backgrounds. Regardless of their ethnic diversity, they come together to perform the Arizeni cleansing and healing ritual for the woman. Some of the women hit the heels of their palms into their other palms to bemoan the unfortunate incident, while some pat the bereaved woman on the back to console her. The female neighbours form a circle round the bereaved woman to perform the Arizeni healing ritual for her. Here, the ritual is infused with dance elements from diverse ethnic groups within the state. The women hold out their hands, clench their fists, and march round the bereaved woman in a circle as she weeps. Soon, a man costumed in the multi-coloured Okpa wrapper of the Alago people and the colourful Mighili beads, comes on stage playing the Hausa traditional Gurmi strings and raises a song: Gwandara song:

Ada yaya, Oluma yaya Uwa yaya, uba yaya Gyara bi n ba ki kwana n ba ki safe o aya

English translation:

Dear mothers, dear fathers Mother of children, fathers of children We bring succour to you from mother earth

While chorusing the Gwandara song, the women maintain the Arizeni ritual mien as they execute the Alago side to side swinging hand movements. This movement creates the visual image of sweeping negative energy away from the woman, and at the same time drawing positive energy towards her. At the tail end of the Gwandara song, the male neighbours from the community join their female counterparts to offer their condolences to the bereaved woman. This again reaffirms the cultural practice in Nasarawa communities,

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where women are usually at the forefront of comforting a fellow woman in times of bereavement. Breaking the barriers of culture, and indicating that the communal duty of consoling a bereaved person should not be left to women alone, the men sing: Alago song: Obakonumele, oji ya koyu depe me lee Oyun tepe yepe fafa Ogyime e pe wa putu Oyun ta pepe gbulagada Enowa leyi ja ja ja Oyumogu moh amanda, amanda kyogu iyi felele Ogyeme eba lonyee, go le ga zaa oputu kya wowawaa

English translation:

My brothers, would you desert me this day Do not fetch me a mat because you think I have won Lest you come back to find me lying on the bare floor I need your protection from this hot sun I once heard your hearkened to your distress call Now I am exposed, please return the favour Support me, please, do not let me be ashamed

As the ritual ends, the bereaved woman is comforted, and she is reintegrated into the community with musical and dance performances.

Hausa song:

Taimaka ma ni Allah, mai yau ni da gobe

– dama dama lilu Taimaka ma ni Allah, mai suna da kulun – dama dama lilu Wanda ba shi da kowa, aushi za ya kashe shi – dama dama lilu I dan nna samu nawa aushi ba ya kashe ni – dama dama lilu Da kunu, da kunama yau kara gudu wai – dama dama lilu Da Bala da balai yau kara Bala ai – dama dama lilu Da Masi da masifa yau kara masi ai – dama dama lilu Yan mata – dama dama lilu

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English translation:

Help me, oh God of today and tomorrow – pendulum of peace swings Help me, oh God of everyday – pendulum of peace swings He who has no one dies of sheer anger – pendulum of peace swings As for me, I am blessed and free – pendulum of peace swings For me, rather porridge than scorpion – pendulum of peace swings – pendulum of For me, rather Bala11 than disaster peace swings – pendulum of For me, rather Masi22 than chaos peace swings

Yeskwa song:

A uye uye ku janma, mi su tama le ku janma Ma su kri kpa kpe misu tamale ku janma

English translation:

My mother has returned from her trip, I have to welcome her warmly If I dare not, I will be rebuked until I learn to show respect for elders

Gbagyi song:

Iya le ya yi Shoko baye In ya da kuru gata, te la ga kuru ma

– aaa – aaa

English translation: It’s time to go back home – yes God has helped us – yes Let us be thankful for we are victorious

Bala is an Hausa sobriquet used to refer to Arabs. Masi is an Arabic loan word in Hausa which means Christ.

1 2

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The bereaved woman soon forgets her sorrows, and she joins her neighbours in a recreational dance performance. The performance later becomes a blockbuster on the global entertainment scene. An instrumentalist, fully dressed in Mada animal skin attire and head gear, dances on stage and, playing the shakashaka rattles, raises the Gbagyi farewell song which signals that their aim had been achieved. At the end of this bit, another Mada costumed instrumentalist comes on stage playing the saxophone. Thus, for aesthetic effect and global appeal, Western musical instruments are incorporated into the performance. They then perform for a paying audience, and this yields positive economic transformation for them and their community in its entirety. The closing glee of the dance piece ends on a freeze, with the female dancers on their knees with arms stretched open, while the male dancers remain standing with their heads bowed.

Dance Bridges (2012) Dance Bridges opens with members of the Baganzo and Anzamu communities getting ready to work on the farm. The two sets of farmers are dressed in orange vests and winecoloured Mada costumes, and yellow vests in addition to the grey and navy blue Afo traditional attires respectively. As an Alago Oja flute plays a Mada tune, a woman wearing the wine-coloured traditional Mada wrapper raises a rousing song. They all sharpen their tools in camaraderie, as they sing this chorus: Mada song:

Chin chin nba ruwa ngar, ruwa nta gar O ruwa ruwa, O ruwa ruwa, ruwa ntar gyen

English translation:

Off we go to our farms, our source of livelihood Oh farming, farming is our source of livelihood

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Using the traditional Eggon arm-akimbo bounce and the Ninzom Mbaya feet-stomping movements for motif, the farmers employ natural movements to demonstrate land clearing and ridge making, in readiness for the planting season. As the farmers take a rest from the day’s hard work, women adorned in the traditional grey and navy blue Afo and winecoloured Mada costumes dance in with the Swange entry movement, bearing food and drinks in the traditional Fulani calabashes and trays. They sing and dance. Mada song:

Call Nasarawa gyar ta tingin gyen Nigeria gyar ta tingin gyen

English translation: Call Nasarawa, our land home, sweet home Nigeria, our land home, sweet home

– Response – tingin gyen, tingin gyen eee, – tingin gyen, tingin gyen eee,

– Response – sweet home, home sweet – sweet home, home sweet

Taking a rest from the day’s job, the men dine and wine, while their women proceed to plant. After planting, the women embrace to signify their cordial relationship, while their men wave at one another with the promise to gather again soon. The next scene is an inter-community wedding ceremony. The members of both communities are seen to be wearing the traditional navy blue Eggon and Gbagyi attires and Nasarawa colours in looms, and in modern fabrics. Variously executing the traditional Alago and Aja dance movements of the Agatu people, members of both communities troop in to celebrate with the bride and groom. The groom’s family dance in bearing gifts for the bride’s family. They sing:

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Agatu wedding song:

Oy’ango le go ba a – Oy’ango le go ba Oy’ango le go baba eee – Oy’ango le go ba

English translation: Behold the handsome groom – All hail the handsome groom Behold the handsome man – All hail the handsome groom

With the feet-gliding Aja movements of the Agatu people, the bride is brought in to meet her husband’s family. In Eggon tradition, a bride-to-be is usually made to wear a set of Jigida waist beads brought by the groom’s family, and the wedding ceremony only commences if the waist beads fit her perfectly. The bride in Dance Bridges is subjected to the Jigida waist beads size-testing rite, and she succeeds. To celebrate, the bride and groom perform a dance duet to the delight of everyone present. The duo variously executed the hand-flicking, shoulder-jerking, waist-jerking, and tiptoeing movements of the Aja dance. The duet performance culminates into a general celebration of dance and music by all. In the course of dancing during the wedding ceremony, how­ ever, a dancer from the Bangazo community mis­ chievously steps on the toes of another man from Anzamu com­munity, and a quarrel ensues. Brothers to the aggrieved man are also infuriated, and this singular mishap leads to an unprecedented violent inter-community clash. The celebration arena immediately transforms into a war front. Family members of the groom try to intervene to no avail. Members of both communities employ arm and leg flapping movements to convey their anger and determination to war. The bride and groom hit the back of their palms into their open palms intermittently, and also utilize kneeling movements to plead with the aggrieved men as they exit with hand slashing movements to depict destructive actions

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typical in war situations. Gwandara war song: Call Response Awe awe e – awe awe Mai za mu go mu o – awe awe Ba za ba yi ba a – awe awe Mai za kama ta a – awe awe

English translation: Call Response This is war – yes, war has come It is no respecter of friendships – yes, war has come It is no respecter of marriages – yes, war has come Let us go for their heads – yes, war has come

Alago war song:

Call Response Efu efu ko ina ka wa we le – alawa sha ngedze ga kpo dede

English translation:

Call Response This war belongs to all of us – it is a fight to the finish

All the economic and socio-cultural activities which both communities hitherto enjoyed are suspended, bringing untold hardship and famine to the people. All the effort made towards calling a truce is met with stiff resistance. Gazing despairingly at the retreating backs of the aggrieved men, the couple express their sorrow with natural movements; folding their arms, placing their hands on their heads, and lifting their hands to the sky in supplication to the Supreme Being for divine intervention. Soon members of the groom’s community also come on stage with aggression, executing feet-stomping and vibrating Odabaru movements of the Idoma people. A man from the groom’s community

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uses his cutlass to draw a line, authoritatively emphasizing the demarcation of the farmlands of both communities, and also signifying that the harmonious relationship which both communities hitherto enjoyed had come to an end. Soon the bride of the infamous wedding ceremony is delivered of a baby. Members of the bride’s community, hesitantly come for the naming ceremony of the new born. During this process, members of both communities seek forgiveness from one another, and they reconcile. Koro naming song:

Mu sa che nima nena mo sa komba tana a Mu sa che nima na e, ni kpere boku kpere bo

English translation:

That which we seek has finally arrived The child of unity has finally arrived

Basking in the moment of their reunion and renewed love, the two men from whom the clash originated create and perform a unique blend of dance steps from both cultures. Guests at the naming ceremony find the new dance very appealing. Soon, in the spirit of reconciliation and celebration, everyone joins in the dance. The piece ends with all of them dancing out in a kaleidoscope of new movements and colours.

Cultural integration and identity in Kuturo and Dance Bridges: An appraisal Within the context of NAFEST and its danceturgy, the adjudica­ tion criteria of the dance entries are listed as: thematic relevance, choreography, instrumentation, costume and overall audience appeal. Information sourced from the NAFEST 2012 Syllabus reveals that states are expected to produce dances which are original and reflective of the

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cultural peculiarities of their given states (2012: 5). Therefore, the dance entries under study are examined in terms of movements, music and instrumentation, costumes, makeup, props and accessories, and cultural nuances/contexts, as elements of dance composition. I now turn to analyse the selected dance entries, and examine the choreographic approaches with which they were created.

Robust use of theatrical embellishments The Kuturo and Dance Bridges dance pieces explore various dance materials from diverse ethnic groups within the state. Kuturo for instance harnessed dance motifs which are sourced from the dance contents of various cultural festivals of the Alago, Fulani, Bassa, Gbagyi, Afo and Migili people. It features dance movements from Arizeni rituals, Odu masquerade and the Oyarore Salt festivals of the Alago people, the Gwaska performance of the Hausa people, then Oganyi, Zarangi and Ugunu of the Bassa people. The dance pieces also deployed a generous use of the various musical instruments which are general to the diverse ethnic groups within the state, as well as those which exclusively belong to specific ethnic groups. Among these are the big Obah Okpo/Okpe and Ikpata drums, small Kanga drums, the Kalangu talking drum, Molo (also known as Gurumi) strings, Amanda flute, Ogye metal gong and shakashaka rattles. Songs and chants from ethnic groups such as Koro, Mighili, Gwandara, Alago, Hausa, Yeskwa, Gbagyi, Mada and Agatu were also utilized in both dance pieces. The traditional Hausa ululations in Kuturo signal a transition from the hitherto sombre mood to a more relaxed atmosphere, indicating that the Mada woman had been successfully comforted, and was ready to be reintegrated into normal communal activities. Also, in Dance Bridges, the Alago traditional method of announcing good news through ululations and the ‘Awaye’ chant was used to announce the safe delivery of the bride’s baby. In Kuturo, we find that elements of the Arizeni healing

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rites of the Alago people were adapted to suit the cleansing ritual performed for the bereaved Mada woman. The Arizeni performance of the Alago people, which has been likened to the Bori ritual dance of the Hausa people is solely performed by female initiates of the Arizeni cult. It is a healing ritual dance therapy which is performed in the Alago communities during situations of bereavement, illness and communal distress. Thus, its adaptation for the Kuturo’s bereaved woman is apt. In the same piece, the Arizeni segment was subsequently dovetailed into the Igyonya performance of the Owebibi ritual segment of the Oyarore Salt festival of the Alago people. Owebibi, which literally means the endurance path or dangerous period, is a trying period for the Osana of Keana, during the Oyarore Salt festival, because he is spiritually confronted with a compulsory test of will, character and endurance mounted by members of the other royal families who do so in order to create a vacuum which could pave way for them to ascend the throne. During this period, the Osana fortifies himself and also solicits for support from the Asolokpagye (elders-in-council) and to make consultations with the ancestors and gods of the land for him to be victorious. The peak of the Owebibi is the Igyonya performance in celebration of the Osana’s victory. The essence of this ritualistic content of the Oyarore festival was explored for the bereaved Mada woman in Kuturo, to significantly allude to the trials and eventual victory of the Osana during the Oyarore Salt festival. Importantly, the array of colourful costumes found in the various cultures within the state were deftly utilized for functional and aesthetic effects. Likewise, the playful texture of the Gwaska performance of the Hausa was explored in the medley of dances. Kuturo ends on a celebrative note with a medley of movements extracted from the Kabulu harvest festival of the Gbagyi people and the Azhili cultural festival of the Migili people. For Dance Bridges, the communal farming method of the Alago people was employed to depict harmony between the two communities in the story. Also, the display

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of the Jigida waist beads for size-testing of the bride’s waist is peculiar to the Eggon culture in the state. Together, they visually and choreographically suggest how various specific fabrics, movements and aspects of ritual performance can be brought together to produce something new and collectively conceived.

Eclectic mixing, swapping and switching of cultural materials In Dance Bridges the Alago wedding song was performed to the Aja music of the Agatu people, while the bride and groom executed a duet with the Ogirinya dance movements of the Idoma people. Also in Kuturo, the consolation songs and music are switched as in the case of performing Arizeni dance movements to Gwandara songs in accompaniment to Alago traditional music. Another case of switching occurred in Dance Bridges when the Alago Amanda flute played out a Mada tune, accompanied by a combination of the traditional Eggon and Alago music. Likewise, the female farmers who adorn the Mada and Afo costumes derived their entrance and exit movements from the Tor’shol entrance movement in the Swange dance of the Tiv people. They later go on to execute movements from the Rindre culture, while their male counterparts perform the Mbaya dance movements of the Mada culture. All the performers in Dance Bridges exit with the Odabaru movements of the Agatu people. This audibly and visually signifies intercultural collaborations and ultimately translates to unity, as these collaborations are rehearsed and then performed for audiences. Fair rotational representation Through the use of theatrical elements, each performer in both dance pieces represents one or more ethnic groups in the state. For instance, the costume worn by one of the female dancers in Kuturo is a combination of the Jukun and Migili traditional attires. Also, the Kalangu instrumentalist

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combines the Okpa traditional attire of the Alago people with the traditional beads of the Migili people. In the same vein, the other instrumentalists combine the Mada traditional attire with Eggon and Mada headgears. For intercultural and aesthetic effect, their costumes were also garnished with the colourful Migili beads. However, all the dance movements are performed in unison by all the performers. We also observe a commitment to the fair representation of ethnic groups, local governments and senatorial zones through either dance movements, music, songs, costumes, make-up, accessories or cultural nuances and contexts. Significantly, over the years the Nasarawa State Performing Troupe has evolved a unified identity for the state through costumes. The costume which they call ‘Nasarawa colours’, is a loom material which does not belong to any ethnic group in particular, but to the state in its entirety, as it combines the diverse colours of the various ethnic groups within the state. The ‘Nasarawa colours’ are also explored in their choice of contemporary costumes made of materials such as ankara, silk, chiffon and nylon, among others. The instrumentalists in Dance Bridges wore ankara costumes of the ‘Nasarawa colours’, while some other performers were also seen wearing the traditional looms version of the costume.

Conclusion This article set out to examine the indices of cultural integra­ tion and identity in the dance entries of Nasarawa State for the 2011 and 2012 editions of NAFEST. It finds that the dance entries are simple stories, treating universal issues with the use of intercultural collaborations as an artistic technique. It also discovers a generous deployment of theatrical embellishments sourced from the diverse festivals in the various cultures within the state to enhance the stories and to solidify and validate a state identity. Various facets of the human condition as depicted in the dance entries derive from

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cultural materials of the diverse ethnicities of Nasarawa State. The state’s experimenting towards harmonious inter-ethnic group relations and internal unity through its rich indigenous potentials is demonstrated in the dance performances, which also thematically address potential rifts in this unity and the consequences of such conflict. To a very large extent, we find in the selected dance entries, evidence of cultural integration and state identity in terms of dance movements, adornments such as costume, make-up, accessories, music composition in terms of chants, songs, instrumentation and lyrics, and lastly cultural nuances and context as derived from cultural festivals, myths, legends, tradition, norms and values. Going by the aforementioned findings, this study recommends as follows: An adoption and modification of the Nasarawa State’s choreo­ graphic approach to NAFEST danceturgy throughout Nigeria. This will facilitate intercultural collaborations among the diverse cultures, so as to chart a constructive way forward in promoting inter-ethnic understanding, respect and civility. It will also promote the feeling of oneness among the people of each state because people who see themselves as one are less likely to hurt one another. The robust use of theatrical embellishments, eclectic mixing, switching and swapping of cultural materials, and a fair rotational representation in the creation of NAFEST dances in order to take care of undue political influence and self-serving factors in the choreographic process. Regular capacity building workshops for state participants at NAFEST, so as to ensure compliance with the objectives of the festival, and improve the quality of its danceturgy.

REFERENCES Ben-Iheanacho, E. (2017,. Excerpts from an interview conducted with BenIheanacho in Garki, Abuja, 11 April 2017. Cantle, Ted (2012), Interculturalism: The New Era of Cohesion and Diversity. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Fischer-Lichte, Erika (2010), ‘Interweaving Cultures in Performance: Different

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NAFEST Danceturgy in Search of Integration & Identity  41 States of Being In-Between’, New Theatre Quarterly no. 25: 391–401. Iyimoga, Chris O. (2011), Musical Traditions of Nasarawa and Plateau. Ibadan: Kraft Books. Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim and K. L. Berghahn (1981). Hamburgische dramaturgie. Stuttgart: Reclam. NAFEST (2012), Syllabus for Participation in Competitive and Non-competitive Events. A Handbook Produced by the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Abuja. Nagle, John (2009), Multiculturalism’s Double-bind: Creating Inclusivity Cosmopolitanism and Difference. Franham, UK: Ashgate Publishing. Tume, ’Tosin Kooshima (2014), ‘African Traditional Dance as Old Wine in Newskins: The Nasarawa State Performing Troupe Experience’, Dance Journal of Nigeria, vol. 1, no. 1: 61–77. Ukala, Sam (2001), ‘Interculturalism: The Experiment with Osofisan’s Once Upon Four Robbers by the Jawi Collective in England’, The Performer: The Ilorin Journal of the Performing Arts, vol. 3: 13–26.

VIDEOGRAPHY Dance Bridges (2012), Nasarawa State dance entry for NAFEST. A production of the Nasarawa State Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Kuturo (2011), Nasarawa State dance entry for NAFEST. A production of the NasarawaState Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

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Carnivalization of Indigenous Performance Forms & the Demystification of Ritual Essence in Costume & Mask Designs of Masquerade Art BERNARD EZE ORJI

A marked shift and transformation in indigenous festivals in Nigeria has led to what I describe as the ‘carnivalization’ of cultural festivals. To explore this cultural change, this article examines costume and mask utilization in the Abuja Carnival (masquerade events) and the performance vagaries attached to it in its 2007 and 2008 editions. I argue that the similitude between the carnival and the masquerade performances in areas such as dance, music, costuming, masking, processional spectacular display results in major events that will continue to grant carnival and masquerade arts the desired popularity in Nigerian cities at the expense of its ritual undertones.

Background Over the ages, African indigenous performance forms have assumed a significant position in the people’s everyday existence. Music, dance, praise-singing, storytelling, masking and costuming are indigenous performance forms still seen in many African communities. Each of these performance forms has its place in the socio-cultural development of its people, and reflects their progress and development, their aspirations and fears, belief systems and moral and social ethics. These indigenous performance forms and cultural signifiers have resisted the overbearing influence of Western 42

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acculturation. At every ceremony, entertainment comes from either dance, music, praise-singing or masquerading. Most times all of these performance forms come together in one unified art, leading to what scholars have described as African total theatre (Enekwe 1987; Amankulor 1989; Duraku 1997; Okagbue 2007; Irobi 2007; Nwosu 2014). Through the use of dance, music, costumes, space, gestures and other allied verbal and non-verbal communication cues, societal ethics and belief systems are sustained in the people’s way of life, with festivals marking one event or another in the communities. In Igbo land, for example, central to the belief system is ancestor worship, represented by the masquerade, the most popular indigenous performance form. It is believed that the presence of the masquerade in the affairs of men signals their benevolence and willingness to co-exist with the people. Following the revered status of ancestors in African cosmology, rituals are often performed in order to welcome them into the midst of the people. However, with their preponderance in today’s carnivals, it is left to question whether rituals of cleansing, appeasement or of any sort actually takes place before ‘revellers’ adorn their masks in these emergent street theatres. This article has, therefore, set out to examine the deployment and utilization of costumes and masks in the Abuja Carnival masquerade events and the performance vagaries between 2007 and 2008, with a view to determining the place of ritual, aesthetics and creativity in both costumes and masks within the years under review.

Rituals in masquerade costumes and masks in African indigenous societies Costume, mask, prop or any item identified as part of the paraphernalia of performance by masquerades is seen as an embodiment of the masquerade in Igbo societies. There is no dichotomy between masquerade and its costume.

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Chukwuma Okoye argues that ‘the Igbo do not have any equivalent names for masquerade costume, actor, mask, “props” and accessories. They conceive all as a total entity’ (Okoye 1986: 4). Costume is a veritable force in Igbo masking tradition. This is seen through the supernatural personality revealed in the course of performance. The Ukwom-Ishor mask in Obudu, Cross River State, is worn by male warriors. The mask, according to Liwhu Betiang, ‘a simple netlike dress with cylindrical pipes for eyes, appears dead and lifeless when at rest and unused, but inhabited by a “spirit man” it assumes a mysterious potency the source of which only the initiate understands’ (2014: 13). Masked characters perform spectacularly differently when possessed by the spirit of the mask they wear. Bess Reed (2005) has said that ‘through the agency of the masker who wears the costume, the invincible spirit is made physically tangible’ (2005: 53). This is made possible because spirits are omnipresent and yet not seen. These dead ancestors turned masqueraders are activated and protected by supernaturally charged ‘medicine’, substances made from sacred materials that are placed on the masks or the bodies of the maskers. This charged scenario is usually possible when rituals are offered to the god head of the mask. In his ‘Ritual as Theatre, Theatre as Ritual’, Adedotun Ogundeji reiterates that masquerading is a cult of the ancestors and that during festivals, ‘masks of the dead fathers are brought out using theatrical effects as a means of ritual celebration’ (Ogundeji 2000: 4–5). In the same vein, Robin Horton in his article on Kalabari life, ‘Gods as Guests’, observes that: ‘a cock, or sometimes a goat, is killed for the owu (a goddess, represented as a tree from which masks of owu masquerade are carved) in front of its head-dress, with a prayer which asks that the pollution from those who have handled it should be taken away by the blood of the animal’ (1981: 97). Horton continues: ‘before he takes to the field, the masker must first go to the tree where stands the shrine of Ekine Ba, patroness of the masquerade. Beside the tree awaits her priest to whom he gives a small bottle of palm gin

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… for purification. After the invocation the priest pours a libation of gin before the shrine’ (1981: 98). Chief William Obasi asserts that ‘no masker has the audacity to come out to perform with­out first undergoing a ritual of cleansing’ (Obasi 2017). He claimed that the god of egbele, known throughout Afikpo province (Edda, Afikpo, Akpoha, Amasiri, IbiiOziza, Unwana) in the present day Ebonyi State in Nigeria, always fought for itself by making a masker perform far below expectation, and in extreme cases strikes the first son of a masker with an unidentifiable ailment, for avoiding the ritual of purification before and after their masquerade outing. He told this researcher that during masking seasons men tend to keep away from women who are regarded as unclean especially during their menstrual cycles. Some masks do not accept unclean blood coming from women. Thus such performers are secluded from their wives before going into performances. Simon Ottenberg argues that ‘covering the face for a ritual creates a special form of social relationship between the masked players and their viewers. There is an aura of secrecy and “make-believe,” strengthened by the idea of hidden identity’ (1975: 139). The masquerade is a phenomenon shrouded in mystery, sacredness and secrecy, whose elevation to religious and exotic status comes through rituals of cleansing and exhortation. In fact, in almost all African indigenous societies, masquerade costumes or masks must undergo a ritual of purification before they can be adorned for a performance. In Igbo societies, for instance, before a masker adorns the mask, a lot of libations and incantations are performed. To secure the life of the maskers and the success of the performance, the elders engage in a spiritual warfare with ‘the opposition’ – those whose evil deeds the masquerade will expose. In Okagbue’s words: Through rituals they are able to establish an environment within which they can negotiate with the spirit believed to play major roles in their lives. Through rituals also, they are able to honour the gods, placate the spirits, and commune with the departed

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ancestors. Thus the Igbo universe, though it has the living at its centre, is spirit and ritual centred. Transference from one plane to another can easily be achieved through specific rites of transition. Igbo masking is one of such socio-religious rites of transference … (Okagbue, 2007: 18)

Ritual has been described as an observance of actions or procedures in a set, ordered and heightened manner. It is often repetitious, regular and precise. It is formalized and is believed to have emerged from the attempts of the primitive man to grapple with the problems posed by his environment, nature and his very existence. Ogundeji argues that ‘man discovered over time that some actions, which he took, gave him courage and reassurance about his natural and psychological concerns. He, therefore, continued to repeat the actions periodically’ (2000: 5). The inherent mimetic instinct of man was brought into play in the achievement of his purpose, and other arts followed suit. The art of the masquerade is one art form that evolved and was accompanied by ritual in all African societies where masking traditions are practised. Over time, rituals associated with masquerades became inefficacious leading to the abrogation of such acts in some masquerade performances. Margaret Drewal avers that when ritual becomes static, when it ceases to adjust and adapt, it becomes obsolete, empty of meaning and eventually dies out. [Practitioners] often express the need to modify rituals to address different social conditions. Sometimes change is the result of long deliberations, oftentimes it is more spontaneous. (1992: 8)

In a personal interview with the researcher, Mr Felix Oru of Amachi-Akpoha in Ebonyi State, who is a member of Okumkpo circle of performers (a satirical masquerade in Akpoha), recalled that in their heydays, the fresh tongue of a live cock was removed and given to the lead vocalist as part of the ritual to ensure dexterity in delivery of the satirical songs which Okumkpo is noted for. The implication is that the strength identified with the cock when it crows in the

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early hours of the day symbolizes the same strength desired for the lead vocalist during the Okumkpo masquerade performance. According to him, all that has changed, and no one undergoes such rituals before and after adorning the mask of Okumkpo anymore, since it has become a ‘play thing’ (Oru 2018). Following the change and happenstance that overtook the masking tradition, especially in Igbo society, rituals of cleansing associated with masquerades have given way to more secular entertainment masquerades, otherwise described as ‘socio-entertainment masquerades’. It is worthy to note that the masking tradition in Africa has never been devoid of its multifaceted potpourri of strands, aspects and components coming together for a unified whole. Each aspect has always strived towards granting support to enliven the communal nature and spirit attached to African indigenous masquerade performances. Ododo and Okoye’s ‘Introduction’ in Liminal Margins: Performance Masks in Africa captures the diversity of the African masquerade in detail: The mask secret cult with its secret language codes and signs, tangible and intangible strands of juju, forces and magic, paraphernalia and accoutrements, rules, laws, and taboos, songs, dances, chants, actuators, and performers, mask regalia and costumes, etc. all these more or less, depending on region, culture, people and society, and peculiarities of historicity and contemporaneity, help the mask institution perform roles ranging from entertainment, through votary mediation, to enforcing law and order. Sometimes it could also manifest as a mix of all the above mentioned and more. (2018: 2)

It should be noted, however, that from inception not all Igbo masquerades passed through a ritual of cleansing before performance. There are masquerades for non-initiates, as Ottenberg and Binkley pointed out in their African Children’s Masquerades: Playful Performers (2006). Also, extended studies of masquerade performances (Enekwe 1981; Ugonna 1984; Nwabueze 1986; Enendu 2004; Ukaegbu 1996; Okagbue 2007) have drawn attention to the different categories of

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the masquerade, showing that the Igbo make a distinction between the type that represents the presence of ancestors, which are revered and believed to emerge from ant holes, and the type that is secular and for which no pretence is made about their carriers being humans. Both traditions, according to Enendu, are equally ‘mimetic and semiotic and forms of representation’ (2004: 30). Nevertheless, the more secular and social masquerades are sometimes parodic and satirical. They may represent exaggerations of situations in the human and animal worlds. African theatre in its minutest detail is, according to Diakhaté and Eyoh, ‘nothing less than a people’s lived experience – a complex terrain defined by rituals, dance, masquerades, and folktales where the sacred converges with the profane and oral traditions with the written word’ (2017: 176). Thus, indigenous masquerades which have always been a pre-colonial cultural practice have become contemporaneous with modern theatre, and aligned themselves with other arts like dance, music, drumming and costuming to seek popularity in the emergent street theatre or carnival which shares the same performance dispositions. The preponderance of masquerades in carnivals reveals a lot about these art forms (masquerading and carnival). The popularity of the carnival as a new genre of popular street theatre stems from its deployment of various performance forms characteristic of the indigenous festivals of Africa, namely, music, costuming, masking, dancing, drumming, singing and processional spectacular display. These constitute the major attraction of the masquerade and the carnival that have turned them into popular and ubiquitous brands in Nigerian cities.

Carnivals everywhere: Creativity in costume and mask of masquerades in carnivals The origins of carnival can only be speculated, but what is certain is its ‘association with freedom of expression of the

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human nature’ (Bakhtin 1984: 394). Contemporary research efforts have located its roots in primitive festivals which commemorated the beginning of a new year and the rebirth of nature. Carnival has been likened to the merrymaking and festivity which characterize the last days of the Lenten season in the Catholic calendar. For Bakhtin, the medieval celebration of carnival went beyond its Christian function to assume a secular and social dimension. In recent times, carnival has assumed an eclectic dimension, incorporating the varying cultures of different towns, cities and countries, thereby commanding tourist attention across transnational divides through dance, music, loud and live drumming, elaborate costuming and masquerading. The carnival, a seasonal celebration of life and freedom of expression is found in many countries of the world. These include; Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Venice in Italy, ‘Mardi Gras’ in the US, Notting Hill in London, UK, Cadiz carnival in Spain, Oruro carnival in Bolivia, Cologne carnival in Germany, Montevideo in Uruguay, and Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago. Each of these carnivals is characterized by dancing, drumming, music, masquerading, elaborate costuming and embodied liveliness. According to Bakhtin, ‘the basic carnival nucleus … belongs to the borderline between art and life’. To Bakhtin, carnival ‘does not acknowledge any distinction between actors and spectators [it] is not a spectacle seen by the people; they live in it, and everyone participates because its very idea embraces all the people’ (1984: 7). In his articulation on the ‘carnivalesque’, Bakhtin opines that, in the carnival, normal social regulations and restraints are temporally suspended while inhibitions are levelled off. Bakhtin suggests that the state of ‘carnival is valuable in its ability to produce a social condition, however fleeting, of equality and freedom, a reversal of all the cultural norms. Carnival is a moment when everything (except violence) is permissible’ (1984: 8). It is usually marked by displays of excess and grotesquery. It is a type of performance that is communal, with no boun­dary between performers and audience. The

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spirit of the Abuja Carnival ‘masquerade event’ resonates in Bakhtin’s Carnivalesque, a folk performance that recreates an alternative social space, characterized by freedom, equality and abundance; of ritual spectacles, grotesque imagery and blurred distinctions. The social nature of these carnivals has seen them transposed in some other cities of the world with varying modifications and insertions of cultural artefacts. The Trinidad and Tobago carnival is already a viable alternative in Nigerian cities where masquerade has taken a prominent place, culminating in a trado-modern pastiche. Carnival in Nigeria is a new form of street processional performance imported from the Caribbean island state of Trinidad and Tobago, birthed in 2005 through the efforts of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Governor of Cross River State, Mr Donald Duke. Since then, carnival has become a part of Nigeria’s cultural calendar. The Lagos State Eyo festival, the Benue youth festival, the Anambra-Ofala festival, the Ebonyi State festival, the Rivers State carnival (CARNIRIV), Osun-Osogbo festival and Kebbi State Arugungu festival have largely assumed the character of carnivals. The core mix of these festivals comprises indigenous performance art forms like dancing, drumming, masquerading and elaborate costuming, which this researcher has come to describe as ‘carnivalization’ of indigenous performance forms. These art forms have always set the masquerade apart as an exclusively mystic popular performance in many African indigenous societies. However, with their translocation in carnivals, masks, costumes and performances of the masquerade have been demystified and their ritual essence given way to more aesthetic and spectacular entertainment based on these popular indigenous art forms. Masquerades in these carnivals embody a multiplicity of images for societies culminating in disparate identities. Thus, economically, socially, culturally, religiously, politically, aesthetically, they foreground a multi-focal thrust that presents a society in need of change through performance of tradition on one hand and modern recognition made possible

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through spectacular designs in masks, costumes and dance movements on the other. The amalgam of these elements has made the art of the masquerade eclectic, intercultural and hybrid, thereby granting the masquerade a continued global artistic and aesthetic appeal. What has sustained this new marriage between the masquerade and carnival is the creative ingenuity deployed by artists who design costumes and masks for both masquerades and revellers-cum-patrons of this new street theatre. In the Abuja Carnivals of 2007 and 2008 creativity, choice of materials, colour amplification and spectacularity in performance were among the considerations by state contingents to the event. In the carnival periods chosen for analysis, mask and costume designs suggest a certain consciousness of creativity which is attached to the social awareness created and revealed by a particular mask within its social background. Every knowledgeable person in Nigeria can identify certain masquerades peculiar to some people. As much as possible, designers try to maintain this consciousness by attempting to simplify their creations to the acceptable norms and lore of the cultural backgrounds and domains of the masks. For example, each masquerade is designed to show its locality and the comparative advantage in raw materials. The Ijele, the Ugomma and Agbogho Mmuo masquerades of Anambra State, the Ekpe masquerade of the Efik people of Cross River State and the Ekpo masquerade of the Ibibio people of Akwa Ibom State are all well known within these communities. There is, however, no strict design compliance when replicating these creations; masks can be bought at shops made by fine artists and worn straight into the carnival venue. In such instances, no one lays claim to the ownership of the mask. Designers of Igbo masks and many others across Africa, imbue them with varied symbolism, potential powers and personalities which are realized in performance. Looking at the masquerade typologies that litter Abuja Carnival venues, one sees creativity in abstraction as a major force. Masquerades of animal genera like the Lion (Odum), Hippopotamus

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(Akum), Antelope (Enemma), Eagle (Ugomma) and human representations like Western Couple (with their pointed noses), Hausa masquerades, a girl masquerade, Adamma and Agbogho Mmuo, a boy masquerade – Mmanwu okorobia, and those representing the entire family ensemble including father and mother, are major forms where the creative spirit of artists are tested. Each masquerade is designed to reflect its name in performance. These masquerades and their costumes are characteristically designed to reflect their social standing and the symbolic meaning attached to them. Their performances also showcase these attributes, as their costumes become the art that carries their acts. Victor Ukaegbu opines further: Since most masks bear descriptive names and qualities besides those of their type, their creation demands that their physical appearance reflect their distinguishing attributes and claims to power and sacrality. Physical features enhance characterization to such an extent that the actions and movements of Igbo masked figures must be in concert with their characters. (1996: 137)

Masking art is essentially visually oriented, that is why contingents in the Abuja Carnival create masks and translate their aesthetic ideas into visual forms. Whether the masks, costumes and props are bought, the ability to localize them indicates that designs and styles of packaging are guided by aesthetic considerations that reflect the synergy between the indigenous art forms represented by masquerades and the modern forms represented by carnival revellers, the allin-one street processional theatre that carnival has come to represent. The major raw materials for the design of masks and costumes of masquerades in the Abuja Carnival include pure seasoned soft wood, bright coloured cloth materials like satin, Akwete, George and lace. Others include feathers, raffias, palm frond, reeds and any other material that will give the masquerade the desired visual identity. The transmutation of mask and costume designs into carnival follows the trajectory of a post-

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modernist approach to perform­ ance which, according to Canice Nwosu, ‘use the pastiche and fragmented post-modern performative technique as a means of cultural courtship and unity in diversity’ (2014:101). Nwosu’s position suggests that post-modernism is akin to what happens in carnival in terms of costuming, body adornment (make-up), props and the use of masks and other sculptural art forms, where the amalgam of indigenous performances, cultural artefacts and visual elements that are traditionally African are designed to produce a modern outlook and visual appeal. He concludes that the performance-oriented approach adopted by postmodernism is more likely to manifest aesthetic elements of African total theatre in a unified performance. This supports the carnival ideals of bringing people and groups together in a mood of celebration and laughter, where inhibitions are levelled off. African masquerades and carnival revellers have a lot of these aesthetic elements in common. Creative design of costume and masks in carnival is heightened through colour amplification. Dominant colours on parade in both costume and mask designs in Abuja Carnival include red, white, blue, green, yellow, orange and black. As symbolic, psychological and emotional as colours may be, their deployment in mask and costume designs in carnivals generally tend to be for aesthetic visual appeal and spectacularity, rather than for any symbolic effect. Thus, masquerades in the Abuja Carnival select and utilize colour consciously rather than arbitrarily in order to create the desired spectacular visual effect. These finished products, mentioned above, are usually in bright colours, which come alive in broader and louder strokes. Contrasting colours are deployed to achieve the desired degree of abstraction and distortion of features to enhance visuality. Brilliant colours generally serve as a template for make-up, costume and carnival mask designs. Every masquerade is costumed differently to showcase its identity and style of performance. The costumes are often designed to represent ethnic types while props and other

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visual accoutrements are produced and used not in any sense of fidelity to local cultural patterns. Both masquerades and carnival revellers design costumes and masks to fit into the spectacularity of the carnival themes. These performances are motivated and pushed to make a statement with colour, design and showiness. For instance, Agbogho Mmuo is a maiden masquerade of immense beauty and elegance. It is costumed elaborately and opulently. It performs with dainty dance steps, feminine courteousness and gaiety. Carnival revellers and tourists identify with the masquerade due to the similarity in their performance. Revellers in carnivals, like the Agbogho Mmuo, also dress in bright and opulent costumes which showcase the similarity in colour amplification in the designs of costumes for masquerades and revellers. The audience, therefore, is attracted to carnival venues because of the razzmatazz occasioned by the freedom and expressiveness of the carnival and its ability to bring together different groups and categories of often high quality masquerades and carnival revellers. All state contingents to the Abuja Carnival have in their domiciliary art council headquarters experts recruited to lead technical design teams, whose duties include designing state floats or commissioning experts in the villages or fine artists to carve masks. Some of these masks and costumes can also be bought from artists in major art shops in the cities. Thus, masquerades on parade in the Abuja Carnival have undergone a process of demystification occasioned by the shedding of their ritual trappings, the effect of which will militate against the followership enjoyed by masquerades in carnivals in Nigerian cities. The designers, hired or commissioned, deliver on the terms of the contract, rather than feel encumbered by the cultural practices or rituals attached to a mask by the community. The issue of observance of cultural practices and mores of the people is not a consideration in these ‘business contracts’. This researcher observed that, in both 2007 and 2008 Abuja Carnival masquerade events witnessed, masks and costumes

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used in the carnival were not those one could find in any traditional shrines or what Ajibade et al. (2011) termed ‘ethnographic anthologies’, but were specifically designed for the needs of the carnival. To further this position, Ajibade et al. had noted that the ‘Ekpe masquerade was originally for religious purposes’ (2011: 178). However, as the Efik society became more sophisticated and cash driven owing to the new wealth which trade with Europeans brought, the Ekpe, like other art forms that made contact with Western cultures, was quickly adapted to fulfil economic, civic or social functions. Today among the Efik of Calabar, the Ekpe masquerades are now used for entertainment. Their performances are used to welcome important visitors and tourists. The Ekpe masquerade has been a major spectacle in Carnival Calabar since inception, and it is clear that the Ekpe has transited from its original religious to purely socio-entertainment function in the Efik society. The Ekpe mask, a massive raffia fibre of amplified black and red colours, was a secret and sacred sculpture, found only in shrines under the watch of the custodians of traditional culture. Today, some of these masks previously linked to cultural and religious institutions are used in carnivals for the entertainment of domestic and foreign audiences. Carnivals in Nigeria follow a distinct pattern in the delivery of their performances – an admixture of both the indigenous and the modern performance forms. For instance, a crowd can be seen encircling performers in the heat of African and Western-styled dances. The outdoor entertainment is also characterized by reveller’s use of bright costumes and stylized make-up. Most of the costumes used in Nigerian carnivals are syncretic in the sense that most of the designs reveal coalesced Western and African creative sensibilities in choice of fabric, physical outlook, mode of adornment, colour choice, application styles and so on. Furthermore, Esekong Andrew and Ibok Ekpenyong conclude that:

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Expressionist trends of the 21st Century demand creativity, which is amply displayed in the various designs for Carnival Calabar in costumes, props and make-up, which are now produced with a mix of indigenous and foreign materials; songs and dances may be indigenously conceived, but are refined and amplified with modern equipment. Similarly, foreign choreography and dance now coexist with indigenous ones to form completely new creations in many instances. (2012: 291)

As with all carnivals of the Nigerian metropolis, Abuja Carnival – like Carnival Calabar discussed above – has deployed in its performance cultural attributes that are readily available and reflect the preponderance of a tradomodern mélange in contemporary performance spaces and times. The significance of this is the continuous relevance and popularity of African indigenous cultural artefacts in the face of its otherwise threat of extinction.

2007 and 2008 Abuja Carnival masquerade events The Abuja Carnival fiesta is a street parade of masquerades from the 774 Local Government Areas that make up the Federation, devoid of ritualistic or occultic influence. Nigeria has a rich and unique masking tradition which dates far back in time. From the Egungun of the Yoruba, and the Dodos of some North-Central ethnic groups to the Ekpe/Ekpo of the Efik/Ibibio/Abia, the Mmanwu of the Igbo, the Egwura and Akwujena of Kogi and the Alagba and Igbelegbe of the Niger Delta stock, to mention but a few. These masquerades – in themselves repositories of all that is held sacred, mysterious, magical, supernatural and inscrutably wonderful – are used by their community members for ancestor veneration, agricultural rites and for entertainment. A National Arts and Culture Directory Newsletter reported that the masquerade event of the 2007 Abuja Carnival witnessed an array of major and minor masquerades from across the length and breadth of Nigeria, such that, at one point,

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the Eagle Square, venue of the event was taken over by such a large number of these masquerades that everything seemed to pass in a blur, with one noticing the difference in sizes, colours and costumes, rather than their states of origin. (2007: 3)

The performance of each masquerade differs from one culture to the other, depending on the concept and idea behind its institution. Some are war cults while others are for peace and security. Some are meant for entertainment through dancing and yet others are symbols of beauty, creativity and dignity. This last variety is among the most colourfully costumed, decorated and entertaining masquerades deployed in the Abuja Carnival. Joel Adedeji explains the process by which ritual theatre becomes festival theatre, and festival theatre fragments into professional and amateur productions of secular theatre. Over time the religious purpose may diminish but the seasonal enactment would continue because people have become accustomed to it as a traditional event. (1986: 104)

This resonates in the Abuja Carnival where one sees a masquerade, which hitherto was an indigenous performance form rooted deeply in ritual, now transposed on the contemporary stage of Eagle Square, venue of Abuja Carnival. Here, the ritual essence of the masquerade is demystified and relegated to the background. This position was corroborated by Professor Ahmed Yerima, Abuja Carnival Director from 2005 to 2010, when he asserted in an interview that in the Abuja Carnival ‘spirituality is played down because of the people that are involved, and the purpose and intention which motivates it is entertainment’ (2017). Thus, the inclusion of masquerade performances in these festivals culmi­nates in their carnivalization, on the recognition that masquerade performance is art, and can stand in competition with other arts of its kind. Masquerade events in Abuja Carnival are divided into phases to be competed for by all state contingents. These include: Best Costumed Masquerade, Most Spectacular

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Performance and Best Masquerade Performance. There are stands temporarily constructed and stationed at strategic carnival routes, each with the capacity to carry about 2000 spectators, at different adjudicator points. Masquerades are therefore assessed by the adjudicators based on the identified criteria. For instance, in designing Best Costumed Masquerade in the Abuja Carnival, efforts are geared towards designing and creating costumes that conform to the theme of the yearly event. Other considerations include the material underpinnings of the masquerade costume such as weight, cost, functionality, ease of mass production and transportation. In Best Masquerade Performance, each masquerade deploys all the indigenous performing arts; dance, music, drumming, acolytes/followership co­ordina­tion and spectacular display delivered with dexterity and precision. In Most Spectacular Masquerade adjudication, the masquerade’s stunning moves, the fantabulous and magnificent costumes, elaborate mask designs, the brilliant, dazzling and breath-taking stunts form the basis of assessment by the adjudicators. Each state contingent is allowed fifteen minutes for their masquerades to display their dances and acrobatics, depending on the masquerade’s performance disposition. Ahmed Yerima had this to say: I always advised Directors of State Art Councils to come with the strength of their states, to ensure healthy competition amongst contingents. This is because what brings carnival into a tense mood is the sense or idea of competition between the performers and among the performance. Each state wants to be given attention. The prize is therefore contested for and won. (2017)

Typical of all carnivals – as observed in some states in Nigeria – in the Abuja Carnivals of 2007 and 2008 the performance of the masquerades was processional. The Ijele danced with slow regal steps which characterized royalty, opulence and grace. The light-footed Agbogho Mmuo and Adamma danced in brisk steps and made sharp turns and twists in space.

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Ugomma strutted and hopped elegantly while maintaining a dignified routine which climaxed with the laying of an egg. Ekpo’s dance steps were serpentine, discordant and aggressive, with spatial dynamism as it occasionally charged at the audience. Ekpe glided and made semi-circular turns with its graceful and free-flowing dance movements peculiar with the riverine performance culture of its social background. The masquerades were generally dynamic in their costumes, masks and headpieces. The Ijele, Agbogho Mmuo and Adamma had colourful and opulent costumes, adorned with tassels and headpieces amplified by colourful fabrics and creative patterns. The Ugomma masquerade was designed as a giant bird with immaculate white feathers and a contrasting red beak, characterized as the king of birds. Ekpe masquerade was adorned accordingly with the society’s trademark of red, black and yellow raffia. It carried the ekpe mgbe leaves and a long walking stick in its hand. Its masquerade genus is weird and grotesque in appearance. Its costume is drab and hideous. The visible parts of the body were painted with charcoal, giving it a black sheen that depicted its terrifying character. The over-sized mask was painted black with red highlights and finger-sized teeth in a gaping mouth. The designs on the costumes and masks were colourful and spectacular. The musical accompaniment was predominantly fast in tempo and dexterous in instrumentation. In general, the masquerades featured an amalgam of resplendent performance delivered through dance, music, song, pantomime, acrobatics, costume and mask. This has lent credence to my conclusion that the preponderance of these indigenous art forms on parade is carnivalization, which has marked the demystification of the indigenous masquerade.

Conclusion Masquerades on parade in Abuja Carnival have shown that creative ingenuity can negotiate with culture. For, as African

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societies changed into cash economies driven by Western ideals, previous indigenous cultural artefacts, including masquerade costumes and masks, have been creatively designed and acculturated to fit the new frames dictated by the imperatives of globalization as seen in carnivals. The aftermath is such that dedicated African sculptures, costumes and masks have become demystified and dislodged from their previous religious and cultural confines and transposed into carnivals to suit Western notions of performance art. Against this background, if Africans no longer consider ethereal and sacred masquerade and its accoutrements that were previously venerated and revered, it is because the people now see masquerade art as seen by those in the West and not necessarily due to Africa’s colonial and post-colonial posturing. From the monitored videos and non-participant observation of the Abuja Carnival masquerade events of 2007 and 2008, all masquerades were designed in such a way that no particular cult group can lay claim to the shedding of the ritual essence attached to its masquerade. Ritual, a major force to reckon with in masquerading in African indigenous societies was compromised in the formats adopted by mask and costume designers. The implication of this is that mask and costume designs in carnival masquerades have taken a trajectory which will continuously place masquerade itself in a better position in the years to come. Creativity as witnessed in mask and costume designs in Abuja Carnival of 2007 and 2008 have shown the boundlessness and universality of the masquerade culture. This supports the popularity which masquerade enjoys even in this contemporary times as a culture supported by the generality of its people. Its attraction in new Nigerian carnivals, shows its dynamism and performance vagaries. This is hinged on their deployment of African indigenous performance forms; music, dance, drumming, costuming, acrobatics and processional displays. The place of ritual in masquerade performance may be gradually giving way to an increasingly aesthetic entertainment hinged on the masquerade’s spectacular visuality and performative

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dynamism. The way in which indigenous performance forms have become part of carnival in cities across Nigeria amounts to a carnivalization of indigenous art forms. This accounts for its continuous popularity among the teeming audience of this emergent street theatre. REFERENCES Adedeji, Joel (1986), ‘Theatricalism and Traditional African Theatre’, in Black Civilization and the Arts, Joseph Okpaku (ed.). Lagos: CBAAC: 102–16. Ajibade, B., E. Owon. and Wole Oloidi (2011), ‘African Arts in Postcolonial Context: New Old Meaning for Sculptures in Nigeria’, Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 8, no. 4: 172–80. Amankulor, Ndukaku J. (1989), ‘The Condition of Ritual in Theatre: An Intercultural Perspective’, Performing Arts Journal, vol. 11, no. 3 / vol. 12, no. 1: 45–58. Andrew, Esekong H. and Ekpenyong, Ibok (2012), ‘Promoting Culture and Tourism in Nigeria through Calabar Festival and Carnival Calabar’, Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 3, no. 3: 287–94. Awoonor, Koffi (1975), The Breast of the Earth: A Survey of the History, Culture, and literature of Africa South of the Sahara. New York: Anchor Press. Bakhtin, Mikhail (1984), Rabelais and His World. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Betiang, Liwhu (2014) Fundamentals of Dramatic Literature and Criticism. Calabar: BAAJ International. Diakhaté, O. and H. N. Eyoh (2017), ‘The Roots of African Theatre Ritual and Orality in the Pre-Colonial Period’, Critical Stages / Scènes critiques, no. 15, available at www.critical-stages.org/15/the-roots-of-african-theatre-ritual-andorality-in-the-pre-colonial-period. Drewal, Margaret T. (1992), Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Duraku, A. B. C. (1997), A Handbook on Drama and Theatre. Owerri: Colon Concepts. Enekwe, Onuora Ossie (1987), Igbo Masks: The Oneness of Ritual and Theatre. Lagos: Nigeria Magazine. Enendu, M. (2004), ‘The Nature of the African Masquerade in Performance’, Sankofa, vol. 2, no. 1: 47–68. Horton, Robin (1981), ‘The Gods as Guests: An Aspect of Kalabari Religious Life’, in Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book, Yemi Ogunbiyi (ed.): 81–112. Irobi, E. (2007), ‘What They Came with: Carnival and the Persistence of African Performance Aesthetics in the Diaspora’, Journal of Black Studies, vol. 37, no. 6: 896–913. National Arts and Culture Directory (NACD) (2007), Newsletter, 4th Edition, December. Nwabueze, Emeka (1986),’ Igbo Masquerade Drama and the Origin of Theatre: A Comparative Synthesis,’ Kunapipi, vol. 9, no. 1: 89–97.

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62  Bernard Eze Orji Nwosu, Canice C. (2014), Postmodernism and Paradigm Shift in Theory and Practice of Theatre. Onitsha: Eagleman Books. Obasi, William (2017), Interview sessions. Akpoha, Ebonyi State, 3 September. Ododo, Sunday and Chike Okoye (2018), ‘Introduction’ in Liminal Margins: Performance Masks in Africa. Maiduguri: Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists: 1–19. Ogundeji, Adedotun P. (2000), Ritual as Theatre, Theatre as Ritual: The Nigerian Example, Isese Monograph series. Ibadan: Atlantis Books. Okagbue, Osita (2007), AfricanTtheatres and Performances. London: Routledge. Okoye, Chukwuma (1986), ‘Costume in Traditional Igbo Masquerade Drama’, Dissertation: University of Ibadan. Oru, Felix (2018), Interview sessions. Akpoha, Ebonyi State, 17 December. Ottenberg, Simon (1975), Masked Rituals of Afikpo: The Context of an African Art. Seattle, WA and London: University of Washington Press Ottenberg, Simon and David A. Binkley (eds) (2006), African Children’s Masquerades: Playful Performers. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. Reed, B. (2005), ‘Spirits Incarnate: Cultural Revitalization in a Nigerian Masquerade Festival’, African Arts, vol. 38, no. 1: 50–59. Ugonna, Nnabuenyi (1984), Mmonwu: A Dramatic Tradition of the Igbo. Lagos: Lagos University Press. Ukaegbu, Victor I. (1996), ‘The Composite Scene: The Aesthetics of Igbo Mask Theatre’, Thesis: University of Plymouth. Yerima, Ahmed (2017), Interview sessions, Redeemers’ University, Ede, 4 October.

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An Initial Investigation into Contemporary Theatre Audiences in Malawi AMY BONSALL

We were so late! We had been driving around rural Lilongwe for hours and now, embarrassingly, I was over an hour late for my own production! The panic, the embarrassment and the stress of trying to find the way, to keep up a professional persona and … we arrived. I was met with a wall of human backs, rippling and undulating in physical response to a something, a happening going on in front of them, but concealed from my view. I walked around to the side of the group and one of its members generously gave up some of their space for me. I went from outside to inside, from being late to being right there in the moment: I became part of it myself, part of the audience, the audience at Chingalire Village, Lilongwe, Malawi in April 2016, watching Romio ndi Julieti.

Context Malawi has a long history of live performance, with public and collective rituals to mark occasions from the deeply personal to the nationally political. As Patience Gibbs writes, such performances mark ‘life cycle and seasonal changes or … historical and legendary events’ through traditional ceremonies and festivals (1980: 5; Kerr 1987: 115). Lisa Gilman explores the more contemporary significance of 63

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dance and songs in her 2004 book, The Dance of Politics: Gender, Performance, and Democratization in Malawi (2011). It is important to stress that contemporary Malawian culture is a fusion of traditional ethnic groups including, but not limited to the Chewa, Nyanja, Tumbuka and the Yao, which intersperse the retained cultural legacy, left over from British colonialism, and the more recent Chinese and American cultural influences. Furthermore, the history as to how the Malawi as we know it now came to be an independent republic is complex and has at times been violent and bloody, though it is currently a stable democracy (McCracken 2012). There is so much more to Malawi’s cultural and political history but it is beyond the scope of this article to go into further detail here. However, Christopher Kamlongera, Patience Gibbs, James Gibbs, Mufunanji Magalasi, David Kerr and Zindaba Chisiza are scholars who have all written extensively about various aspects of Malawi’s diverse performance heritage. In this article,1 I will share some of the observations, data and findings about the Malawian audiences who attended the performances of Romio ndi Julieti. It is particularly useful to do so because there is scant published literature about theatre audiences in Malawi, despite theatre being an important though small part of the Malawian cultural landscape. Unfortunately, sample sizes of my data were too small to offer more than indicative conclusions, but I remain hopeful that this study might be a precursor to more substantial and far-reaching research in the future. In March and April 2016, I concluded the practical element of PhD research into the conception, realization and performance of an intercultural production of Shakes­ peare’s Romeo and Juliet. My work was undertaken through Bilimankhwe Arts and through the University of Leeds, Chancellor College University of Malawi and Mzuzu University. It was funded through Bilimankhwe Arts, the inkind support of Chancellor College and Mzuzu University, This article draws from research from my unpublished PhD thesis.

1

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two Leeds University bursaries, private sponsorship and personal funds. The work discussed within this article was undertaken with a cast comprising members of the Mzuzu University Theatre Acting Group (MUTAG) and professional Malawian actors Misheck Mzumara and Hussein Gopole. The production was rehearsed at Mzuzu University with one performance staged at each of the following venues: the University of Mzuzu stage, Luwinga School and Chingalire Village (Lilongwe). I will henceforth refer to the production as Romio ndi Julieti, to accurately give the production its name in the Chichewa vernacular. It is also vital to stress the status of Shakespeare production within the contemporary Malawian theatre landscape. Performances of Shakespeare in Malawi are rooted within both the historic colonial, and the contemporary postcolonial education system; the study of a Shakespeare play in English remains a requirement of the Malawian Secondary Certificate of Education (MSCE). The study of Shakespeare was a pursuit only open to very small numbers of Malawians during the early days of colonialism. Access to secondary education remains only open to those who can afford it privately and thus, Shakespeare production can legitimately be viewed as elitist. The language and the artistic form of the work further exacerbate this issue. Shakespeare productions overwhelmingly tend to be in English and to follow the original written script, even if heavily edited. Chichewa popular drama, performed in Chichewa, is unscripted in the Western sense of the convention and is highly comedic; this form is more widespread and more accessible to the general population. As such there are important issues about post-colonial culture, language and dramatic form which intersect discussions about Malawian audiences but which are rather beyond the scope of this study, not least that it is only within the past five years when mainstream productions of Shakespeare plays in the country have been led and produced exclusively with a Malawian creative team (Chisiza and Bonsall 2016). More detail can be accessed via

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the writing of Kamlongera, Magalasi and Bonsall (Bonsall 2017).

Audiences Prominent texts that discuss theatre audiences in relation to non-Western performances include works by Richard Schechner and Mady Schuman Ritual, Play and Performance (1976) and Between Theatre and Anthropology (1985), Margaret Thompson Drewal Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency (1992) and there is some information on audiences to be found within David Kerr’s ever important African Popular Theatre: From Pre-Colonial Times to the Present Day (1995). While there is minimal scholarship specifically on African audiences there has been none at all on Malawian theatregoers. The most useful paper in the wider field remains Karin Barber’s ‘Preliminary Notes on Audiences in Africa’ (1997), which endeavoured to spark discussions about the subject. One significant point that Barber raised was that it was essential that the researcher/observer have an insight into the context of the theatrical landscape of that particular culture before making any attempts to understand or draw conclusions about the attending audiences. That my data was drawn after more than two years of my working within the area of Malawian theatre practice and scholarship is important. I gained a level of understanding of Malawian cultural history and contemporary practice, which positioned me to make valuable observations and conclusions. But what do we mean by audience? There is much debate around the notion of the term ‘audience’ but for the purposes of this article I shall refer to the work of Susan Bennett. Bennett frames her book, Theatre Audiences (1997), using Jerzy Grotowski’s question, ‘[c]an the theatre exist without an audience? At least one spectator is needed to make it a performance’ (Grotowski 1968: 32; Bennett 1997: 1). Bennett takes this idea and develops it further taking the

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view that there are multiple types of performance and theatre forms and therefore there are, logically, diverse audiences who attend them. She analyses a range of connectives such as the location of performance, the marketing of performance and the ‘cultural conditions’ of both the performance and the audience, which she argues, facilitates the audience reception of a performance (Bennett 1997: 1). She writes, ‘it is at the nexus of production and reception that the spectator exists’ (ibid.: vii). This frame, then, provides the opportunity to discern some of how Malawian audiences engage with, and find meaning, in theatre performance. What is useful to remember here is the word ‘spectator’, because there are performance forms whereby the audiences become one with those in a performative role, such as in types of ritual performance or religious or cultural performances. The people who make up the audiences I am concerned with in this article are those who attend the theatre as spectators, to be entertained, perhaps to learn too, but overall to experience being a part of that unique feeling of collective witness to live stories. While it can be very helpful and necessary to talk about audiences in generalized terms it is essential to recognize that it is not on these terms that the most interesting and useful insights can be found. This is why this article, while using some numerical data to indicate trends, will be mostly concerned with hearing the voices of some of those who attended the performances. Insight as to how a theatrical production has been received by its audience has historically been gathered using post performance questionnaires conducted with individuals requiring large samples (Walmsley 2011: 10). They can provide general insights into the demographic of an audience and patterns of opinion of the production from the audience (Bennett 1997: 87). Gaining more detailed knowledge can be made possible through post performance interviews; though for any significant conclusions to be drawn the number of interviews would need to be substantial. Thirdly ‘written

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impressions’ of an audience can also provide some insight into how a production has been received (ibid.: 91–3). It must be noted that these methods have overwhelmingly been conducted on mainstream, Western audiences. I adapted these methods to gain essential insights into how Malawian audiences interacted with and viewed Shakespeare in performance. I adapted a basic exit survey form using symbols of faces, smiling to indicate pleasure, neutral to indicate indifference and sad to indicate displeasure; not to infantilize the audience but to recognize that there are numerous languages spoken in Malawi and there are many within the general population who are unable to read. As such, I needed a quick and universal method of gaining superficial responses to the production. I and a small team of Chichewa-speaking volunteers also filmed more-extended exit interviews with five to ten audience members from each venue. Finally I wrote up my own observations of the audiences after each performance (Bonsall 2017: 26). Occasionally I compare Malawian audiences to European audiences within this article; I have done so drawing from my own background and experiences as a theatregoer in Europe and particularly the UK from an early age. I undertook this research to try and gain a better under­ standing of the reactions the audiences had to my production of Romio ndi Julieti and not to try and create a definitive summary of the behaviours of Malawian audiences. How­ever, I found that the insights I gleaned from the work were fascinating and, given the dearth of writing in this area, needed to be shared more widely. I wanted to find out if and how performing the play in different settings such as in a school or at a university, and also for different geographical audiences, for example those in a city or those in a village, might impact upon how said audiences would interact with and receive the production. Would the individuals within the audience in the village, for example, use similar gestures of response and appreciation such as clapping, whispering, shouting or other physical and vocal gestures, as they would in a village hall somewhere in

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the UK? How did the production affect individual members of the audiences and could any conclusions be drawn from such responses? I was predominantly concerned with seeing if I could ascertain that the audience had, at least on some level, enjoyed the production. In keeping with Barber’s assertion that one should be familiar with the cultural context of a production, I worked on the script and the concepts for the production for more than two years before it was fully realized in performance. This included three visits to Malawi. The first, in 2014, was to gather data through interviews and surveys to ascertain if there was local interest in such a project, which I discovered there was. The Malawian writer Stanley Onjezani Kenani translated the English text of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into Chichewa. As I have contextualized above, the translation of the play into a local language was a radical act: the performance of Romeo and Juliet in Chichewa was the first time that the play had been professionally translated to and then performed in the vernacular, despite it having been a set text on the secondary curriculum for years. Once a first draft was completed I was able to visit Malawi for a second time in 2015, this time to undertake two weeks of workshops to explore the script with final year Fine Arts students from Chancellor College, University of Malawi. In March 2016 I was able to rehearse the production with the cast in Mzuzu. We used an edited version of the translation so that the production ran at approximately one hour. It would be impossible to give a full account of the production at this juncture but further detail can be found within my thesis (Bonsall 2017). It is important to state that we incorporated many elements of contemporary Malawian life and culture into the production including costumes which reflected modern Malawian fashions, mobile phones, Kung Fu parody for the fight scenes and well-known folk songs for Juliet’s funeral and the cultural/social codes that dictate the public physical displays of affection appropriate for Malawian audiences.

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Discussion about Malawian audiences To interrupt the timeline slightly here I would like to go back to a very significant discussion I had with the Malawian theatre academic Mufunanji Magalasi and the students I was working with at Chancellor College 2015. They were clear that Malawian audiences were diverse; one suggestion for groupings was that about 80 per cent of Malawian audiences were rural and uneducated, with the remaining 20 per cent being educated and theatrically literate theatregoers; however I was conscious that these views might reflect university elitism (Bonsall 2015: 4). On the basis of these conversations, I established that there were perceived to be four main groups: • Group 1: The urban and educated elite. This group largely live and/or work in or have access to the three major cities of Malawi, namely Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu. • Group 2: Rural. Limited access to resources or education, though not exclusively so. • Group 3: Schools. Students attending secondary school. They may be rural or urban, but they will have had some level of contact with formal education. • Group 4: The expatriate. Either rural or urban but generally educated and with financial means and, if rural, access to the major urban centres using private transportation. In order to gain more detailed insight into contemporary Malawian audiences, and to compare specific and individual audience reactions to my production, it was clear that there should be multiple performances, allowing me to encounter different kinds of audience.

Performances Luwinga Secondary School 8 April 2018 matinée performance There were approximately forty post-sixteen secondary

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school students who had travelled a considerable distance to come to the performance (Bonsall 2016a: 11). Torrential rain hammered down on the corrugated iron roof throughout the performance, which made the actors hard to hear at times. In the event, the performance unfolded with one other significant incident that impacted the production. The actor playing Fr Lawrence changed his character and upstaged the other actors in his scenes. The young audience responded with hysterical laughter and the more they did so, the more he played up for them. I later discovered that he had undertaken teaching practice at the school and knew some of the students, and so began playing up for their entertainment. The Nurse, in particular, found new depths to her character and managed to achieve a delicate balance between making the audience laugh and making them gasp, especially with the over exaggerated moves of her comically padded false bottom. The moments of comedy and the moments of high drama elicited strong vocal reactions from the audience generally and, in my opinion, this gave the performers confidence, which in turn helped to enhance the symbiotic relationship between the performance and the audience, thus encouraging clearer storytelling from the performers.

Mzuzu University 8 April 2016 evening performance The audience of approximately 100 people ranged in age from primary-level school children to the elderly. The cast did not arrive at the venue until after 6.30 pm, despite being called for 6.00 pm. The performance was advertised to start at 7.00 pm. A relaxed attitude towards timekeeping was a feature of Malawian life, but I found it very difficult to remain calm about it when there was an audience waiting for a production to begin, although I did not get any sense that the audience was perturbed by the delay. So that was an important lesson for me about Malawian audiences, they are very relaxed about start and end times of formal

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performances in contrast to the near religious adherence to theatrical scheduling in the UK. Despite a second late start, the performance went well. The cast were more confident in their performances than they had been at the school. They were performing in a space we had previously rehearsed in and, consequentially, they took command of the space. There were moments of audience interaction that had been worked into the play. These worked especially well, in particular during Capulet’s Ball, where members of the audience danced on stage as part of the party scene. It was very energetic, and that energy created a joy that resonated throughout the audi­ torium, bridging the gap between those watching and those performing. From my observation the audience was very attentive throughout, responding vocally and showing great appreciation at the end by standing, clapping and cheering their appreciation.

Chingalire Village 9 April 2016 matinée There were well over 1,000 members of the audience; it was enormous, awe-inspiring and extremely humbling to see so many people come together to watch our production. It put paid to any expectations I may have held that the rural audiences would not be interested in Shakespeare. Unfortunately, Mzumara was taken ill just prior to the start of the performance and so his colleague from the university who had watched many of the rehearsals, stepped in to take his role of Capulet. Gopole underscored the whole performance, with drumming and singing and these elements seemed to resonate particularly with the village audience. These were key features of the production and they clearly helped the audience to engage with the play, as demonstrated by the way volunteers from the audience were very happy to interact with the performers when invited on stage. Members of the audience sang along to songs that they recognized.

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Audience responses At each of the venues I made brief notes as to the approximate size of the audience and how that audience appeared to me to respond to the production, which allowed me to reflect on and analyse each particular show. However, I was only able to write these notes at the end of the performance because I was engaged throughout in taking directorial notes to feed back to the actors. The dual role of director and data gatherer was less than ideal, and it meant that I was only able to gather a limited number of audience surveys and interviews because, while I was assisted, I still needed to ensure that the work was completed correctly, and audiences dispersed quickly after the performance. Due to limited time and resources, approximately ten people were surveyed at random in each setting, resulting in 31 survey responses. I garnered three interviews after the school performance, one after the university performance and three after the village performance. What was most striking was how similar each of the audiences were in their behaviour and responses during the production, and how similar those reactions were to what I might have expected of a European audience. The audiences did respond collectively in so far as the vast majority of them behaved in a similar, though not identical, manner throughout the performance. There was a collective tacit agreement from the audience at each venue that they would watch, respond, laugh, clap, quietly comment and occasionally talk with their neighbour but without ever interrupting or disrupting the ongoing performance. This indicated that all three audiences were familiar with European behavioural conventions associated with attending serious/literary drama, even the young children in the village (Barber 1997: 354). The least harmonious audience was at the school. There was a power socket in the middle of the front stage wall and periodically one particular student repeatedly plugged in a mobile phone during the performance, which I found distracting, but none of the adults with the group chastised

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her, indicating that perhaps this was not unusual behaviour. I also noticed a small number of people wandering in and out of the hall during the performance. I deduced that they were staff and cleaners at the venue who were trying to watch snatches of the show. This rather more fluid addition to the audience was very welcoming and relaxed. The strict distinction between performers and audience did hold, unless the audience was invited to participate directly, as happened during Capulet’s Ball, but again at each venue the audience members understood the convention and returned to their seats once the scene was finished.

Observations arising from survey responses Audiences were overwhelmingly positive about the produc­ tion, with 91 per cent of the responses indicating that they were happy or very happy, 6 per cent neutral and 3 per cent sad. No one indicated very sad. Calculating the average by ranking answers from 5 (very happy) to 1 (very sad) of 31 responses gave an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5. This indicates that the production could be deemed successful in its most basic aim of giving people an enjoyable experience. However, a comparison with audience reactions at different performances would be required to support this statement fully or to find out more nuances/differences in response. The single sad response stated that they felt the costumes were poor. But even this comment shows that they had been critically engaged with the production regarding the aesthetic we had created and was therefore valuable feedback.

Key issues and observations The interviewees were not selected to be representative of the audience demographic nor were the interviews con­ ducted with the same questions, therefore they are not

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suitable for reliable comparative data. I was, however, able to identify two areas common to both written surveys and interview responses that were referred to by members of the audience at each of the three performances: language and performance (performance by the cast and artistic choices). Here I have selected excerpts from one interview from each venue to give a flavour of the responses gathered, which I will then discuss in my reflections for this chapter. For clarity, interviewees are referred to as School Responder 1, 2 or 3 (SR1, 2 or 3), University Responder 1 (UR1) and Village Responder 1, 2 or 3 (VR1, 2, 3).

Luwinga School

Figure 1. Luwinga School audience response data

60 per cent of those surveyed were young adults, suggesting that they formed the dominant age group at this venue, which, as it was a school, is unsurprising. Average satisfaction for this venue was 4.8 out of 5, indicating that the production was very well received. I asked SR3 (female) what it was like watching a performance of Shakespeare in Chichewa.

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SR3: Kind of our language. Some of the words we didn’t even know what they mean but now we know what they mean. I think when exams come I don’t think we are going to fail. (Laughs) I don’t think we’ll have special problems because we have already seen those activities. (Luwinga School audience interviews 2016b)

Mzuzu University

Figure 2. Mzuzu University audience response data

Out of 10 responses calculating the average by ranking, 11 gave an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 – slightly lower than the school performance but still showing that the audience appreciated the production. The age breakdown was more balanced in this sample: young adults made up 54 per cent of responses, with the remaining 46 per cent middle-aged adults, indicating that the audience comprised both students and staff from the university. A female survey respondent said: ‘Translation done well. Thought it wouldn’t work but did well’. UR1 was asked about his thoughts on the performance at the University:

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UR1: OK. The production is just too nice. The only thing I can say is this is very important for Malawi as a country cos it’s addressing more issues concerning our culture and on the same guise I can say it is depicting much of the Romeo and Juliet but in the sense of some very important issues concerning this country. I can say there are some very important issues like the battle for [unclear] exposing the effects of the early marriages, which happen in this kind of local culture. (Mzuzu University audience interviews 2016c)

Chingalire Village

Figure 3. Chingalire Village audience response data

Out of 10 responses, the average rating of 4.2 out of 5 makes this venue the lowest satisfaction quotient of the 3. However, the score indicated that the audience still enjoyed the production. Young adults made up 30 per cent of responses, middleaged respondents 20 per cent, mature adults 30 per cent and unknown 20 per cent, showing that the village audience responses reflected the greatest range in ages overall in comparison to the other two venues.

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AB: I just wanted to see what you thought of the performance. Could you translate? Translator: They say it was very nice. AB: Excellent. What did you like about it? Translator: Ok, basically what they are saying is they are secondary school students so they are learning Romeo and Juliet in English but in some areas they were finding it hard to understand, but now in Chichewa now they could understand the whole play. So they have really benefitted a lot from it. […] VR2: I myself it will help me if we take the image of these characters so that we may come out with good essays. VR3: For all the process I think it can help us describe much more about the play and teach our other friends. (Chingalire Village audience interviews 2016d)

After the village performance I asked if there were aspects of the production that the interviewees did not like. VR1, VR2 and VR3 focused upon the final scene where Romio threatens Balthazar. VR1 made a particularly insightful comment about our interpretation of the interaction between Romio and the Apothecary: Translator: Ok, what he is trying to say is that the scene where Romeo is trying to buy the medicine to kill himself in the actual play, Romeo and Juliet, the English one, it seems Romeo as he was trying to get the medicine from the apothecary, the apothecary is refusing out of fear, I think out of the law, I don’t know yeah, so, but it seems the way of you acted it the apothecary just gave it easily [sic]. (Chingalire Village audience interviews 2016d)

Conclusion The responses at the school were in line with my expectations that the production would appeal because it could aid the students with their studies. SR1 connected the English version of the text studied in school with the Chichewa

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abridged text performed. SR1 and SR2 strongly agreed that watching the production in Chichewa made the production ‘easy’ to understand. SR3’s response shows how watching the production had helped her to understand the relationship between text and performance, and that this gave her confidence in understanding the play. A young female audience member at the school, via a survey, stated that she felt ‘some characters were not in their character’, and that some of the characters, namely Julieti and Fr Lawrence, lacked nuance and could improve their intonation. This feedback showed that she had been deeply engaged with the production and that the character detail, or lack thereof, created by the actors had an impact upon her reception of the production. At the university performance, one response was particularly revealing. The female respondent had been concerned that the translation would not work well but once she had seen the performance she concluded the translation was ‘done well’ (Luwinga School audience interviews 2016b). To gather this response at the university is an indication that the colonial mindset that assumes Shakespeare performance in Malawi can only work well in English still prevails from the colonial era. The play does explore issues that can have meaning to Malawian audiences, such as child marriage as mentioned by UR1, but by presenting the production in the vernacular it was able to locate itself as local and still be entertaining. It has the potential to challenge the elitist, colonial space that Shakespeare production in Malawi still usually inhabits and, as is true of all good theatre, be an artistic form of expression that can explore complex and challenging social subjects for audiences. I found the responses from the village to be the most surprising. I had expected the audience might be reluctant to feed back to us or to be the least engaged with the production; I had anticipated that few people in the village would be interested in seeing our production. In fact, there were at least ten times as many in the village audience as the university,

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which subverts notions of the elitism of Shakespeare and literary performance in Malawi. It must be noted that the chief of the community, Ben Mankhamba, is unusual in that he encourages companies to come and perform in his village, and so there is an established performance culture there. VR1 gave a robust and clearly well-educated response to the character of the Apothecary. I had not thought such intellectual and confident criticism would come from a student in a rural village. VR1, VR2 and VR3 were all critical that the text had been edited and that some of the characters were cut entirely, and they demonstrated considerable detailed knowledge of the text. In my opinion, this confidence may have come, in part, from the play being in Chichewa but it also showed that they had attained a good education, though whether this education was received locally or at an urban school I am unsure. The survey data shows that at all performances the res­ ponses were around 90 per cent positive or very positive, which is a clear outcome; the audiences were overwhelmingly ‘happy’ with the production. Interestingly the university responses were 64 per cent very positive, in comparison to 50 per cent each at the school and the village. This may indicate that the more highly educated an audience is the more positively they connect with a literary text such as Romio ndi Julieti or, conversely – and this is more in line with the comments made in the interviews – that the school students and even more so the villagers were actually more critical of the production than their counterparts at the university. This is particularly relevant in light of the comments made by Magalasi and the university students at Chancellor College. Indeed, what is most interesting about the responses is that they seem to undercut the groupings defined by Magalasi, the university students at the early workshops and, indeed, my own expectations discussed above. This highlights how this production, at least, had defied the expectations of both Malawian and British scholars as to how audiences would

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respond to the production, clearly indicating that there is considerable scope for further research. What the audience categories do not account for is the fluidity between them; students from rural areas can board in schools in urban areas, or one rural teacher with an expertise and flair for drama or Shakespeare specifically might have considerable impact upon a large number of rural students. I was both happy and humbled to receive feedback that indicated I had achieved the mounting of an intercultural production that ultimately pleased a wide range of Malawians who comprised our three audiences. It was a radical act of playmaking. REFERENCES Barber, K. (1997), ‘Preliminary Notes on Audiences in Africa’, Journal of the International African Institute, vol. 67, no. 3: 347–62. Bennett, S. (ed.) (1997), Theatre Audiences, 2nd edition. London and New York: Routledge. Bonsall, A. (2015), Chancellor College, Zomba, Research Diary. —— (2016a), Mzuzu University, Research Diary. —— (2016b), Anonymous audience members interviewed by Amy Bonsall after Luwinga School performance. —— (2016c), Survey responses: audience members at Mzuzu University. —— (2016d), Anonymous audience members interviewed by Amy Bonsall after Chingalire Village performance. —— (2017), Exploring Intercultural Shakespeare Production for a 21st Century Malawian Audience (PhD). University of Leeds. Chisiza, Z. and A. Bonsall (2016), ‘The Donor Dependency Syndrome: The Politics of Theatre Funding Structures in Malawi’, Platform: Journal of Theatre and Performing Arts, vol. 10, no. 2: 79–89. Drewal, M. T. (1992), Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Gibbs, P.R.A., 1980. Drama and Theatre in Malawi: A Study of their Development and Directions (MA thesis). University of Malawi. Gilman, L., 2011. The Dance of Politics: Gender, Performance, and Democratization in Malawi. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Grotowski, J. (1968), Towards a Poor Theatre. New York: Simon and Schuster. Kerr, D. (1987), ‘Unmasking the Spirits: Theatre in Malawi’, TDR/The Drama Review, vol. 30, no. 2: 115–25. —— (1995), African Popular Theatre: From Pre-Colonial Times to the Present Day. London: J. Currey; Portsmouth, NH; Heinemann; Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers; Cape Town: D. Philip; Harare: Baobab. McCracken, J. (2012), A History of Malawi, 1859–1966. Woodbridge: James Currey. Schechner, R. M. S. and M. Schuman (eds) (1976), Ritual, Play, and Performance:

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82  Amy Bonsall Readings in the Social Sciences/Theatre. New York: Seabury Press. —— (1985). Between Theater and Anthropology. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. Walmsley, B. A. (2011), ‘Why People Go to the Theatre: A Qualitative Study of Audience Motivation’, Journal of Customer Behaviour vol. 10, no. 4: 335–51.

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Exploring Educational Theatre & Peer Learning to Combat Stigma & Myths about Albinism in School Settings in Malawi ZINDABA CHISIZA

Introduction In Malawi, Theatre for Development (TfD) has been used for a range of social issues such as HIV and AIDS, and gender and community development (see, for example, Chisiza 2019). In 2018 I was commissioned by UN Women Malawi, with support from the Department for International Development (DFID), to implement an educational theatrebased and peer-led learning albinism awareness campaign in eleven public schools. This project marked one of the first attempts at using educational theatre for albinism in school settings in Malawi. My application of theatre was inspired by the methods of Theatre in Education (TIE). Anthony Jackson refers to TIE as ‘the use of theatre designed specifically and explicitly for presentation in schools and other educational settings, in which the subject matter relates to … the social needs of specific age groups’ (2011: 235). I believed that using TIE methods could help in enabling children to analyse concepts and to create new realities, since the form seeks to act as ‘an unrivalled stimulus for further investigation of the chosen subject in and out of school’ ( Jackson and Vine 2013: 5). Talking about the ways theatre can aid young peoples’ learning, Jackson (2011: 237) asserts: ‘young people learn best through doing’. My methodology sought to embody 83

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this thinking by creating theatre that would capacitate critical dialogue among children and youth on misunderstandings about albinism. In order to do this I adopted a format of participation which John O’Toole (1976: 88) terms ‘extrinsic participation’. In this process, the audience participates outside the dramatic event by taking part in the workshop component of the programme, in which they explore further issues raised in the preceding play (Jackson 2011).

Some facts about albinism in Malawi In many African countries such as Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, and including Malawi, people with albinism face extreme forms of stigma and discrimination such as ritual killings, abductions and the exhumation of their remains (Amnesty International 2018; Brocco 2016; Nkrumah 2019). Albinism is defined as a ‘genetic, inherited condition, caused by a recessive gene that occurs in all populations; humans as well as animals’ (Braathen and Ingstad 2006: 600). The condition results in a lack of pigment (melanin) in the hair, skin and eyes (ibid.). Health problems associated with albinism include poor eyesight, skin cancer, involuntary eye movement and photophobia (Brocco 2016). It is estimated that in Malawi the number of people living with albinism is between 7,000 and 10,000 (Amnesty International 2018). In Malawi, the murder, abductions and exhumation of the remains of people with albinism can be traced to the late 2000s in districts bordering Mozambique (Amnesty International 2016). In 2015–2016 alone there were 17 killings and 66 abductions reported in the country (Mostert and Weich 2017). Research shows that these attacks are perpetuated by criminal gangs who target people with albinism for their body parts or bones to sell them to practitioners of traditional medicine for use in magic rituals to bring wealth or cure diseases such as HIV/AIDS (see, for example, Brocco 2016; Mostert and Weich 2017; Nkrumah

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2019). These superstitions do not only violate their rights, but also mean that people with albinism live in constant fear for their lives. From 2015, local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) began to demand the enactment of laws, policies and programmes by the government of Malawi to fight persecution of people with albinism (Amnesty International 2018). Subsequently, a range of programmes were rolled out such as community policing initiatives, pro­ vision of sunscreen lotions, strengthening of systems to deal with cross-border crimes, legislative reforms and aware­ness campaigns (UN Women 2017). In 2016, there was a sevenmonth-long pause in albinism related crimes; however, this ended in January 2017 when a teenage boy was murdered in Thyolo District (Amnesty International 2018). By February 2018, a total of 148 cases ranging from the desecration of graves, abductions and selling of body parts were reported by the Malawi police (ibid.). Widespread coverage of these attacks resulted in the enactment of the National Action Plan for Persons with Albinism in June of 2018 by the Malawi Government.1 Despite being launched, the action plan is yet to become operational as the government is yet to finance it; consequently, the attacks on people with albinism continue.2

The Ndife Amodzi campaign The Ndife Amodzi (‘We are One’) campaign was implemen­ ted in 2018. It sought to use participatory arts-based techniques to engage school children aged 10–20 in combatting stigma and superstitions surrounding albinism. During February and March 2018, the project was implemented in seven primary and four secondary schools in the districts of Kasungu, Machinga, Mulanje and Zomba. It reached an estimated 6,303 pupils. The project involved taking a group of ten university

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students with experience in TfD and conducting research on the myths and beliefs about albinism. We began by reviewing literature on albinism in Malawi, followed by pre-intervention interviews with children in target schools. The latter revealed that children believed that people with albinism are a source of wealth (can be used in magic rituals); their bones contain gold; they are ghosts; they are less intelligent; they produce a bad smell; sleeping with them can cause diseases, and that the condition is contagious. These findings were not dissimilar from those in the literature review. From this data, four educational plays were created. Data from the interviews also fed back into the plays. These were then presented to our target audiences. After the performance a hot-seating3 session took place were the pupils were encouraged to interrogate the behaviours and attitudes of characters in the play. This was followed by dividing the pupils into smaller groups, each actor working with a group, using a range of arts-based methods, to explore possible solutions to the problems raised in a play. Finally, the participants presented their solutions to each other. In each school the programme targeted from 50 to 100 pupils. In the four secondary schools, Kasungu, Masongola, Mulunguzi and Mulanje, the intervention culminated in the establishment of peer education clubs. Swartz et al. (2012: 244) define peer education as ‘using a group of individuals recruited from among the target population as peer educators … in order to change social norms’. These clubs comprised 30–40 boys and girls who volunteered. The aim of the clubs was to deepen learning and capacitate young people in raising awareness about albinism. This was to be done by training clubs in theatre skills, participatory theatre-based techniques and biomedical knowledge about albinism. In the primary schools the medical information was given to the pupils during the group discussions. This was because we had one day to engage with them, which limited what we could do. I was interested in working with children because I had observed that many other programmes concerning albinism

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were focusing on adults: the police, the judiciary and policy makers. However, these efforts did not focus on the biomedical knowledge needed to combat superstitions. Of course, this kind of work is important; however, I felt that the next generation of Malawians needed to be engaged from an early age in order to trigger wider societal change. I also believed that incorporating peer-led learning could be a step forward in changing behaviour since it would help children to learn with and from each other. My thinking is supported by other research; for example, Nancy Falchikov (2001: 3) asserts that peer learning ‘can result in the development of cognitive or intellectual skills or in an increase in knowledge and understanding’. Generally, the project in many ways sought to embody Freire’s critical pedagogy (1970), which has also been influential for many of the thinkers I cite above. The project ran for five weeks. This was because the funders wanted the project completed and a final report submitted by April 2018. We worked as follows: one week was dedicated to research and training the team in the techniques to be used; two weeks were for the school-based interventions; another week was for training the school clubs. The final week was for producing the Ndife Amodzi radio drama series.

Utilizing art to help younger children explore stigma and discrimination at Chipoola On 26 February 2018, we arrived at Chipoola Primary School in the morning. The school is situated on the outskirts of the old colonial capital of Zomba in the southern part of Malawi. The performance took place in a church located in the vicinity of the school. The audience was comprised of about 40 students from Standards 6 and 7, including some teachers. Our programme began with some introductory games in order to break the ice, followed by a performance of our play entitled Nzelu Zozama (Great Intelligence).

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It told the story of a young girl named Chimwemwe, who is bullied by her classmates, Masalimo, Maziko and Eliza, for having albinism. They accuse her of stealing their intelligence with her hat and prescription glasses. In order to counter this, they decide to take her hat and glasses so that they can pass their next examinations. Chimwemwe is given a new set of protective wear by her mother. When the next exam is administered the bullies fail and Chimwemwe passes. They confront her and threaten to beat her up, but are stopped by a teacher. The three bullies explain to the teacher that they think Chimwemwe is using the hat and glasses to excel in school. They are told that this is incorrect and that Chimwemwe has albinism, hence needs a hat to block harmful sun rays and the glasses to see properly. After realizing their mistake, they apologize to Chimwemwe and ask her to help them with their schoolwork. The play ends there. The play was performed in Chichewa because everyone in Malawi speaks the language. It can be described as a comedy. We set out to create a play that would exaggerate and ridicule people’s myths about the condition. We also thought that comedy was a dramatic form that children would find enjoyable. This was confirmed by their reactions and eagerness to participate. After the performance, the children were invited to interrogate the characters through hot-seating. When asked who they wanted to interrogate all the children shouted: ‘Masalimo!’. Masalimo was the leader of the bullies and the worst student in class. Here, I illustrate how this worked. A Standard 6 boy took the first turn. He was very critical of Masalimo’s thinking and behaviour. He began by asking why Masalimo was mistreating Chimwemwe. Masalimo argued that Chimwemwe’s skin was different from his. The boy then responded by telling him that having a different skin colour does not give you the right to discriminate against someone. The young boy was followed by a Standard 7 girl, who asked why Masalimo and his friends took Chimwemwe’s protective

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wear. He explained that they thought this would help them to excel in school. The girl then asked why they failed all the exams even after doing that. This question compelled Masalimo’s character to simply say: ‘I don’t know’. We introduced this technique in order to help the children understand why the characters acted in the way they did. I also believed that technique would help the children to draw lessons from each other and to ‘draw on experiential qualities of social play … to further enhance learning’ (Allen et al. 1999: 24). After the hot-seating, the children were divided into four groups to work with art forms (drawing, poetry, image theatre and sketches) of their choice to respond to the issues raised in the play. A total of ten pictures were made. A Standard 6 boy with albinism came forward with his image, but was too shy to speak. His drawing portrayed two people holding hands. After some encouragement from me and the other children, he explained: ‘My drawing shows a person holding hands with someone with albinism. It means we are one’. A boy from Standard 7 drew a picture showing two people standing with a person with albinism, who was identifiable by his hat. Asked to explain his image he said that it was about group of children who had decided not to discriminate against their classmate with albinism. A drawing by a Standard 7 girl portrayed a group of pupils playing together. In her explanation, she said: ‘This picture shows a group of chatting and playing with a person with albinism because people with albinism are also people and deserve to be happy’. I observed that the children really enjoyed making art since it is accessible and everyone can participate and share their ideas in ways that are not intimidating. Their drawings offered real insight into possible solutions for combatting disability stigma and helping others with the albinism. At Chipoola, the programme offered the pupils a platform to analyse their own beliefs and to explore how to help others with the condition. The participants’ enthusiasm to make art and try out hot-

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seating suggests that they found the process enriching and entertaining. Many of them particularly enjoyed interrogating Masalimo. In fact, he was the only character that the students, in all the schools, wanted to have a discussion with. I believe this was an empowering experience for young people as it enabled them to expose the myths about nature of people with albinism which Masalimo’s character embodied.

Using Boalian techniques and folktales at Chithiba On 28 March 2018, we arrived at Chithiba Primary School. It is situated in Kasungu District in the central region of Malawi, which is about an hour and a half’s drive from the capital city Lilongwe. The programme stated at 10:30 am and two plays were performed, Chimwemwe and Nzeru Zozama. There were about 60 students from Standards 6 to 8 who participated in the programme. The format we used was similar to the one at Chipoola. After the performances and the hot-seating session, the children were put into four smaller groups. The forms they used to find solutions were the ‘Stroboscopic Image’4 (Campbell 2019), folktales, local songs, poetry and an adaption of Augusto Boal’s Lightening Forum, which Ali Campbell refers to as the ‘Conveyor Belt’ – a technique where ‘the joker creates a queue on stage and mini-interventions are enacted in swift succession’ (2019: 237). Here, I illustrate how we used the Stroboscopic Image. The process initially started with asking the children to think about who was oppressed in the play and what could be done to end it. They were then asked to create a series of tableaux that portrayed a child with albinism being oppressed, another picture where the oppression was removed and a final image showing what they could do now to change things. The image work showed a child with albinism (played by a child without albinism) being bullied, followed by an image of someone intervening to stop the bullies. The next image

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showed the bullies listening to someone attentively. The final image depicted all the children playing together. In their explanation one of the participants said: ‘Our story is about a person with albinism being discriminated against. The problem ends when a friend intervenes. The final image shows all the children playing together’. I then asked the group what made the other children stop mistreating the person with albinism. A Standard 6 girl explained: ‘They stop after someone explains to them that what they are doing is wrong because albinism is a medical condition’. The image work revealed that the drama-based tools enabled the pupils to analyse their beliefs and by placing themselves in the shoes of someone with albinism they were able to create new understandings. Writing on agency and intersubjectivity, Peter Wright (2011: 113) says that ‘performing our own subjectivity presents it as being corrigible and enables us to have distance on it’. A second group led by one of the actors performed an adaption of a local folktale to respond to the play. Local art forms are always fun to use since they are relevant and malleable. The performers all sat in a circle, except for one boy who went running around the group shouting the opening glee, Pandangotelo (‘Once upon a time’). All the other children, including the audience responded: Tili tonse (‘We are listening’). Shortly afterwards, three participants stood up and began to enact their story. It told of three siblings, Batumeyo, Patuma and Aisha. One day their mother sends the children to the market to get some meat. On the way Batumeyo and Patuma tell Aisha that they don’t want to walk with her as she has albinism. Heartbroken, Aisha returns home and tells her mother. When Batumeyo and Patuma return home their mum tells them what they did was wrong. In order to deepen their understanding she tells them a folktale: There once were three rabbits. One was white and two were grey. These rabbits loved each other and spent all their time

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together. However, this did not please the hyena. One day he decided to tell the grey rabbits to stop talking to the white rabbit because they were different. However, the two rabbits disagreed arguing: ‘Yes, we have different fur, but we all have two ears, a tail, four legs and two eyes. So, what exactly makes us different?’

After the story, she asks children what they have learned from the story. Patuma explains: ‘I have learned that we should not mistreat each other because we are one’. Similarly, Batumeyo says that story has helped him to understand that although his skin is different from Aisha’s, they are all one. The performance ended with their mother telling them to hug each other as a sign of love and reconciliation. The performance was received with a loud applause. A third group of children used the Conveyor Belt. The participants were signalled by one of the actors (our joker) to start or stop the intervention. The intervention used the scene where Chimwemwe was being bullied as a scenario for the children to intervene. The first solution was enacted by two Standard 8 girls who told the bullies to stop mistreating Chimwemwe otherwise they would be reported to headmaster and would get expelled. The next solution was presented by two energetic boys from Standard 6. Explaining to the bullies, one of the boys stated: ‘We are all Malawians! What you guys are doing is stupid. Stop discriminating against your classmate’. The other boy argued that the Bible says you should love your neighbour as you love yourself. Generally, the children’s presentations suggest that mis­ conceptions and stigma against people with albinism can be mitigated by teaching others about the condition. It was clear to me that the pupils understand that other children with the condition needed to be supported by them and wider society. The performance and participatory sessions of the intervention offered the participants opportunities to explore realistic strategies for creating better understanding.

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Theatre for themselves by themselves: The Masongola peer education club The Ndife Amodzi campaign was complemented by peer education clubs that were set up in four secondary schools, with the aim of empowering teenagers to take an active role in social justice. One of the schools where this was done was Masongola Secondary School, which is located in the centre of Zomba City. In March 2018, I trained a group of 30 boys and girls from Masongola in theatre-making skills and the use of arts-based tools to raise awareness on albinism. The training was preceded by an intervention similar to the ones done in the two primary schools. Prior to the training, the clubs received information packs containing biomedical information about the albinism. They also were given a series of activities to undertake before the training: a) developing a lesson about the causes and symptoms of albinism, which they would later on use to teach others, b) making posters with accurate information about the condition, and c) creating sketches exposing misunderstandings. The hope was that these activities would deepen learning and develop better understanding. This was supplemented by a two-day participatory theatre workshop, facilitated by me, where the participants were taught how to use in-role participation (a technique in which an actor addresses the audience in order to solicit solutions), hotseating, the Stroboscopic Image and the Conveyor Belt as well as adapting local art forms. The training sought to catalyse the young people in implementing awareness-raising activities for the wider school community and in surrounding schools. On 26 October 2018, I was invited to watch a performance by the Masongola club. The untitled play was about Mr and Mrs Banda who are tricked by a witchdoctor that they can become richer by bringing him albino body parts and five million Malawi Kwacha. The couple decides to kidnap and murder their daughter’s friend, Mary, who has the condition.

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They conspire with two local thugs to commit the crime. When the Bandas deliver the body parts and money they are told to come back after a week because the charms do not work immediately. After a week, the couple discovers that witchdoctor has taken all the money and relocated to Mozambique. At about the same time, the thugs start demanding their share of the wealth. When Mr and Mrs Banda fail to give their fellow conspirators the money, the thugs inform the police that Mary’s murder was committed by the couple. The police arrest the couple and they, in turn, disclose the names of the two thugs. The Bandas and the thugs are all sentenced to life imprisonment. The play ends here. The play was performed in Chichewa to over 400 students in the school hall. It was a tragi-comedy, which used the gullibility of Mr and Mrs Banda as a comic device to highlight how ordinary people are conned by tricksters with their getrich-quick schemes. The play used Mary’s murder to expose the serious, irreversible consequences of myths surrounding albinism. After the performance, hot-seating was used as a path­way for audience engagement. The first character to be inter­ rogated was Mr Banda. A male audience member asked: ‘Did you really believe that giving your hard-earned money plus albino body parts to a poor witchdoctor was going to make you richer?’ Before he could respond, a female participant questioned the Banda family’s thinking. She said: ‘If these charms really work, then why is it that all the witchdoctors are poor?’ Responding to these questions, Mr Banda argued that he thought his case would be different and that the charms would work. This caused the audience to burst out in laughter. The next character to be interrogated was the witchdoctor. A girl seated in the front row stood up and posed the following question: ‘Why did you tell his couple to kill Mary? Why did you not just dupe them out of their money, rather than committing such a crime?’ The witchdoctor said that his only crime was swindling the Banda family of their

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money. A male participant commented: ‘The only way to ensure that people with albinism are not living in fear for their lives is to ban all witchdoctors’. His comment received loud cheers from the audience. It was clear that the play offered young people a platform to openly talk about the rights of people with albinism, how to support them and ways of combatting deeply accepted beliefs. Nancy Smithner (2011: 221) argues that theatre can ‘enhance the ability to think critically, increase knowledge of self and develop understanding and appreciation of the cultural backgrounds and values of others’. Although the Masongola facilitators’ use of the hot-seating technique could have been better, my satisfaction was derived from seeing them taking over the process we had started in March. This was remarkable, given the sporadic nature of the project and the fact that we really did not have time to drill the facilitators.

The impact of peer education clubs on participants In March 2019, I interviewed a total of eighteen young people from the three clubs that were established at Masongola, Mulunguzi and Mulanje secondary schools to find out if the project had helped them to change attitudes. Asked to explain what they initially had thought of people with albinism prior to going the clubs, a female participant from Mulunguzi asserted: ‘I just disliked them and did not want anything to do with them’. Her feelings were also shared by a male participant from Mulanje who said initially he did not want to associate with people with the condition because he thought they were cursed by God. A girl from Mulanje explained that she thought albinism was caused when a pregnant woman did not have adequate nutrients. Such findings are confirmed by other research, for example by Giorgio Brocco (2015), who explains that people with albinism are often considered supernatural beings.

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The next set of questions focused on how the young people’s mindsets had been changed since joining the clubs. A participant from Masongola told me that joining the club helped him to realize that people with albinism are equally human. He said: ‘I am now close friends with a boy with albinism because I have understood that albinism is simply a medical condition’. Other participants from the two clubs shared similar views. Asked to elaborate on what had triggered these changes, several participants said that it was a combination of the initial intervention as well the work in clubs – the information packs, training and discussions with the other young people – that contributed to this change. The young people’s narratives of change confirm what Baker et al. say about the power of knowledge to challenge and change attitudes, asserting that ‘education is one way in which people can come to understand the condition and ways of dealing with and helping people with albinism’ (2010: 177). Speaking on the kinds of interventions they had conducted as Ndife Amodzi clubs, the Masongola club members told me that they had performed plays in four schools, including their own. Contrastingly, the Mulunguzi and Mulanje clubs admitted they had not yet done any out-of-school interventions. However, they explained that they have engaged the wider school community through interpersonal talks, performances and the production of posters. While this project was sporadic, it is clear from the young people’s admissions that the work had impact. In my view, the artsbased tools and the peer learning model used under this project account for the changes in attitudes, beliefs and behaviour.

Conclusion The Ndife Amodzi campaign was a short-term project. This was its weakness as it did not allow us to engage with

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the students for a longer period of time and to sustain the changes we initiated. Despite its limitations, the outcomes show that it helped to develop empathy and facilitated critical discussion about albinism among children and youth and empowered them to explore how others with the condition can be helped. I would have liked to see this work continue for a longer period of time because I believed we had started a really important discussion about social justice and social inclusion among young people, which needed to be sustained. In 2019, UN Women Malawi expressed a desire to continue the project and to upscale to more districts. This suggests that the funders see real potential in this work to challenge harmful beliefs about albinism. I am encouraged by the enthusiasm of the peer education clubs, which have been sustained in the absence of continued support. The implication is that these youths are genuinely interested in social justice. In Malawi, traditional beliefs surrounding albinism are widespread. Combatting these narratives requires the use of participatory techniques alongside peer learning that can empower the next generation of Malawians in dismantling deeply accepted cultural beliefs. These interventions, I believe, can be helpful in building a more tolerant and supportive society. NOTES 1 The action plan was established to provide a strategic action plan for combating crimes against people with albinism in Malawi. 2 In February 2019, there were eight albinism-related crimes reported that have included kidnapping and murder. 3 This is a technique using acting to help actors with character development. In TIE it has been customized to enable audiences to interrogate the actions or behaviours of characters. 4 The technique was developed by Augusto Boal. It uses freeze frames to depict a story. First, the audience is instructed to close their eyes and an image is created. Afterwards they are told to open them in order to see the image.

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REFERENCES Allen, G., I. Allen and L. Dalrymple (1999), ‘Ideology, Practice and Evaluation: Developing the Effectiveness of Theater in Education’, Research in Drama Education, vol. 4, no. 1: 21–6. Amnesty International (2016), We are not Animals to be Hunted or Sold (London: Amnesty International Ltd). —— (2018), Towards Effective Criminal Justice for People with Albinism in Malawi (London: Amnesty International Ltd). Baker, C., P. Lund, R. Nyathi and J. Taylor (2010), ‘The Myths Surrounding People with Albinism in South Africa and Zimbabwe’, Journal of African Cultural Studies, vol. 22, no. 2: 169–81. Braathen, S. and B. Ingstad (2006), ‘Albinism in Malawi: Knowledge and Beliefs from an African setting’, Disability & Society, vol. 21, no. 6: 599–611. Brocco, G. (2015), ‘Labelling Albinism: Language and Discourse Surrounding People with Albinism in Tanzania’, Disability & Society, vol. 30, no. 8: 1143–57. —— (2016), ‘Albinism, Stigma, Subjectivity and Global Discourses in Tanzania’, Anthropology & Medicine, vol. 23, no. 3: 229–43. Campbell, A. (2019), The Theatre of The Oppressed in Practice Today: An Introduction to The Work and Principles of Augusto Boal. London: Methuen. Chisiza, Z. (2019), ‘Using Theatre for Development to Engage Boys in Examining Masculinity and HIV in Two Malawi Schools’, Journal of Applied Arts & Health, vol. 10, no. 1: 87–98. Freire, P. (1970), Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum. Falchikov, N. (2001), Learning Together: Peer Tutoring in Higher Education. London: Routledge. Government of Malawi (2018), National Action Plan for Persons with Albinism 2-182022. Lilongwe: Government of Malawi. Havnes, A. (2018), ‘Peer-Mediated Learning Beyond the Curriculum’, Studies in Higher Education, vol. 33, no. 2: 193–204.Jackson, A. (2011), ‘Participatory Forms of Educational Theatre’, in Key Concepts in Theatre/Drama Education, Shifra Schonmann (ed.) (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers): 235–40. Jackson, A. and C. Vine (2013), Learning Through Theatre: The Changing Face of Theatre in Education. London: Routledge. Mostert, M. and M. Weich (2017), ‘Albinism in Africa: A Proposed Conceptual Frame­work to Understand and Effectively Address a Continental Crisis’, in African Disability Rights Yearbook, vol. 5, C. Ngwena, I. Grobbelaar du Plessis, H. Combrinck and S. D, Kamga (eds). Pretoria: Pretoria University Law Press: 101–17. Nkrumah, B. (2019), ‘The Hunted: UDHR and Africans with Albinism, International Migration, vol. 57, no. 1: 192–212. O’Toole, J. (1976), Theatre in Education: New Objectives for Theatre, New Techniques in Education. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Smithner, N. (2011), ‘Creative Play: The Importance of Incorporating Play, Liminality and Ritual in Teaching K-12’, in Key Concepts in Theatre/Drama Education, S. Schonmann (ed.). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers: 221–6. Swartz, S., C. Deutsch, M. Makoae, B. Michel, J. Hamilton Harding et al. (2012), ‘Measuring Change in Vulnerable Adolescents: Findings from a Peer Education Evaluation in South Africa’, Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, vol. 9, no. 4:

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Learning to Combat Stigma & Myths about Albinism  99 242–54. UN Women – United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (2017), Human Rights Window on Albinism Project Report. Lilongwe: UN Women. Wright, P. (2011), ‘Agency, Intersubjectivity and Drama Education’, in Key Concepts in Theatre/Drama Education, S. Schonmann (ed.). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers: 111–18.

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Performing the Nation Incorporating Cultural Performances into Theatre in Ethiopia

ZERIHUN BIREHANU SIRA

Introduction Theatre in Ethiopia started at the beginning of the twentieth century. Its development has been almost exclusive to the capital city, Addis Ababa. The city is home to five theatres that each stage different shows most of the days in a week. Bejerond1 Tekelehawaryat Teklemaryam, a man who studied in Russia and travelled in Europe at the beginning of twentieth century, introduced a European form of drama with his first play, Fabula Ye Awerewoch Comedia (Fable: The Comedy of Animals) in 1921 (Aboneh 2012: 1). Theatre has played a significant role in reflecting Ethiopian culture, politics and social life across the timespan of three consecutive political regimes from the 1920s. Even though many early plays were written incorporating cultural performance forms, they all, in terms of content, focused on moralistic and religious issues. After the 1960s, with the dominance of a small group of Western-trained playwrights, Ethiopian theatre saw the exclusion of indigenous performance forms on the professional stage and largely followed European realist concepts of playwriting. Despite the dominance of such playwriting techniques, there have been numerous endeavours to profile Ethiopian cultural performance forms in the theatres of Addis Ababa. As in many African societies, people in Ethiopia use 100

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dance, storytelling, dialogue and role play in various social engagements. Among Orthodox Christians, yearly ceremonies like Shadey and Ashenda in Amhara and Tigray and Meskel in Guraghe, Kaffa and Wolaita have, for example, significant dramatic elements in their performances.2 I am arguing here that there is scope for melding indigenous performance forms more substantially with the dominant Europeanized influences on Ethiopian theatre to make more culturally engaged plays. Few studies in English have been carried out on the potential of Ethiopian indigenous performances as a source for theatre production. The earliest and the most extensive study was done in 1996 by Jane Plastow in her book African Theatre and Politics: The Evolution of Theatre in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe: A Comparative Study. The book comparatively discusses the beginning and development of theatre in these three countries in relation to their political and cultural context. While deliberating on the issues of whether Africa has an indigenous theatre that can concomitantly be studied with the European form of theatre or not, excluding the European form of theatre definition, Plastow strongly argues that ‘African performance forms do not need to justify their existence. They simply are and should be placed in a central position in all discussions of African theatre’ (1996: 13). Through contextualizing performance forms, dancedrama, drama and orature, the book discusses the uses of these indigenous performances as a means of cultural expression and source of drama and theatre. A second book, written by Galina Balashova in 2012 and entitled Drama in Modern Ethiopian Literature and Theatre, although not a detailed account discusses the beginning and development of Ethiopian theatre. Through a one-year expedition to Ethiopia (1991–92) a Russian team led by Balashova studied theatrical and performance subcultures of the ‘Amhara and Tigrigna’, ‘Oromo’, ‘Guraghe and Islamic peoples of Ethiopia’ and concluded that ‘oral genres of folk­ lore (tales, heroic narratives, legends, games and theatrical

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entertainments) reflected real cultural and historical life of people through many centuries’ (2012: 15). Beyond the two books written in English there are numerous shorter studies that have been written in Amharic in different universities and research institutes in Ethiopia on the use of coalescing indigenous performances and European forms of playmaking. Other than generally acknowledging the prevalence of cultural performances that could be a source for plays, the researches by Plastow and Balashova did not specifically analyse relevant productions. This article, therefore, tries to extend research efforts and fill the gap by analysing two contemporary plays were successful in incorporating indigenous performance forms in their writing and directing. The article hopes to open a fresh discussion on the role of indigenous performance forms in relation to writing and directing plays in Ethiopia. Although the theatre in Ethiopia has not yet fully explored the potential of indigenous performance forms, there have been a few attempts by some playwrights. During the Haile Selassie regime (1930–74) three writers, Yoftahe Negussie, Melaku Begosew and Eyoel Yohanes, all extensively incorporated indigenous performance elements into their plays that were popular both with mass audiences and with the emperor himself. The Derg, the military junta that ousted Haile Selassie and led the country for seventeen years from 1974, used indigenous cultural music and dance as the main instrument to create kinet for its governmental propaganda and to introduce different ethnic group performances. Kinet usually refers to ‘performances of traditional dance, music and song’ (Plastow 1996: 157). It was seen as ‘the traditional indigenous performance form related to ordinary people’ (ibid.) and played a significant role in promoting socialist propaganda and incorporating cultural elements into music, dance and short dramatic sketches. These sketches were written based on various ethnic groups’ cultural performances and were usually accompanied by indigenous music and dances of the respective ethnic group. Unlike the popular

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well-made plays, kinet performances are not usually scripted and involve dance and music as main components. Contrary to drama performances that are concentrated in the capital city, kinet is well known and performed in different parts of the country. Despite the contemporary dominance of wellmade plays in the theatres, a few playwrights like Fesseha Belay Yimam continued to write plays based on cultural performances. His Semegn Sintayehu (1985) and Hod Yifjew (To Keep the Secret 1988) won great critical acclaim for their successful incorporation of cultural elements. Since 1991, when the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)3 came to power, the theatre scene started to show some small progress towards incorporating indigenous performances into play productions. Even though the new constitution, ratified in December 1995, declared the right of every ethnic group ‘to express, to develop and to promote its culture’ (FDRE 1995: 25) only a few attempts were made to stage plays that incorporate cultural performance elements. Plays like Ye Balager Fikir (Countryside Love, 1998), Adabena (1999), and Alekash Ena Zefagn (The Mourner and the Singer, 2017)4 were written in Amharic incorporating cultural elements into their stories. From 1993–2018 only two plays were staged in languages other than Amharic. These were written and played in Oromiffa, the language of the Oromo ethnic group, the largest single language group in Ethiopia. The first play, which was written and staged at the Ethiopian National Theatre was Dukanna Dubba (After Darkness, 1992) written by Dhabaa Weyessa and directed by Tesfaye Mekonen, followed by Guma (1998) written and directed by Dima Abera. These plays incorporated Oromo performance forms in their performance. The Addis Ababa University School of Theatre Arts played a significant role in introducing plays that are written based on research on different ethnic groups’ indigenous performance forms. The school designed a course called ‘Indigenous Performance’ where students are required to select one ethnic group and study their cultural performances. After

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their research they write and stage plays that incorporate the many cultural manifestations of the ethnic groups they studied. The course has been in the curriculum since 2004. The two plays to be discussed in this article are Ye Asha Lij (The Daughter of Asha) and Ye Qaqe Wordewot (Wordewot, the Daughter of Qaqe). They were staged at the Ethiopian National Theatre and written after the theatre conducted fieldwork research into the history, culture and lifestyle of the two relevant ethnic groups, namely the Menit5 and the Guraghe.6 The research helped the playwrights and directors to understand and analyse the main cultural elements that could be incorporated into writing and staging the plays.7 Ye Asha Lij is the story of a young Menit girl who is given to a wronged family as compensation for murder. Efay killed Pologa over a conflict regarding Weshene, a girl they both loved.8 Menit culture rules that Efay’s sister, Gibzene, must be married to Pologa’s family as compensation within three days of the incident. If Efay’s family failed to bring Gibzene, Pologa’s family would kill one of Efay’s family. When the story unfolds, being very regretful of what he did to himself, his family and his sister, Efay decides to go to Pologa’s village and confront his enemies without his family’s consent. The aggrieved family kill Efay as revenge for their son’s life. By sacrificing himself, Efay will set Gibzene free of the Ye Asha Lij tradition. After her liberation Gibzene promises not to marry until such cultural practices cease to exist. She vows to educate her society about the problem of such culture and women’s rights. The play was written by Astatekachew Yihun9 and directed by Samuel Tesfaye.10 The National Theatre sponsored its research, writing and production. To incorporate the proper indigenous performances into the play, the playwright, director and team of theatre practitioners from the National Theatre made a fieldwork research in 2012 among the Menit (Astatekachew 2017: 59). Besides looking for a story for a play, the research was made ‘to promote the culture of the ethnic group to the wider Ethiopian audience’ (ibid.: 60)

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The researchers published their findings in the Ethiopian National Theatre Journal of Research and in writing and staging Ye Asha Lij. The story of Ye Qaqe Wordewot is of a woman, Wordewot, who is very prominent in the Guraghe oral culture. She was one of the strongest women in Guraghe society who raised challenging issues about women’s rights a hundred and fifty years ago. Wordewot was born in Guraghe c. 1839. Her Father, Damo Qaqe, was a venerated nobleman. Her uncle, Agaz Shebeta, was a notable Guraghe hero.11 She was raised in a well-to-do family when Emperor Tewodros (1818–1868) was ruling the country. Wordewot married Agaz Furcheye, a very well-known Guraghe war hero. After a brief period, Wordewot learns that her husband has two other wives in different places. A strong woman and a wellknown orator, Wordewot starts to challenge her husband to choose only one of them and divorce the others. She insisted that men should be equal with women in having only one partner or else women should be allowed to have more than one husband. In earlier Guraghe culture if the husband was not willing to divorce his wife she was coerced to stay in the marriage. It was only with the husband’s permission that a woman could get a divorce. By convincing other women in her community and the broader Guraghe ethnic group, Wordewot successfully challenged each step of the traditional court proceedings of Guraghe society and moved on to the highest level of the elders’ council, known as Yejoka. Wordewot, with her fellow women, debated her case in the Yejoka assembly. After long discussion and debate, Wordewot won her battle and managed to finally divorce from her husband and marry a man whom she loved. Her story still exists in the oral narration, music and other indigenous performance forms of the Guraghe. After long research into this true story, Chanyalew Woldegiorgis,12 the playwright, designed a story which incor­po­rates traditional Guraghe music and dance. The play

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focused on major incidents in Wordewot’s life. Dagmawi Amelework Feyisa13 directed the play at the Ethiopian National Theatre incorporating Guraghe music, dance, storytelling, properties and costumes. At the time of writing this article, both plays were on weekly show at the Ethiopian National Theatre: Ye Asha Lij since September 2017, and Ye Qaqe Wordewot since January 2015.

Adapting Ethiopian performance forms on stage Arguments regarding African performance forms have been ongoing for a long time. The debate as to whether pre-colonial African societies had anything that could be designated as theatre has engaged many theatre scholars and practitioners from Africa and other parts of the world. Some argue for the similarity between theatre and African indigenous performance forms in the integrative use they make of ‘the performing arts: music, dance, mime, masquerade, and sometimes puppetry’ (Conteh-Morgan 1994: 5). Others cite the different functions of theatre and indigenous African performances forms, the first being a secular and the latter often religious, as the main difference (Asagba 1986: 86). But most of the arguments, as Plastow observes, fall short in only considering the nineteenth century European drama of the well-made play as a benchmark, and their arguments usually centre on the issue of just how far from this ‘ideal’ a performance tradition should be allowed to depart before it passes some imaginary boundary and can no longer be admitted within the designation of theatre. (Plastow 1996:17)

Even though Ethiopian audiences were first introduced to the European form of theatre with the efforts of playwrights such as Tekelhawaryat Teklemaryam, Yoftahe Negussie and Melaku Begossew, it developed ‘in close interaction with different genres of folklore, whose roots can be traced to

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times immemorial’ (Balashova 2012: 8). Such forms of theatre, I argue, can play a significant role in developing the Ethiopian theatre scene and introducing it globally. Two main factors can support my argument. First, since the Ethiopian theatre scene has not yet created a unique method of writing Ethiopian stories and indigenous performances for the stage, it seems reasonable to use the most widely known international forms as a basis for playwriting; and moreover, these have largely become indigenized in the Ethiopian urban consciousness. In order to create a familiar performance for the wider Ethiopian audience, however, it seems a good idea to blend this form with Ethiopian indigenous performance and storytelling techniques. Second, theatre by its nature is a communal art. It is an art which is deeply rooted in collective existence in regard to its origins, the use it makes of living roles and situations, its results and also the audiences it affects or arouses. More than all the other arts, drama cannot be detached from the region from which it springs. (Edebiri 1978: 567)

This communal nature of the art provides a rich ground to incorporate different folktales, myths, dance, music, storytelling and other elements that express particular cultures. Writing a play based on Ethiopian indigenous performance forms invites the local as well as the global audience to a form of hybrid theatre that may be able to bridge local and national, and even indigenous and international divides, making work that is meaningful to a wide-ranging audience. In the latter part of this article I will seek to explore just how particular performance forms were incorporated into the two plays under discussion, seeking to understand how these may have contributed to the popularity of the productions. I will analyse the indigenous cultural elements in three particulars. First, I will see how the plays used the indigenous art of storytelling. Secondly, I will analyse the use of indigenous music and dance. Finally, I will go through the mise en scène to analyse the degree of incorporation of

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cultural elements. Juxtaposing the playscript, production and interviews with the directors, I will try to show the emphasis given to indigenous performance forms and their incorporation into the plays.

Storytelling Storytelling is one of the most widespread forms of oral performance. It has long served as a means of ‘binding societies by reinforcing common values and strengthening the ties of shared values’ (Bogart 2014: 5). In Ethiopia, storytelling is one of the main mechanisms of social communication. People tell stories for different reasons; to shape children’s behaviour, to remember good old times, or to create a bond between elders and the young. Usually, elders take the responsibility for telling stories. The storyteller ‘may also be a local historian who recounts the glories of the past and so imbues his people with a sense of local pride and unity. The target audience of the storyteller is usually, but by no means always, the children of the village.’ (Plastow, 1996, 30) The Guraghe and Menit people have rich cultural traditions of telling and enjoying stories. The practice of storytelling is both spiritual and secular. The storytelling is presented in various ways involving music, poetry and oral narration. In Menit society stories are told in two main settings; the first is in the evening. Family members gather around the elders of the family and enjoy stories. The second is in Denkuro, a separate house where the young live together and enjoy listening to the old stories from their families (Astatekachew 2017: 63). While telling stories through Wayag, a storytelling technique using poems and songs, the people of Guraghe also use a particular setting that helps to create the general atmosphere of the story. As Shack and Habte-Mariam describe: Evening gatherings of men (called Wekyar) to drink coffee and beer and [eat] much roasted grains, and wedding feasts, are the

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normal occasions for reciting Wayag and telling stories. Such recitals take the form of vituperative song-duels in which noted members of the clan or lineage, the living and the ancestors, are pitted against rivals who are harangued for having failed to undo the local hero. (1974: 53)

In Ethiopia, playwrights often use storytelling as a technique incorporated in writing a play. They may use storytellers as narrators. They also use storytelling when they create an older character who tell stories about other characters that are related to the issue of the play being performed. The two well-known Ethiopian playwrights, Tsegaye GebreMedhin and Mengistu Lemma, the first in his play Tewodros (1983) and the latter in Tsere Colonialist (Anti-Colonialist 1974) both used narrators as storytellers. Both mechanisms of incorporating storytelling as part of the play were used in Ye Qaqe Wordewot and Ye Asha Lij. In Ye Qaqe Wordewot, the storyteller is a woman. She appears frequently in the play as an independent character introducing others, develops the story line and communicates elements of the story that are not performed on stage. She tells the story following the life of the main character, Wordewot. In the first act, she gives a general overview of the story. By introducing the time, place and context of the story and juxtaposing it with the history of Wordewot’s time, the storyteller begins her narration: Ladies and Gentlemen, today we are going to tell you the untold story of Ye Qaqe Wordewot, whose struggle for women’s rights become a trailblazer in Ethiopian history. This story will tell you her life and adventurous struggle blended with the cultural life style and history of the Guraghe ethnic group … welcome to the 1862 rural village of Guraghe. (Chanyalew 2013: 1.1, 23)14 After giving the broader historical and cultural context of the story, she starts to introduce each of the main characters. The characters appear on the stage while she is introducing them. The play starts to unfold:

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This is Agaz FurcheyeLambeye. The hero of Ezha. A man known for his fierce fighting against any enemy. He loves his country, respects his people. Agaz is his title given for his heroic deeds. (ibid.: 1.1, 28) […] This is Wordewot. Her full name is Yeqaqe Wordewot. In Guraghe culture, an honourable father’s name, like Wordewot’s father, comes first. Wordewot is very sympathetic to the poor and the needy. She loves to help anyone with problems. She respects her parents and they love and respect her in return. (ibid.: 1.1 35)

In the second act of the play, the storyteller summarizes matters not mentioned in the first act, but which are important to understand. She tells the audience how Wordewot became angry with her husband’s apparent ‘betrayal’. Wordewot starts to mobilize the village women to join her in presenting their cases to the elder’s council, the Yejoka. The storyteller also explains the legal steps leading up to the case reaching the Yejoka. Dagmawi, the director of the play, confirms her role as a mediator of the play: ‘The storyteller is one of the main characters of the story. She narrates the story, tells us more about other characters and depicts the conflict clearly. She leads the whole story.’15 While Wordewot was battling in the council of elders to secure her and other Guraghe womens’ rights on the issue of marriage, some of the elders were plotting to stop her from continuing this debate. Their plot is revealed to the audience through the storyteller: The council of elders, Yejoka, became so confused that they couldn’t give a proper answer to Wordewot’s questions. The coun­cil, known for its wise ruling, couldn’t stand up to the challenging and unwavering oratory of Wordewot and her com­ rades. Therefore, before the last gathering of the council, the elders decided to send a messenger to Wordewot’s family to lobby Wordewot to stop her inquiry. (Chanyalew 2013: 2.2, 110)

Beyond weaving Wordewot’s life with the historical,

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cultural and social structure of Guraghe society, the storyteller depicts her emotions. She tries to engage the audience with the flow of Wordewot’s life. As storytellers do in Guraghe culture, she creates the mood, atmosphere and context for her audience to follow. In Ye Asha Lij the use of storytelling technique is different. We don’t have someone to tell the story of the play as in Ye Qaqe Wordewot. Rather, Mr Murdech tells two stories to his two sons, Kuroy and Ifay. In the beginning of the play, while they are sitting under a tree on the veranda of their house, drinking and laughing, Kuroy asks his father to tell them a Menit story which is ‘a medicine for a weak spirit’ (Astatekachew 2012: 1.1, 7) Mr Murdech accepts his son’s request and tells them the story of the Monkey and the Rat. This old Menit story tells of the relationship between the foolish Monkey and the wise Rat. It narrates how Monkey and Rat wanted to save their harvest, which they produced together, in one place and wait until the next harvest year before eating it. However, in the middle of the year, the Rat comes back to the place where the food is stored and takes all the harvest for himself and his children. When the Monkey finds out that there is nothing left, he becomes angry and accuses the Rat of theft. The Rat responded that the Monkey took all their possessions for himself. After a bitter conversation and challenge, the Monkey understands that his unequal relation with the Rat was the main problem. Therefore, he stopped being the Rat’s friend. At the end of his narration Mr Murdech tells the moral of the story; that it is not good to make friends who are not equal in every aspect. Mr Murdech used the story to advise his sons and foreshadow the story of the play. While hearing this message, the younger son, Ifay, goes off stage angrily. He sees the deeds of the Monkey as a reflection on his personal behaviour in relation to his competition with Pologa who managed to abduct Weshene using his higher economic status. The second story Mr Murdech shares with his son Kuroy is the mythology of the beginning of the practice of

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reading animal entrails. Menit society uses these readings to ‘“mediate” between the socio-cultural domain and natural forces’ (Abbink 1993: 705). The readings are done to ‘decide on immediate, short-term queries’ (ibid.: 706) and to seek solutions for a collective purpose. After telling Kuroy that he went to see people who read entrails to predict the future of his son Efay, because he was so concerned, Mr Murdech shares the story that tells how Menit society began this practice: In the old story of Menit, it is said that there was a father who had three children. He gave his sons a paper which gives them wisdom on how to live a successful life. The two sons used the advice on the paper properly and became successful. But the third son lost his paper carelessly which cattle found and consumed. He went to his father asked for another one. The father replied, ‘I don’t have any other paper. Go and read it in the entrails of cattle’. That is how we began to read entrails and know the future. (Astatekachew 2012: 1.1, 40)

The wide-ranging use of storytelling inculcated audiences into the cultures concerned while simultaneously informing them of events not shown on stage, introducing characters and forwarding plot.

Music and dance Dance and music are most common forms of Ethiopian indigenous performance. People use dance and music as intrinsic elements in many religious and secular societal engagements. Occasional ceremonies like weddings, funerals, rites of passage, conflict resolution mechanisms, war and hunting expeditions are often accompanied by many forms of dance and music. Many ethnic groups in the Southern Nation Nationalities and Peoples Region, the setting of the two plays discussed here, are characterized by having dance and music as an integral part of the life of their societies. As

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Balashova writes: In the secular traditions of the peoples inhabiting this region – the Sodo-Oromo, Silt’e Guraghe, Wolayta – an important place belongs to the songs devoted to the local deities or glorifying war heroes. The songs accompany evening gatherings of men, and also wedding feasts, where performances done by men often turn into a competition. (2012: 28)

Religious ceremonies also use many types of dance and music that are highly choreographed and often rehearsed. In Ethiopian Orthodox Church religious ceremonies ‘many theatrical elements were featured, for example, in a sacral ceremony, whose presentation was highly “dramatized”’. (ibid.: 21) These ceremonies, although religious in their content, involve theatrical features that can be adapted into playwriting. In Guraghe culture the secular function of dance and music ranges from wedding ceremonies to praising heroes and celebrating one’s achievements. Concerning the wellknown Weyeg praise song, Shack and Habte-Mariam write the following: Wayag, a secular praise, is not only composed about chiefs, famous warriors, and other prominent tribesmen, but there are also praise-chants to clans and lineages of tribes which, because of the heroic deeds of their men, chiefs and commoners alike, have become legendary in the history of the tribe. (1974: 61)

Among the Menit the use of music and dance is widespread. A good example is the Gule ceremony. In Menit culture when the harvest is ready and successfully brought home, the community gather together under the leadership of the religious chief (Nerey), to pray and give thanks to their god. Beyond the ritual exercise to celebrate the harvest, the Gule ceremony is also an event where young boys and girls choose their life mate. Songs and dances are used as mechanisms to show one’s romantic interest. In Ye Asha Lij, Gule music and dance is used to establish the setting of the play, to describe the context of the story

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and to introduce characters. Mr Murdech orders his son to watch over Gibzene, to see with whom she will dance with at the Gule ceremony and so identify her lover. This will give him the chance to understand Gibzene’s romantic interests and act accordingly: Murdech: Please follow her at today’s dance and let me know with whom she was dancing. Then I will decide what to do (about her marriage). Kuroy: Baba … but is there anyone whom you thought to engage Gibzene with? Murdech: Yes. He is a son of a very rich family. But your mother insisted that I should respect and consider Gibzene’s interest. But … deep in my heart, I have decided for her. (Astatekachew 2012: 1.1, 78)

The Gule dancing and singing ceremony also serves as an event to create a bond between individuals. Gibzene meets her friend Shambay in the ceremony. Shambay had a sexual relationship with her boyfriend before their marriage. When her family finds out about it, they beat her until she confesses who her lover is. While the boys and other girls are playing and dancing Gule, Shambay shares her ‘shameful’ story with Gibzene. The characters appear in Gule ceremonial dress to attract the opposite sex: Slowly, they start to gather around the huge tree for Gule music and dance. The boys and girls, half naked, wear beautifully designed bracelets, rings, shawls and skirts to attract each other. They greet each other. After a while, Gibzene comes out of her house and joins the group. (ibid.: 1.1, 89)

The Gule ceremony is used in Ye Asha Lij to introduce a Menit cultural practice, expose relationships between characters and set up their conflicts. Gule is considered by the Menit people as ‘a main means of representing Menit identity’ (Astatekachew 2017: 71). The play uses the ceremony as a means for both portraying a culture and developing plot. Ye Qaqe Wordewot similarly utilized the dance and music

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of the Guraghe. When the play begins, the first wedding ceremony of Wordewot and Agaz Furcheye is celebrated by both families. As Furcheye comes to take Wordewot from her family, many dancers and singers join them on stage and perform Guraghe songs and dances. The emphasis on the wedding is for two main reasons. The first is due to the fact that the conflict centres on patriarchal marriage customs. The second is the significance of marriage in Guraghe society. Marriage and its celebration is the ‘most significant occasion in the life cycle of every man and woman, for marriage is not only the starting point of the family, it is also the starting point of the kinship ties which link together the genealogically independent segments of the two clans’ (Shack 1966: 31). Dances and song were used to celebrate both Wordewot’s marriages, at the beginning and end of the play. Praise songs (Wayag) were used to celebrate the achieve­ ments of Wordewot in every step of her debate and struggle at the elder’s council. As Shack and Habte-Mariam observed, ‘Gurage view their praise-poems as both a form of literary art and a source of social entertainment. As such, praise-poems are not merely to be recited, but to be sung, or chanted, according to a stylized melody, tempo, and rhythm’ (1974: 47). The praise songs served to create a broader picture of Worde­wot and her fellow women’s’ achievements in the story. During her struggle to win the women’s case, the famous Guraghe Wayag performer, Mama Beneseye, enters and recites praise-poems for her. His recital creates a powerful atmosphere in the play and invites the audience to engage fully in the story. He praises her thus: She amazed the country, for her unseen deed, She called for a women’s council. She joined her compatriots. It is amazing. She inquired, she inquired,

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Oh Wordewot! She is amazing! (Chanyalew 2013: 2.1, 189)

The songs and dances in both plays played a significant role in engaging the audience with the history and culture of the Guraghe and Menit.

Mise en scène While talking about his directing technique, Samuel Tesfaye explains his familiarity with the cultural performances and the story of the play: I learned the story of Ye Asha Lij when the field research was conducted, and the result presented at our National Theatre. As the cultural performances and dramatic elements are similar with other ethnic groups cultural performances, I decided to put the maximum effort in adapting the cultural performances to our stage and show a new story to our audience.16

In Ye Asha Lij a traditional Menit hut was built on the stage to show the house of Murdech and his family and create the setting where most of the story takes place. Right in front of the hut, on the right side of the stage, there is a big Ficus vasta tree. In Menit culture, growing the Ficus vasta tree over the tomb of an elder family member outside their house is believed to give long-lasting comfort and intimacy to the family. The tree also serves us a place of discussion, storytelling and as the site of the Gule dance performance. The youths of Menit, like Gibzene and her friends, come under the tree to sing and dance. The elders also argue over Efay’s problem under the tree’s shade. The setting of Ye Asha Lij is the same throughout the play. The simplicity of the setting, besides its cultural importance, was due lack of stage equipment and finance. As Samuel explains: The lack of resource to depict such performances in their full potential hindered our creativity. We have tried to stage the

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cultural performances with minimum use of materials including light, sound and costumes. We claim that we are still successful in bridging the gap between our theatre in this city and the different cultural performances we studied to perform outside of the cities.17

Unlike Ye Asha Lij, Ye Qaqe Wordewot uses multiple settings to tell its story. The play has three main locations: Agaz Furchey’s house, Wordewot’s father Damo Qaqe’s house and the site of the Yejoka council, again under a big Ficus vasta tree. The settings, designed to show the cultural houses of Guraghe, created an atmosphere for the audience to immerse themselves in the story and its cultural and historical context. The director’s vision, as he explains, was different at first: I had a plan to make a big performance with all the necessary materials on the stage. I planned to immerse the audience fully starting from the entrance of the theatre. I wanted to make the audience to be more participant [sic] in the cultural performances. I also had a plan to use as many actors as possible to depict the cultural performance and ritual on the stage. But lack of resource[s] hindered all my plans.18

Despite the challenges, both directors managed to stage the plays incorporating significant cultural signifiers. Culturally specific costumes were used for the performance. These depicted the characters’ societal status, ethnic identity and their situation. In comparison with the other venues in the capital city, the National Theatre stage is more affluent and better able to afford such performances. The plays’ continuous performance on the stage is a mani­fes­tation of audience pleasure in the productions. The Ethiopian National Theatre allows plays to be staged only for six months unless there is a continuing large audience attendance.19Ye Qaqe Wordewot’s success in running for more than three years shows that there is an appetite for such theatre.

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Conclusion The potentials of Ethiopia’s different cultural performance forms are not yet explored. Many celebrated Ethiopian playwrights have not yet considered blending indigenous performance forms with their realist, Western-influenced writing to create a play that is appealing to both wider Ethiopian and international audiences. Such blending could, I think, benefit the Ethiopian theatre scene in multiple ways. It would enable the production of new kinds of plays, open up the theatres to a range of potentially new audiences and offer new and exciting challenges to writers, directors and actors. Continued research and practice towards the incorporation of indigenous performance forms in to the theatre is in my view essential to developing a vibrant and more representatively Ethiopian theatre. NOTES 1 Bejerond is a title given to an Ethiopian nobleman. 2 Shadey and Ashenda are annual festivals for young girls and women celebrated by Orthodox Christian followers to mark the end of a religious fasting around midAugust. The week-long celebration is accompanied by specially made cloth and jewellery, music and group dance. The girls prepare songs and dances to celebrate the event. Meskel is an annual religious celebration for Orthodox Christians to celebrate the finding of the ‘true cross’. Religious music and dance are the major elements of the celebration. 3 EPRDF is a political party that has been in power since 1991 toppling the Derg after seventeen years armed struggle. 4 Ye Balager Fikir was written by Dagmawi Amelework Feyisa and Abebaw Asrat and directed by Dagmawi Amelework Feyisa. Adabena was written and directed by Dagmawi Amelework Feyisa, Alekash Ena Zefagn was written by the prominent playwright Fisseha Belay Yimam. 5 The Menit people are an agriculturalist ethnic minority group of Nilotic extraction inhabiting south-western Ethiopia, near the Sudanese border. They live mostly around Tum city market area and are mostly highlanders engaged in farming and livestock keeping. The Menit language is Nilo-Saharan. 6 The Guraghe are an ethno-linguistic group of the fertile and semi-mountainous region some 150 miles (240 km) south and west of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They are mainly successful businessmen and farmers who are familiar with the city life. Guraghe has a strong judicial system to help solve societal problems. In the 2007 Ethiopian census, the Guraghe accounted for around 3.5 million, about 4.7 per

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Incorporating Cultural Performances into Theatre in Ethiopia   119 cent of the total Ethiopian population (Chanyalew 2017: 5). 7 The Ethiopian National Theatre supports research on indigenous cultural performances of different ethnic groups, with the aim to ‘protect and promote the different cultural manifestation of ethnic groups in the country through artistic means, archiving and research’ (ibid.: 6). The field work for both the Guraghe and the Menit peoples was done in 2012. 8 In Menit culture, when someone kills another person deliberately or accidentally, the killer must pay compensation to the victim’s family, a culture called Asha. The payment is currently 2,000 Ethiopian Birr (about GBP £54, USD $69), seven cows and a girl from the killer’s family (usually his sister). The girl will be married to anyone in the victim’s family. She becomes Ye Asha Lij (daughter/ subject of Asha). The society believes that the girl, by giving birth to many children, will compensate for the loss to the victim’s family members. 9 Astatekachew Yihun, a graduate of Addis Ababa University Theatre Department, is a playwright who has been working at the Ethiopian National Theatre for more than twenty years. 10 Samuel Tesfaye is a young playwright, director and dramaturge working at the Ethiopian National Theatre. 11 Damo and Agaz are titles given to Gurage noblemen. 12 Chanyalew Woldegiorgis graduated from Addis Ababa University Theatre Department in 1985 and has been working in various governmental organizations. Now he is working at the Ethiopian National Theatre and Ye Qaqe Wordewot was his first play to be staged. 13 Dagmawi Feyisa is an experienced playwright, director and actor of film, theatre and television drama. He has produced numerous plays, television drama, documentaries and films. 14 All English translations of the two playscripts, interview with the directors and contents from the Ethiopian National Theatre Research Journal are mine. 15 Interview with Dagmawi Amelework Feyisa 15 July 2018 at his office. 16 Interview with Samuel Tesfaye 22 July 2018 at the Ethiopian National Theatre. 17 Ibid. 18 Interview with Dagmawi Amelework Feyisa 15 July 2018 at his office. 19 Ethiopian theatres generally show particular plays only once a week. In an exceptional case, as in the case of Ye Qaqe Wordewot, plays can be staged twice a week. Different plays are shown on each day of the week.

REFERENCES Abbink, J. (1993), ‘Reading the Entrails: Analysis of an African Divination Dis­ course’, Man, vol. 28, no. 4: 705–26. Aboneh Ashagre (2012), ‘The Role of Women on the Ethiopian Stage’, Journal of African Cultural Studies, vol. 24, no. 1: 1–8. Asagba, A. I. (1986), ‘Roots of African Drama: Critical Approaches and Elements of Continuity’, Kunapipi, vol. 8, no. 3: 84–99. Astatekachew Yihun (2012) Ye Asha Lij (playscript). Addis Ababa: Ethiopian National Theatre. —— 2017. ‘“Asha” The Study of Menit Culture’, Ethiopian National Theatre Research Journal, vol. 1, no. 1: 58–84.

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120  Zerihun Birehanu Sira Balashova, G. (2012), Drama in Modern Ethiopian Literature and Theatre. Moscow / St Petersburg: Institute of African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. Bogart, A. (2014), What’s The Story: Essays About Art, Theater and Storytelling. New York: Routledge. Chanyalew Woldegiorgis (2013), Ye Qaqe Wordewot (playscript). Addis Ababa: Ethiopian National Theatre. —— (2017), ‘The Amazing Story of Ye Qaqe Wordewot and the Indigenous Performance of the Guraghe Ethnic Group’, Ethiopian National Theatre Journal of Research, vol. 1, no. 1: 2–57. Conteh-Morgan, J. (1994), ‘African Traditional Drama and Issues in Theater and Performance Criticism’, Comparative Drama, vol. 28, no. 1: 3–18. Edebiri, U. (1978), ‘Toward a Convention of Modern African Drama’, World Literature Today, vol. 52, no. 4: 565–9. FDRE (1995), Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Plastow, J. (1996), African Theatre and Politics: The Evolution of Theatre in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Shack, W. A. (1966), The Gurage: A People of the Ensete Culture. London: Oxford University Press. Shack, W. A. and M. Habte-Mariam (1974), Gods and Heroes: Oral Tradition of the Gurage of Ethiopia. London: Oxford University Press.

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Orality & the Folktale Reflections on Anansesɛm & its Metaphysical Content

SARAH DORGBADZI

The word Anansesɛm, which literally means spider stories, has come to assume different meanings and uses. For instance, although not all Akan folktales feature the folklore hero/villain Ananse the spider, all Akan fictional stories are named after him. The justification for this honour is given in a folktale which says that the spider accomplished a feat set by the Supreme Being, Nana Nyankopↄn, and in reward Nana Nyankopↄn decreed that all folktales be named after Ananse. Thus in the Akan language even folktales from different cultures are referred to as the Anansesɛm of those cultures (Ahenkorah 2011: 174). The folktale, a facet of folklore, refers to some verbal forms of pre-literate cultures whose channels of communication are rooted in orality. According to Ato Quayson, ‘oral tradition’ is a term that scholars of Africa generally use to indicate non-literary or non-written intellectual resources. The term occupies the same semantic field as ‘orality’, a word created in sharp contrast to the implicit valorisation of ‘literacy’ as it occurs in comparative studies of industrial and non-industrial cultures especially in expressing the differences between the two. In constituting a sense of cultural identity, orality was extended to denote a set of conceptual skills which bear the same status as literacy. In this usage, as Quayson points out, orality has come to out-step the bounds of its original connotation of ‘oral tradition’, ‘to embrace a notion of 121

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generalised concepts, symbols, rhetorical capacities and even unarticulated assumptions whose inspiration is in the totality of oral culture’ (2009: 159). In his essay on oral culture, Goody defines tradition as a ‘handing over in the wide sense of intergenerational communication’ (1992: 14). A merger of the two definitions gives ‘intergenerational communication’ a scope, however loosely, which explains Irele’s (2001) terminology – the teaching or the transmission of notions of beauty, in all conceivable forms and genres, is suggestive of a concept of continuity. The communication takes place in face-to-face situations which give importance to the giver of information as an older party. Goody explains this notion when, in discussing the characteristics of oral cultures, he asserts that memory serves as a repository of information. Thus old age is synonymous to knowledgeability (ibid.: 16). For this and other reasons the death of the aged is as painful as the loss of a library or an archive He goes on to explain that ‘in a non-literate society the oral tradition consists of everything handed down … through the oral channel – in other words virtually the whole culture itself’. Therefore, orality in Africa is not just in a form of communication via verbal and non-verbal channels which obviously are different from written ones, but it is a concept that undergirds an entire way of life. Goody’s assertion that the only store of information lies in human memories suggests that it always is inclined to selective remembering and selective forgetting. Unless deliberately directed, memory tends to set aside what does not fit within a discourse (1992: 16), and in face-toface communications the audience response can alter the theme and content of a discourse. Owing to social pressure, narrators recount only what suits a particular audience (Ong 1992). So a piece of information gets fragmented among various audiences depending on circumstances surrounding the narration. This brings to mind the issue of learning in oral traditions. Whereas in literate cultures learning takes place in organized formal settings like schools after which trainees

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move on to apply their acquired knowledge where it is needed, in oral cultures learning is contextualized. For instance, cooking is learnt by observing and participating in cooking. Much more learning takes place publicly because oral learning depends largely on the use of voice and faceto-face interactions. While in literate cultures a person could go with a book to study in isolation, the reverse obtains in oral cultures. The company of another is crucial as narrator, teacher or mentor. This perhaps undergirds the creation of study or discussion groups among Ghanaian students. Even in this twenty-first century, in most Ghanaian schools and universities, students first study in isolation, but meet in groups afterwards for face-to-face interactions over the common topics they have studied, implying that the extent of the students’ literate study is tested in an oral mode. For these and other reasons, talking to oneself is perceived as a prelude to a malicious attack of witchcraft or sorcery. The interactive nature of life is so important that even private actions like eating alone could be taken as a negative value (Goody 1992). Face-to-face interactions develop oratorical skills exhibited in public speaking and storytelling sessions (Yankah 1995). As a result of their constant exposure to the art of oratory, children pick up expressions between discourse parties and thereby develop their own vocabularies and oratorical skills. This is what R. A. Freeman on his visit to Ashanti in 1888 (quoted by Yankah 1995: 1) testified: ‘I have even seen little boys of eight or ten hold forth to the court with complete self-possession and with an ease of diction that would have struck envy into the heart of an English member of parliament’. Freeman’s impressions may have been romantic but his appreciation of the communication aesthetics is crisp. He may have been oblivious to the meaning of the discourse he witnessed but it is obvious from his comment that the aesthetics of the interaction by way of body language and gesticulation is appreciable. Kendon describes body language as follows:

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[W]hen a person speaks, muscular systems besides those directly involved with vocal articulation often become active. There are movements of the face and eyes; of the head, arms, and hands; sometimes of the torso and legs that, even to a casual observer, are seen to be patterned in relation to the flow of speech. (1992: 182)

In oral cultures where a mastery of the art of public speaking is crucial, the patterning of body language and its relation to the flow of speech, as Kendon describes, can be very graceful when the orator executes them appropriately and with ease. Freeman’s appreciation, perhaps as a casual observer, is probably of this kind of display. To the understanding ear, the beauty of eloquence will imply a mastery of verbal forms like rhetorical questions, riddles, proverbs, proverbial stories and songs, all of which are characteristics of speech in oral cultures. Orality as a culture requires a good orator to encapsulate the essence of a speech in an appropriate proverb. Doing this competently is synonymous with wisdom because ‘the message of the proverb is formulated in a way that implies a summary of the wisdom of collective experience’ (HasanRokem 1992: 128). The idea is better expressed by Nussbaum (2000) thus: ‘proverbs are the heart of wisdom because they are more powerful than any other form of communication … proverbs act as catalysts of knowledge, wisdom, philosophy, ethics and morals. They provoke further reflection and call for deeper thinking.’ Although proverbs are profound and powerful ways of expressing an otherwise long narration, they can be contradictory to the unskilled user. For instance, adeԑ nkye yԑ a yԑ mbↄ Nyame sumbrↄ (‘do not complain of a bad day when the day is still young’) and agrↄ bԑ sↄ a n’efiri anↄpa tutu (‘the signs of a good day appear early in the morning’) are familiar non-literal expressions of Akans. In expressing the wisdom of their collective experience, the proverbs seem contradictory in their reference to time. Whereas the first suggests that judgements of the day should not be made in the morning, the latter encourages it. However, the native

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speaker will recognize and understand them when used in the right context. This is because ‘the proverb must be said in a particular way and in certain contexts for it to convey the appropriate meaning’ (Van Lancker 2000). A person’s memory, comprehension of proverbs, folkloristic creativity and command over language determine how they use proverbs (Hasan-Rokem 1992). This brings to mind the earlier discussion on how children acquire and build vocabulary, and develop their art of oration. It is expected that the more an individual’s exposure to the art of public speaking, the sharper the person’s own skill becomes. However, the role of individual differences identified by Hason-Rokem cannot be overlooked. Yankah (1995) elaborates this better: The contrastive conditions of wet and dry are important meta­ phors for understanding how the Akan perceive fluency; for whereas wetness of the organs of speech denotes immaturity, dullness and slurred speech, the condition of dryness allows for phonetic clarity and precision. (47; emphasis original)

This means that although two individuals may have the same exposure to the art of public speaking in an oral culture, assuming that they both have the same level of memory and acquaintance with a proverb repertoire by the sheer difference in the physical development of their organs of speech and probably their temperaments, one may develop wet and the other dry lips thereby affecting their use of proverbs and their eloquence. In live interactions like storytelling sessions, these differences play a major role in the display of rhetoric. Whereas the wet-lipped narrator’s story may be slow in tempo and uninteresting, the dry-lipped performance will be charismatic and fascinating (ibid.). In Western literate cultures the concept of wisdom is elitist. Identifiable individuals called great thinkers are credited with great thoughts and wisdom. They are admired for coming up with new insights and breakthroughs. The African oral paradigm takes a different turn (Nussbaum 2000). In Ghana

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for instance, the proverb opens up the ‘possibilities of mental processes and even cognitive orientation’ and also ‘represents a compaction of reflected experience and functions as a kind of minimalism of thought’ (Irele 2001: 32). A proverb like bosomakotrԑ dane a ↄdane dea n’eni ahu (the chameleon changes its colour according to what it sees) makes a good illustration of Irele’s submission. On one level, the proverb communicates a characteristic of the chameleon. At another level it communicates a complex cultural lore. The use of the proverb in the first place indicates a speaker’s rhetorical competence. According to Yankah (1995: 45), ‘the skilful control of words is highly valued in Akan society; yet there is no formal training in the art, since it comes naturally with constant exposure to traditional speaking situations’, so that, by the accurate application of the proverb, the speaker communicates and at the same time shapes his command of the lore. Ben-Amos defines the folktale as ‘an oral narrative told by peasants, lower classes, or traditional people whose literacy if existing is minimal’ (1992: 101). The difficulty with this definition is that the narratives (myths, legends, fictional stories) – owing, perhaps, to the nature of the documentation and circulation – have no authorial claim to the tales. Besides, the narratives are not told only by peasants or lower classes because even kings in oral cultures do create and tell folktales and other narratives. Ben-Amos’ definition and Ong’s (1992) assertion are conflictual on the impact of literacy on oral creative works. Without denying that literacy inspires creativity, Ong infers that literacy completely robs the mind of powerful and beautiful verbal performances of high artistic and human worth, whereas Ben-Amos claims that it is still possible with minimal literacy. Goody puts the two arguments in perspective when he points out that ‘In a society with writing both the literate and the oral, traditions are necessarily partial’ (1992: 13). But a partial is different from a whole so, clearly, Ben-Amos’ position is unreliable. Indeed, the orality/literacy

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orientation debate is broader than can be reviewed in this essay. Nigerian folklorist and theatre artist Tracy Chioma Utoh-Ezeajugh, avers that: Folktale is an aspect of folklore usually composed of fictional stories about animals or human beings or animals and human beings involved in actions, activities and social interactions which culminate in giving a moral bent to the tale. Importantly, the animal characters are never portrayed as mere animals. They are generally presented as humanoids operating in human setting. (2010: 10)

Kwaku Ananse, the spider, the main protagonist in Anansesɛm, has a human wife, Okonore Yaa. Ijapa the tortoise is the protagonist in the Nigerian (Yoruba) culture. These examples substantiate Utoh-Ezeajugh’s claim that folktale is usually a composition of fictional stories about animals and human beings in various interactions. However, there is no mention of the presence of the supernatural in the definition. The instructional potential of the stories goes beyond the weaving of the plot. It is multidimensional. Utoh-Ezeajugh observes: ‘In these tales, elders who are vast in the art of oral transmission weave highly engaging tales around animal, spirit and human characters with the aim of impacting socially, morally and culturally on their audiences (ibid.: 4)’. Regardless of the fact that children can and actually do tell stories, the insinuation that the art is the preserve of elders is in the sense that, as mentioned earlier, the elders have seen more and know more and are therefore more knowledgeable. Because they are the role models / instructors of the genre, the stories told by elders are richer in morals and verbal aesthetics. That notwithstanding, the limpidness of children’s naivety expressed in their narration and narratives also comes with its own appeal. Storytelling in Ghana is one of the situations in which Ghanaian orality, and its orientation, finds expression because the performances reflect the totality of a people’s cultural existence. First of all, the interaction is face-to-face,

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which, according to behavioural scientist Starkey Duncan Jr., ‘is essential in the development of individuals in the society and the maintenance and transmission of culture’ (Duncan 1992: 21). During storytelling sessions individuals find opportunities to practise and sharpen their verbal art and decorum because many skilled persons in the field put their expertise on display in a manner that inspires others. Although these gatherings are for recreational purposes and therefore are informal, there is room for formal speech to be taught, learnt and practised. For instance, during narration, activities of royalty are enacted. In the process, appropriate manners of speaking in such situations are used and this makes the performance explicit and engaging. In Kwesidoi, a small town in the Eastern Region of Ghana, a storyteller – a child – played the role of Kweku Ananse, addressing the chief of his community in public; in the process, the narrator, the child, received correction from the participating audience anytime he erred in his address. The experience cuts across all aspects of life: farming methods, recounting histories and parenting, just to mention a few. This is probably what Kuusangyele (2013) refers to when, in discussing stories as a mode of instruction, she posits that in most African storytelling traditions audience members play active roles like singing and dancing, which helps them understand and appreciate the art and life even better. Kuusangyele’s assertion makes a clear and interesting distinction between the structure/procedure of storytelling, the stories themselves, and the contribution each makes to teaching and learning. The process is participatory in nature – members of the audience’s level of appreciation are dependent on their participation in the sessions. To a large extent finding a balance between narrator/audience interactions thus accounts for the success of a storytelling session. Therefore, Kuusangyele avers that ‘learning through experiencing during storytelling occurs when listeners are made to participate in the activities’ (2013: 40). Kuusangyele’s point that the content of the tales told becomes the experience

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that is acquired stems from the fact that the stories, whether they are creations from people’s life experiences, observations or aspirations in life, or purely fictional creation of the mind and dream images, are recounted in a manner that gives the impression that the tales are actual happenings. This feeling is accentuated when a participant, seeking to interject the narrator with mmboguo,1 starts by saying: ‘that day I was there’. This quality of the narration draws one into the world of the stories thereby making the audiences identify with the characters and their situations, giving them the impression of a first-hand experience with the circumstances being narrated. Utoh-Ezeajugh’s take on the matter lifts the point of the instructional quality of the stories onto another level when she argues: ‘Folktale contents are often structured in such a way that they are imbued with certain narrative specificities that make them interesting and captivating especially for young minds’ (2010: 3). This brings to mind the use of the mystical characters and situations in storytelling. Before delving into the manifestations of the metaphysical, it is important, first of all, to indicate that abstraction of thoughts and ideas, which is characteristic of orality in general, makes room for the creation of fantastic images and expressions that can be extremely interesting and captivating. I refer to two scholars at this point. W. E. Abraham (1962), as quoted by Gyekye (1995: 13), observes that, ‘as the Akans could not write, they expressed their philosophico-religious ideas through art’. Gyekye points out that ‘a great deal of philosophical materials are embedded in proverbs, myths, folktales, folk songs, rituals, beliefs, customs, and traditions of the people in their art symbols and their socio-political institutions and practices’ (ibid.). Abraham and Gyekye seem to have written from the same premise and their point on the relationships between art, religion and philosophy is apparent. Gyekye’s listed materials that encapsulate Ghanaian philosophy are also elements of orality and they all find expression in the folktale and storytelling situations as mentioned earlier. It is the philosophico-religious content of these elements that lays

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the foundation for the creation of the metaphysical in the tales.

Metaphysical presence in folktales In this section, I will use the story of Aku Sika to demonstrate how the metaphysical presence plays out in Ghanaian folk­ tales. This story has it that Aku Sika, a poor orphan girl with an amputated arm, lives alone with no relatives. Out of shame and embarrassment Aku always concealed the stump of her amputated arm with a cover cloth thrown over her shoulder. At a public gathering during the community’s festival, the King notices her because of her natural beauty and decides to marry her. But it is also a taboo in that land for a deformed person to sit on the throne. Akokᴐ the hen, filled with envy and jealousy because her daughter failed to attract the King’s attention, devised a plan to expose Aku’s deformity and subject her to public ridicule. She convinces the Queen to alter tradition and ask all of the King’s wives to pound corn in public. Aku chooses death over disgrace and public ridicule. In spite of the King’s reassurances of love, encouragement and words of consolation, Aku decides to sneak out and drown herself in a river at the forest. At the riverbank, Aku calls out unto her ancestors to receive her into the world of the dead. A spirit being appears. He conjures a great lion to appear and convinces Aku to put her amputated arm into the mouth of the lion. When Aku finally takes her arm out of the lion’s mouth, her whole arm was restored and decorated with gold. He then asked Aku to conceal her arm again and reveal it at the public arena where she is expected to be disgraced. At the appointed time, Aku reveals her arm and her honour is saved. Akokᴐ the hen is caught in her own trap. In addition to her public ridicule, Nana Nyankopᴐn, the Supreme Being and maker of all things, caught Akokᴐ the hen and gave her a pointed beak to deny her the ability to sip water let alone peddle gossip. This is why the hen

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raises its head after every sip of water to tease God that she manages to drink water after all. The idea of the metaphysical manifesting itself in artistic expression is as old as the relationship between art and religion. History is replete with examples of such a relationship (see Ossei 2005) from the conjecture of ritual practice of prehistoric man, through the monumental works of the Art of Eternity in ancient Egypt, the morality of medieval plays, to conceptual expressions of the post-modern era. Even after the modern postulations of ‘art for art’s sake’ which sought to make content the ‘culprit’ in the expression of art, thus freeing it from its subservient position to religion and philosophy to serve its own aesthetic ends. In Ghana and many parts of Africa, the preponderance of the metaphysical as the mainstay of theatrical practice, in so far as the subject or content is concerned predates the colonial experience and continues to manifest itself in many plays of the post-colonial era. Quayson affirms the presence of the metaphysical thus: Most contexts of orality exhibit a high level of polysemy in terms of the materials employed within each genre. In traditional African oral contexts, the dominant narrative genres that circulate have an element of the magical and the supernatural in them. These genres range from official myths of dynastic legitimation to cautionary etiological tales of an explicitly fictional though didactic disposition. (2009: 159)

Anansesɛm is a Ghanaian version of what Quayson refers to as ‘cautionary etiological tales’ (ibid.), and its metaphysical content expands beyond the horizons of the magical. In the story of Aku Sika, the appearance of the being, the conjuration of the lion and the mysterious restoration of Aku’s arm are obviously magical feats that seem to affirm that there is a realm of life that is beyond the physical. Powers emanating from this realm influence and control the affairs of the phenomenological world. The subtle references in the story to the abstract concept of destiny teach the recipients of this story to recognize that destiny is beyond the perception

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of the human mind. This knowledge is captured in two Akan maxims: ‘Obi nnim ᴐbrempᴐn ahyɛaseɛ’ (‘The future of a great man cannot be foretold in his early days’) and ‘Awieɛ ne asɛm no’ (‘It is the end that matters’). In Myth, Literature and the African World, Soyinka (1976) discusses the different roles of the metaphysical in the conscious creativity of man in the African world as symbolic of explanations of origins (both secular and cosmic), cosmic extensions of man’s physical existence, cosmic natural orderings, and more. According to Soyinka, these classifica­ tions of the metaphysical content of indigenous African drama are recognized in four settings: the world of ancestors, the living, the unborn, and the dark world of the unknown where the spiritual transforms into the material and viceversa. Without losing sight of the fact that myth, in this case, the Anansesɛm, is an expression of people’s intuitions, he goes on to explain that metaphysical, supernatural forces ‘control the aesthetic considerations of ritual [drama] enactment and give to every performance a multi-level experience of the mystical and the mundane’(ibid.: 2). This, perhaps, explains why the story of Aku Sika has an element of the magical and the supernatural in it. According to Gyekye (1995), the Akan worldview provides layers of perceptions of what is real. Quayson’s (1995) polysemy finds credence in Gyekye’s declaration on Akan cosmology: What is primarily real is spiritual. It must be noted, however, that the world of natural phenomena is also real, even though in ultimate terms the nonperceivable, purely spiritual world is more real, for upon it the perceivable, phenomenal world depends for sustenance. There is no distinction between the sensible (perceivable) world and the nonsensible (nonperceivable) world in the sense of the latter being real and the former being unreal … The distinction lies entirely in the perceivability of one and the unperceivability of the other. But the perceivability of one – namely, the world of nature – does not in any way detract from reality. From this perspective, it would seem that reality in Akan conceptions is one and homogeneous. But this

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in fact is not the case. For the characteristics of the physical world are different from those of the spiritual world. The Akan metaphysical world is thus a dual world, notwithstanding the fact that the activities of the inhabitants of the spiritual world extend to, and are ‘felt’ in, the physical world. (1995: 69)

Gyekye’s perception here resonates with Soyinka’s point on the ever-present hand of the metaphysical in human conscious existence where this presence functions as the engine that propels the tangible world. Indeed, the Akan doctrine of being outlines a hierarchy of spiritual entities with the Supreme God at the apex followed by lesser spirits or gods, ancestral spirits, and then humans and our phenomenal physical world which in itself is considered partly animated. Even the human being is perceived as one part physical, perceivable (body) and two parts nonperceivable and spiritual (soul and spirit). Per this reasoning, humans, although perceived as physical, tangible reality, are more spiritual than physical. According to this ontology, spiritual power or force emanates from its source, the Supreme God, and filters down the hierarchical order to the physical world. At this point, one may wonder why Akans allegedly worship objects of nature like thunder, lightning, trees and rivers, if humans have a higher spiritual power than they. Gyekye explains that the worshipful attitude to these creations is in the people’s recognition and belief that a higher spiritual authority, usually a god, resides therein. This theory of existence outlines a metaphysical framework for analysing and understanding the Akan concept of cause. They believe that the world is a place of action and change; a kind of metaphysical potency because, as explained earlier, the Akan world teems with spiritual beings, and to them, what is real is spiritual. The spirit beings have powers of varying capabilities with the most powerful being the Supreme God. Since a higher authority has the power to destroy a lower being, humans and the natural world of objects and phenomena are under the control of many

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spiritual powers whose causes of action result in change in the world (Gyekye 1995). Consequently, logical or scientific explanations of occurrences in the perceivable world – strange ailments and deaths, tragedies, misfortunes and the like – are unsatisfactory. They are best explained to the Akan as supernatural acts of spirits in expressing their anger with human deeds. The ontology gives insight into the dominance of the metaphysical in Anansesɛm and the polysemy thereof is clear. If Ong’s (1992) position on orality is anything to go by, then this level of spirituality in Akan cosmology certainly will find expression in their verbal lore. Perchance, it also forms the basis for the references to God and the mystical world in numerous Akan proverbs and proverbial sayings like obi nkyirԑ akwadaa nyame, meaning ‘no one introduces God to a child’: the child’s own spirit draws him/her towards spiritual things and teaches him/her to develop an individual/ personal spirituality within the social spiritual context. This spiritual awareness, therefore, is developed partly by participating in storytelling because all the mystical concepts, beliefs in, and philosophies of the existence of spirit beings and their interactions with or influence on human existence are recorded in Akan cultural lore and they find expression in Anansesɛm. For example, Rattray, a British anthropologist who worked during the colonial era in the Gold Coast, when Ashanti was a non-literate feudal state, recorded that ‘[i]f there is one kind of spiritual manifestation of which the average Ashanti is more firmly convinced than another, it is his belief in the existence of mmoatia, the little folk, the fairies’ (Rattray 1969: 25). He gives another account thus: The sasabonsam of the Gold Coast and Ashanti is a monster which is said to inhabit parts of the dense virgin forests. It is covered with long hair, has large blood-shot eyes, long legs, and feet pointing both ways. It sits on high branches of an odum or onyina tree and dangles its legs, with which at times it hooks up the unwary hunter. It is hostile to man, and is supposed to be especially at enmity with the real priestly class. Hunters who

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go to the forest and are never heard of again – as sometimes happens – are supposed to have been caught by sasabonsam. All of them are in league with abayifo (witches), and with the mmoatia, in other words, with the workers in black magic … their power is sometimes solicited to add power to the suman (fetish), not necessarily with a view to employing that power for purposes of witchcraft, but rather the reverse. (ibid.: 28)

Rattray may have had some challenges with grasping the full or accurate concepts and meanings of some of the information he gleaned because of his language barrier and orientation, the reason being that ‘language, as a vehicle of concepts, not only embodies a philosophical point of view, but also influences philosophical thought’ (Gyekye 1995: 29). This point is validated when in Rattray’s (1927) account he asked an Ashanti who admitted to seeing mmotia very often, to introduce him, Rattray, to the little fellows. The Ashanti declined with an explanation that Rattray did not have the right mind for seeing the little folks. The Ashanti most probably was referring to Rattray’s language and literate mind-set. Gyekye goes on to explain that this ‘observation implies that the lines of thought of a thinker are, to some extent, determined by the structure and other characteristics of his or her language’ (1995: 29). Per this explanation, Rattray’s reference to mmoatia as ‘fairies’ exposes his misconception, the gravity of which, perhaps, made his Ashanti friend tell him ‘you have not got the right mind for seeing the little folk’ (Rattray 1969: 25). All these difficulties notwithstanding, Rattray’s accounts here are consistent with the prevailing thought on the subject even in this twentyfirst century. The beliefs in, and descriptions given of the beings mentioned: mmoatia, sasabonsam, abayifo, and even the Onyina (silk cotton tree) – the favourite resting place for sasabonsam – to either possess supernatural powers or inhabit the evil spirits of witchcraft are still prominent in Akan anthologies today. These beings are mentioned regularly in Anansesɛm consistent with their characteristics outlined in Rattray’s

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account. The orally oriented mind created fascinating fan­ tastic stories in which peoples’ encounters with these forces or beings, including others like ghosts, are recorded and recounted, making the experiences in the tales become cautionary and educative to the listeners. The story is told about a poor old woman who went to farm and found mushrooms on an anthill. As she tried to harvest what she considered a gift from God, she saw long hairy feet dangling from an Onyina tree. She looked up and saw the Sasabonsam devil sitting on the branch of the tree, his blood-shot eyes looking keenly at her, waiting to pounce on her and eat her up for dinner should she bow down to pick the mushrooms. The old woman sets down her basket in readiness to harvest the mushroom. She tricked Sasabonsam by singing and dancing backwards and forwards: four steps back and two steps forwards. With this dance, she managed to flee from Sasabonsam and run to a nearby village and called on the men for help. When Sansabonsam got tired of waiting for the old woman, he decided to chase her up but he met the men from the village. They overpowered him and cut him up into pieces and scattered him all over the world. Wherever a piece of the devil fell, evil began to grow. The story is told to explain how evil came to be. It also teaches that children who engage in wrong doing have a bit of the devil growing inside them and that should they continue in their evil deeds, they will grow into children of the devil with long hairy legs and blood-shot eyes. The metaphysical content of this story is different from the Aku Sika tale. The story draws attention to the idea that the hand of fate is subtly at work in human life – a symbol of hope. In this story, the presence of Sasabonsam, his defeat, and the warning to children to abstain from bad behaviour makes it come across as cautionary. In both examples, when the stories are told by a skilled narrator, the meanings are even more explicit. From the ongoing discussions, as a representation of the Anansesɛm body of folktales, the two stories and their

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obvious and subtle references to the supernatural exemplify the works of the oral mind and their engagement with the metaphysical. NOTE 1 This is an Akan word for interjectory song sung during storytelling to spice the narration with songs and dances.

REFERENCES Abraham, W. E. (1962), The Mind of Africa. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press. Ahenkorah, F. (2011), Oral Performance and Modern Literature in Ghana: A Study of the Influence of Akan Oral Traditions on Modern Ghanaian Literary Theatre in English. PhD dissertation, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo. Bauman, R. (1992), Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainments. New York: Oxford University Press. Ben-Amos, D. (1992). ‘Folktale’, in Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainment, R. Bauman (ed.). New York: Oxford University Press: 101–18. Duncan, S., Jr. (1992). ‘Interaction, Face-to-Face’, in Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainment, R. Bauman (ed.). New York: Oxford University Press: 21–28. Goody, J. (1992), ‘Oral Culture’, in Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainment, R. Bauman (ed.). New York: Oxford University Press: 12–20. Gyekye, K. (1995 [1987]), An Essay on African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme, revised edition. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Hasan-Rokem, G. (1992), ‘Proverb’, in Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainment, R. Bauman (ed.). New York: Oxford University Press: 128–33. Irele, F. A. (2001), The African Imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kendon, A. (1992), ‘Gesture’, in Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainment, R. Bauman (ed.). New York: Oxford University Press: 179–90. Kuusangyele, M. (2013), Stories as a Mode of Instruction: A Module for Teaching Natural Science in Basic 3. Masters dissertation. Accra: University of Ghana. Nussbaum, S. (2000), ‘Profundity with Panache: The Unappreciated Proverbial Wisdom of Sub-Saharan Africa’, in Understanding Wisdom: Sources, Science, & Society, W. S. Brown (ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Templeton Foundation Press: 35– 55. Ong, W. J. (1990), Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. New York: Routledge. Ossei, A. (2005). Ghanaian Mythography: Ethical and Contexual Relevance to Contemporary Culture, PhD Thesis.Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. Quayson, A. (2009), ‘Magical Realism and the African Novel’, in The Cambridge Companion to the African Novel, F. A. Irele (ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge

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138  Sarah Dorgbadzi University Press: 159–76. Rattray, R. (1969 [1929]), Religion and Art in Ashanti. London, Oxford University Press. Soyinka, W. (1976), Myth, Literature, and the African World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Utoh-Ezeajugh, T. (2010), ‘Communal Aesthetics of African Oral Performance: A Study of the Igbo Folkloric Tradition’, paper presented at the African Theatre Association (AfTA). Van Lancker, D. (2000), ‘A Neurolinguistic Perspective on Proverbs and the Laws of Life’, in Understanding Wisdom: Sources, Science & Society, W. Brown (ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Templeton Foundation Press: 35–55. Yankah, K. (1995). Speaking for the Chief: Okyeame and the Politics of Akan Royal Oratory, African Systems of Thought series. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

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Playscript The Inspector & the Hero

FEMI OSOFISAN

Introduction: ‘The Visitors’ series … was a crime series which I created and designed for tele­ vision in the early 1980s, at the invitation of one of the producers at the then WNTV/WNBS Station (the Western Nigeria Television and Radio Broadcasting Station). I confess that at the time I was not – as I am still not – very fond of television, for a number of reasons. And even less impressed was I by the format of the contemporary crime series in the Western media that the producer proposed as our palimpsest. For me, the Western series were outrageously irresponsible, pandering more to the demands of commerce rather than to the profound issues of our times. Invariably they over-sensationalized sex and violence, and of course paid no attention at all to the problems relevant to our societies in Africa. It is understandable therefore that my initial response to the invitation was cold. But the producer was unrelenting and, after further reflection, I did in fact begin to warm up to the idea. Why not, I asked myself, seize the medium and subvert it for my own purpose? After all, the challenge of borrowing the channel of popular art forms for the discussion and examination of serious issues had always fascinated me. Could this not be done too for the television crime series? In any case, I told myself, it was worth a try. And that was how ‘The Visitors’ 139

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series was born. The first, and most serious challenge, obviously, was to find a substitute for the violence – that part of the genre that had come to constitute perhaps the most attractive item for viewers. This was a big question for me. In our situation in Nigeria, where the gun-manufacturing industry was at best rudimentary, and sophisticated gadgetry was rare to find, even among our security agencies, the presence of guns in these films was a powerful bonus, adding to their exotic appeal, to their power of entrancement. But this was precisely the problem for me – that this kind of opium only helped to spread and increase the lust for violence, and mindless violence too, amidst our communities; similarly for the abuse of sex and libertine license in the films. As everybody knows, the brutal commercial competitiveness in the Western film industry has driven producers to all sorts of daring innovations and experiments in order to beat their rivals and gain clients. Many of these are admittedly positive and inspiring; but quite a number are not, especially where they deliberately pander to, and exploit, the public’s weakness for sensation, for prurience and scandal. The big question therefore was – given that the audience had been weaned to develop an appetite for these scenes of brutality and libidinal licentiousness, how could one create a plausible alternative where such salacious items would be absent or severely pruned? This was the challenge I set out to confront with ‘The Visitors’ series. My approach was to create a detective agency that would depend almost uniquely on our playmaking resources in the theatre – that is, on the armoury of dissimulation and disguise, of masking and mimicry, makeup and costuming, such things that are at our disposal as dramatists. The detectives – three of them, consisting of an Inspector, called Akindele, and two Sergeants, Ibrahim and Coral – would disguise themselves with make-up, bluff their way into the confidence of their culprit, and with cunning and legerdemain, extract a crucial confession of the crime

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that could not be afterwards refuted. Finally, with regard to the ‘serious’ purpose of the series, I decided to concentrate the crime under investigation each week on one or other of the actual current cases of official corruption that were then in the press or the popular rumour mill. This was the period of the Babangida military regime, when corruption was at its highest in the history of our nation, and we were never short of material. Thus, instead of dealing with gratuitous and random crime, the various episodes became an avenue for us to denounce the officials that were involved in looting the public coffers and expose their methods. The series went on for the full season of thirteen weeks, and then had to stop, for reasons that would be merely tedious to recount here. But did we succeed in achieving the aims we set ourselves? Only posterity can judge. In any case, some months later, in response to the demand of my actors, I re-wrote the episodes for the stage. The script published here is from this later revision. FEMI OSOFISAN

CAST Chief Ereniyi Eson, Gubernatorial candidate Chief (Mrs.), Aduke Eson, his wife Inspector Akindele of the Force Headquarters Sergeant Coral Ofili his assistant Sergeant Dapo Bojula his other assistant Sitting room of the Esons, with one door leading outside, another to the kitchen, and a third to the rest of the house. This last one is never used, and so can be merely suggested. There is a large window wide open now, through which we can see the moon and some stars. The room, though normally well furnished, has been re-arranged for a party –

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i.e. with furniture moved back to the walls, the carpet rolled up, and most of the painting turned to face the wall. Empty bottles, glasses, and other signs indicate that a party has just ended. As the lights come up, Chief Ereniyi Eson and his wife, slightly inebriated, are at the front door, waving out. Ereniyi  Good night! Thanks for coming! Aduke   (By his side.) E se gan! Drive carefully! Ereniyi  I hope, for their sake, the robbers are not on the prowl tonight. Aduke    (Coming further inside, and shutting the door.) I pray not. David’s thoroughly soaked. Ereniyi  Well, his wife will look after him, I hope. Aduke   Yes, she at least is still sober. God, am tired! Ereniyi  You’ve been simply marvellous, Aduke Ah! What a party! We’ve not had one like this for a long, long time. Aduke  I know. But think of the occasion! (Leans on him.) My darling! Who knows? By this time next year, God willing, my husband will be Governor of the state!  Ereniyi  (Laughing delightedly.) Yes, it’s a sweet thought. But the road there is still a long one, my dear. Aduke  At least the most difficult stage is over. I was so afraid you wouldn’t win the party’s nomination yesterday. Ereniyi  (Laughs.) Were you? I know the men I’m dealing with like the back of my palm. I know just what they want! … Yes, it’s been a hard struggle. But I never doubted I’d win! Aduke  I’m so proud of you! It’s a pity all the kids are abroad. None of them around to share in this moment! Ereniyi  (Going towards window, to pick his drink.) Well, it’s their life. They lead theirs, as we lead ours. And don’t forget, we wanted it so, because of the thuggery and fighting that always accompany these elections. It wouldn’t do for the whole Eson clan to perish together, would it? I mean, suppose some mad men decide to set fire to the house for instance!

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Aduke  God forbid! But you’re right, it’s a season of wolves and jackals, and our children are better away from the country. That’s why I had to put my best into the party tonight. It’s a victory worth all the celebration in the world! Ereniyi  You make my head swell, Aduke! And look, just look! (Pointing through the window.) Those stars out there! In their thousands! I see all these stars, and I ask myself, is it really true? Is it true? That me, only yesterday a poor, wretched village boy, with jiggers in my feet, rags on my back, and if I’m lucky, one meal of gari soaked in water for the day! And now … now … Aduke   Of course, that’s why I married you, bush boy! To bring you to civilization, why else? Plunge you into the limelight! Make you into a star! Ereniyi  Ah! Indeed! Pele o, thank you, city girl! Aduke   (Curtseying.) Well, I’ve done my duty. Now, your Excellency, may I? (Takes his arm.) Ereniyi  (Playing up.) Yes, Olori! His Majesty consents! Let’s go inside, you deserve a rest! Aduke   (Reeling with laughter.) Look at him! Ah, I just adore you, husband! Almost … almost like our first days of courtship! I wish Mama was not yet asleep. I should have asked her for a reward! Yes, something fitting to commend me for bringing her son to Civilization. Ereniyi  Eh, softly! You weren’t all that polished yourself, my dear! I can still recall that shy young girl, looking as if she had just stepped out of her diapers! Aduke   Indeed! You see how ungrateful you – these ‘ara oke’, you – these bush men from the interior, can be! Ereniyi  (Drawing himself up straight.) Careful, woman! Who’s a bush man from the interior? Not your next Governor, I hope? Aduke   (Curtseying.) Ah, sorry, er …your Excellency! Or is it Kabiyesi? Ereniyi  From you, ‘Excellency’ will do. I mean what’s a title between man and wife?

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Aduke  Right then, Excellency! Can you please go and shut the window and pull the curtains? Ereniyi  (Going to do so.) I’m sorry for you, Aduke. You’re going to have a violent uprising in your hands, if you are not careful! I mean, sending a state Governor on errands! The electorate will rise in revolt! Aduke  In that case, just one last task, your Excellency. There’s one little task I advise you to perform before you turn in – Ereniyi  Aduke, I warn you – Aduke   Kiss me! Ereniyi  Ah, all objections withdrawn! His Excellency permits himself to be ordered. And to obey! (Takes her in his arms. The sound of a cough comes clearly from the kitchen, making them start and look at each other with trepidation.) Ereniyi  Sh! Did you hear that? Aduke   Yes! A cough. Ereniyi  (Almost in a whisper.) Is there still someone in the house? Aduke   Impossible! The servants all left for their quarters long ago, and I myself saw Mama to bed. Ereniyi  One of the guests? Aduke   How can it be? In the kitchen! Besides, we just saw the last of them off. Ereniyi  But … the cough then? Aduke   I don’t know… Ereniyi  A thief? Aduke   A thief! Here? Ah my father! Ereniyi  Stay here. I’ll go and see. Aduke   No, wait! Let me call Suraju! Ereniyi  Suraju’s no use. He is dead drunk. I allowed him to relax and enjoy himself for today, and he just – Aduke   Oh God! These boys! You can’t give them an inch! What shall we do now? Ereniyi  Just stay here! (He looks for a weapon, but only an empty bottle is at hand. Taking it, he begins to tiptoe towards the kitchen door. Although

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he waves her back angrily, his wife follows him, clinging to his arm. Just before they reach the door, it opens and a man, whom we shall later identify as Inspector Akindele, comes out, making both of them leap back in fright. Akindele is casually dressed. He is carrying a glass in his hand, and files under his armpit.) Akindele  Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to frighten you. Ereniyi  (Recovering.) Who … who are you? Akindele  (Very polite.) Good evening, Chief and madam. Or rather (looking at his watch), should I say ‘good morning’… Ereniyi  I said, who are you, and how did you get here? Akindele  Oh sorry! When we arrived, the door was wide open, and so – Ereniyi  When you arr… how many of you? Akindele  Me and my assistant. She’s just making a sandwich in there, as all the food was finished. Aduke   What! In my kitchen! Akindele  It’s an impertinence, madam! I’m sure we should have sought your permission first, but you were outside talking with your friends, and I thought, well, on a day like this, with the party and so forth, we could, er … No, I must apologize! It’s only a sandwich but we have no right! Please forgive me and my assistant. Ereniyi  Do you know this man, Aduke? Aduke   Never seen him even once before in my life! Ereniyi  The cheek of it! (To Akindele.) What are you doing here? You’d better speak up before I call the police. Who are you and what are you doing here? Akindele  (To Coral, who appears at that moment, with a plate of sandwich and coffee cups.) Ah there you are. Just a moment, Chief. (To Coral.) I was just apologizing to madam on your behalf. Coral  (Putting tray down, and curtseying.) I hope you’ll forgive me, madam, for invading your kitchen like that. You see, I was so hungry and tired. I’ve been on my feet all day. My boss here is only good when you see him like this. In the office he’s just the opposite, a terrible slave-driver!

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Akindele  (Smiles.) We’ve been working since yesterday – eh, that makes two days now – without sleeping. Orders from above. May we sit down please? Ereniyi  Not till you tell us who you are. (Sees Coral about to eat a sandwich.) Will you put that down! (Slaps it off her hand.) And let me tell you, you insolent – (he is about to hit her in his anger, but finds himself brusquely projected sideways, to fall, luckily, into a chair. His wife runs forward with a scream.) Aduke   Reniyi! Oh God, they must be robbers! Coral  (Apologetic, to Akindele.) I’m sorry sir. I didn’t mean to! Just reflex sir! Akindele  (Sitting down with a sigh.) That’s what I always say. It’s never safe to judge a person by appearances alone! Sergeant Ofili here – Coral to you, by the way, that’s what we all call her – she is not quite as fragile as you would imagine, by her looks. It’s true I call her my assistant, but that’s only out of taste. In vulgar circles, the proper word would in fact be ‘bodyguard’. Coral happens to be our authority in the office in such things as unarmed combat. Surprising, isn’t it? I mean, just look at her, she’s good for a beauty contest any day! Ereniyi  (In a choked voice.) What … what do you want? Aduke  We’ll give you everything! Anything at all! Just spare our lives, please! Akindele  (Laughing.) Ha ha! This is good! Chief, madam, let me introduce myself, to calm you. I am Inspector Akindele of the Special Squad, Police Headquarters, but temporarily assigned to the state CID. Ereniyi  The state CID … Then … then you are a … A police man! A public servant! Akindele  (Nods.) Yes, a public servant. And here, my assistant, whom you’ve had to meet in such unfortunate circumstances, she is – Ereniyi  (Exploding.) A bloody public official! And you dare … you dare to barge into my house like this! Akindele  Her full name is – Aduke   Do you both know where you are at all? Do you

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know whose house this is, whom you are talking to? Akindele  We don’t often miss our way, madam. Ereniyi  CID! Just the CID! And you … you dare… Jesus! Aduke, I hope you caught their names. Aduke   (Imperiously.) Here, let me have your ID cards! At once! Akindele  Anything to please, madam. Mine will suffice, I hope. (Hands it over.) Coral, I’d like a coffee too, if you please. Ereniyi  Coffee! Whose coffee? I’m telling you – Akindele  If you calm yourself, Chief, then maybe I can tell you why we’re here Aduke   We’re not interested. Just get out now! Akindele  Is that true, Chief? That you’re not interested? Ereniyi  (Moving towards telephone.) Who’s their current boss now at the police headquarters, Aduke? It’s Audu, isn’t it? Aduke   No … I think it’s Mike. You forget we were at Audu’s retirement party last month. Ereniyi  Yes, of course! So much the better, that it’s Mike! (Looks briefly at watch.) I’ll call him at home. (Begins to dial.) Akindele  (Quietly.) I can’t stop you, Chief, if it’s your wish to ruin your chances at the elections. If, after struggling so much to reach where you are now, you will then by your own hand send yourself crashing down into dust! Ereniyi  (Stopping.) What do you mean? Akindele  My boss, he’ll probably soon be here himself. I told him to wait. But if you want to call him now, before we’ve talked, go ahead. See if all the things we have here in these files won’t destroy you when you see them in the papers in the morning. Ereniyi  (Unsure.) What … What’s in your files? … Akindele  Do you want to talk business, or would you rather call my boss? Ereniyi  (Hesitates, then puts phone down.) Right, I’ll listen to you first. Then we’ll know what to do. Aduke   Don’t let him intimidate you, darling. He’s probably a blackmailer.

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148  Femi Osofisan

Ereniyi  We’ll see. Talk man, and talk quick, because we’re exhausted, and we’d like to go to bed. Akindele  You can’t know, Chief, how exhausted WE are, and how we’re just as anxious to get this over. Yesterday was our deadline, but we couldn’t make it. (Opening files slowly.) Let me ask you a few questions. You used to work at the Customs? Ereniyi  Is that what you’ve come to tell me? Akindele  I’m trying, Chief, to start at the beginning. It’s my method. I hope you’ll cooperate. Ereniyi  Okay, I was at the Customs. Until four, five months ago. So what! I resigned to go into politics. Aduke   Where’s all this leading to anyway? He’s already been thoroughly investigated. Akindele  Yes, but how thoroughly, madam? Aduke   Everything! We filled forms, appeared before panels, answered the most embarrassing questions. Akindele  Right, madam. And what about you? Aduke   Yes, what about me? Akindele  Did you also fill forms, appear before panels? Aduke   Why should I? Don’t be funny. Am I the one going to – Coral  What is your occupation, madam? Aduke   I beg your pardon? Coral  What work do you do? Ereniyi  Why? What’s she got to do with it? I forbid you to pry into her – Coral  Are you a full housewife, or do you have some kind of employment? Aduke   I used to be a school teacher, if you wish to know. I resigned when the campaigns began, and my husband needed help. Besides, someone had to be at home, to look after the place and receive callers. Akindele  Good. You were a school teacher. At the Jubril Girls’ Grammar School. You taught Physics and Domestic Science. For Forms two to five. Your salary was … twenty-

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thousand1 a year. Aduke   Twenty-thousand! In which country? You must have a sense of humour! Akindele  Oh, it was more than that? Aduke   Much less, look at this man! Twenty-thousand indeed! Or, maybe you’re talking in terms of kobo! If salaries were so good in schools, do you think teachers would be quitting so often! Akindele  Thanks, madam. So, if your salary was much less than that – in fact, it was 8,276 precisely – then how come that on 15 November last year, a sum of 515,575 was paid into your account? Aduke   What account are you talking about? Ereniyi  Jesus! You mean you’ve been prying into her accounts too! I do hope your boss gets here soon! Someone’s going to have a lot to answer for after this! Aduke   Let him even answer me first, which account does he mean? Akindele  Your account with the Elegant Bank at Oyingbo. Aduke   Rubbish! I have no accounts anywhere in – Akindele  (Tough.) Come, don’t play games with me, madam! Let’s not go over the petty details here. I thought you said you were tired. Aduke   I don’t have any account with the Elegant Bank! Akindele  On the eleventh of May, two and a half years ago, a month after your husband became the Chief Customs Officer for ‘B’ Zone, you went to see the manager of the Elegant Bank, Oyingbo branch, one Mr. Ladapo. He’s a townsman of yours, very loyal and devoted. He wouldn’t normally divulge secrets, but he knows when the police are serious. He knows when his own career is on the line, and he talks. So I know everything madam. You used the name Allen, which is your maiden name. The signature you used there incidentally, is the same as the one on your marriage certificate. Here’s a copy of it, if you wish to see. The various sums mentioned should be adjusted according to the year and the country.

1

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150  Femi Osofisan

You have since signed business letters, using this signature, and quoting this address. Shall I go on? Aduke  All right, all right! It’s my account, I admit. So what? I was a school teacher. But I also ran some business on the side. Everybody in the school, everyone on the staff, did it. It wasn’t me alone. Akindele  So, why did you first lie? And I may ask, what kind of business was it that you ran ‘on the side’? Ereniyi  Listen, who precisely are you working for? Where are all these questions leading to? It’s my opponents who sent you on my trail? Akindele  No, Chief. But since you ask, I can tell you. We have no interest in your politics. We are merely investi­ gating a murder. Aduke   Murder! Ereniyi  Murder? Did I hear you right? Akindele  Yes, murder, Chief. It’s a case you yourself know very well. Early this year, a boy working in your office, one of your younger recruits, was picked up dead, not too far from your premises. I’m sure you remember the case. Ereniyi  I’m afraid I don’t. Akindele  No? Are you sure? Ereniyi  I say I don’t! That’s the truth. Akindele  So many truths this evening! Chief, it’s not quite ten months ago. Ereniyi  So what! Do you know what the past ten months have been like for me? And in any case, that place, I mean, our so-called Customs Department, what do you imagine it is? A church? If you’re really a police officer, you should know. That office is a bloody slaughter-house! The men there are simply sacrificial meat for the smugglers! What is one death therefore among so many others? Akindele  All the same, this was a boy who worked directly under you. Ereniyi  Look, that boy, or any other boy! Do you know the casualty rate among the workers in that office? Smuggling is such a big racket in this country, bigger than whatever you

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can imagine, and behind it are the biggest guns. Ruthless men, they’ll stop at nothing. Nothing! That’s why our recruits never last, many of them. Either they run away after a brief try, or we fish up their bodies in the swamp. And you’re asking me to remember one particular case … Akindele  This boy was not picked in the swamp. His head was crushed by a car, quite close to your office. You were supposed to be on duty that night, but you were not. Ereniyi  So, what about it! What do you think life’s been like for me these past months, I ask you? A holiday? Akindele  Maybe you would like to tell me? Ereniyi  Listen, man, you have a radio. You read the papers and you watch television! You know damn well what’s been happening. In a few weeks from now I shall be the Governor of this state. Akindele  I know you’ve been nominated. Ereniyi  I’ll win! That’s a foregone conclusion. Our party can’t lose, be sure about that! And do you think that, to arrive at this moment, it’s been a child’s game? What do you think it takes to be chosen at last among so many worthy candidates? To be the one elected to stand for the biggest party in the state? You expect that, in the midst of all that, with all the hard campaigning and scheming and sleepless nights, you expect me to remember some miserable third class officer who drank too much beer one night and fell under a lorry on his way home? Akindele  That ‘miserable third class officer’ had a wife. They were married only last year. They had a baby boy, only a month-and-a-half old. Widow and son, they remember! They cannot forget. Ereniyi  Well, it doesn’t concern me. Everyone to his own problem. And if you don’t mind, I’ll want to go to bed now. This joke has – Akindele  But you still remember anyway that he was drunk, that officer. And that he was run over by a lorry. Ereniyi  Of course, he was drunk. It was all there in the autopsy report, wasn’t it?

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152  Femi Osofisan

Akindele  I thought you said just now that you’d forgotten? Ereniyi  Well, so what! So now I remember, what about it? Look, what the hell’s all this about anyway? What are you bringing it all up for, at this hour of the night, and in my house? A matter which was thoroughly investigated by your people and closed, months ago! Akindele  It’s been reopened, sir. Ereniyi  On whose orders? Akindele  Does that matter? Ereniyi  Look here, my friend. Perhaps you don’t understand. I repeat, you’re talking to the next Governor of the state! Akindele  The elections are still some weeks away, sir. Ereniyi  You’re stubborn, eh! Look, I don’t know who has sent you here, but my advice is, drop the case. Go home and sleep – with your assistant, who’s rather, er, wellproportioned for the job! And, maybe, after the elections, if you come to see me – (stands, yawning.) My dear, let’s go to bed, I’m tired. Akindele  I won’t stop you from going, madam. But I think it’s only fair to warn you that if you go, you too will be seriously compromised. Aduke   (Stopping.) Me! How? In what way am I – Akindele  Your account at the Elegant Bank, have you forgotten? It makes very interesting reading. I have it all here. Aduke   You have no right, you…! The bank has no right to disclose my private accounts to anybody! Ereniyi  You mean that idiot at the bank – what’s his name again? You mean he dared to … to actually show the accounts to you! Akindele  Not to me, chief. To the law. There’s a difference. Ereniyi  I’ll be damned! Who’s the law? Aduke  But I thought you said just now that you were investigating a murder? What have my accounts to do with it, you prying nuisance! Akindele  That’s exactly what I’m here to find out madam. Ereniyi  Aduke, be careful now. I warn you, you’re under

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no obligation whatsoever to answer his questions! Akindele  Your accounts, madam, are far in excess of what you admit you earn – or rather, used to earn – as a school teacher. Aduke   I’ve already explained that … Akindele  That you have some other business. Which you’ve not disclosed. However, that’s not really what interests me. Aduke   (Sarcastic.) No? Please tell me your interests, your Royal Majesty! Akindele  I’ll read it to you. You see, well, it’s just that certain … er, payments into your account happen to coincide rather neatly with some other events, interesting events, and I am trying to find an explanation. But let us read it to you first. Begin, Coral. Just the relevant bits, the credits into the account. Coral  (Reading from documents.) … Let’s see. On 15 November last year, a sum of 2 million was paid into the account by one Mr. Latinwo. Akindele  Do you know him madam? (Silence.) Okay. Now, this Latinwo, exactly two weeks later, is arrested for contraband. Curious isn’t it? But wait for it. Before he can be charged to court, while the Department is still carrying on investigations, what happens? This Latinwo goes and commits suicide. In custody! Can you imagine? Well, the case is dropped, sparing us all the trouble, nice fellow. Suicides are very convenient, aren’t they, for everybody, including the corpse! But, tell me this – the man’s offence is not even a capital offence, his life’s not at stake. So why would he want to take his life so recklessly? (Pause.) … Or, was somebody, or a syndicate, being shielded? Eh? (Pause.) … Go on Coral. Coral  (As before.) 5 January, another sum of 10 million is paid in, this time by a Dr. B. Peterson. Akindele  Again, this one interests me. If you remember, the date 5 January, is the day AFTER that ‘miserable third class officer’ as you call him, is found dead near your office, Chief. The day earlier, on 3 January, he had intercepted a

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large consignment of contraband during a rather unusual blackout at the border. Coincidence again? Go on, Coral. Coral  13 January, the same Dr. B. Peterson pays into the account, a sum of 12 million. Akindele  Always large sums. What kind of business, and so lucrative a business, did you carry on with this Dr. Peterson, madam? Or is it too early to ask? (Silence.) Go on, Coral. Coral  24 February a sum of 14 million, paid in to the same account by one Alhaji Ahmadu Gao. Akindele  14 million! Noted. Go on. Coral  We move on to March. On 7 March, a sum of 20 million paid in, again by our Dr. B. Peterson. Akindele  Stop there a minute. Madam, you know what makes these payments interesting? I’ll tell you. On 9 March, two days after that last payment read out by Coral, both Alhaji Gao and Dr. Peterson, those extremely prosperous customers of your, are arrested in Kano. Because for a long time, we had had our eyes on them. But again, like a bad film repeating itself, both of them die before proper interrogation. They were being brought down to Lagos by train – imagine! Not by air, mind you, but by train! Well, the train stops as usual at Minna. The two men are hungry. They are allowed to buy their own food, and are led back to the train. But by the time the train arrives in Lagos, chief, madam, you know the story! The two suspects are found in their cabin, dead! Of food poisoning! Very convenient deaths again, thank you. Your customers, madam, they have such high rates of mortality! (Fiercely.) Go on, Coral. Go on to the last bit, spare us the rest of the horror! Coral  In the months of April and May, no payments are made. Only withdrawals. Akindele  Including a cheque to one Mrs. Peterson. How­ ever, go to the real grand bazaar, the month of July. Coral  June, sir. And here it is. On 17 June, a stunning payment into the account of the sum of 30.4 million!

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Akindele  Thirty million plus! In one day! Even the manager had to report that. That’s how we came into it. Coral  (Closing file.) That’s all, sir. Akindele  Four days later, madam, you resigned your appointment at the school. Or am I wrong? Aduke   If you have finished with the melodrama, perhaps you’d like to listen to me. A very simple explanation can be given for what you – Ereniyi  No, Aduke! (She stops.) Inspector, if you insist on carrying on this ridiculous interrogation, filled with all kinds of dangerous innuendoes, I’ll have to call my lawyer. Akindele  You were going to say, madam? Aduke  You heard my husband. This has gone far enough. Good night. Akindele  The funny thing is, it’s your husband I am trying to save! Ereniyi  Save me! How? What do you mean? Akindele  Madam, why not confess? You’ve been using your husband as a cover all these years. Without his knowing. You put pressure on his men, using his name, and through that, you smuggled all kinds of things into the country. You were using your husband’s name to carry out a most lucrative, illegal business. And when your accomplices were caught, you quickly paid to eliminate them! Aduke   It’s a lie! A revolting lie! Akindele  (Laughing.) Is it madam? We’ve interrogated the officers, those you worked with at the Customs, behind the back of your husband. They’ve all confessed. You used to go to them whenever your husband was out of the office, or off duty. Your trick was to take them to bed … Ereniyi  What! Akindele  Yes, she slept with them, to compromise them, and then used that as blackmail. Aduke  God, what a vile suggestion! Inspector – Akindele  You slept with them, and then threatened to tell your husband how they tried to seduce you. That’s how you got them to cooperate!

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156  Femi Osofisan

Aduke   He’s crazy! They’re mad! Throw them out, Reniyi! Akindele  All of them madam! Mr. Ogbanu, you took him right in the office. Alhaji Mustapha, in the staff toilet. Mr. Taiwo refused at first, so you bought him a dinner at the Eko Hotel, then you took him up to one of the rooms. Shall I go on? Haruna – Aduke   God punish that your lying mouth! To dare to come here, and say that I … I … ! Reniyi, I’ve had enough of these slanderous insults! I won’t stay and – Ereniyi  Go on, Inspector. I’m listening. I want to hear the whole story. Akindele  One officer after another. Till that poor boy came into the office. A young innocent, straight from the Youth Corps Service. He refused all your advances. He stood firm. On the night of January 1, a public holiday, all the officers were off duty. Only that boy was there. Shall I tell you how it all happened till … his death? Aduke   (Indicating her husband.) He wants to hear. Entertain him with your filthy lies! Akindele  On the night of January 1, you brought in five lorries of contraband. You were in a car, having left your husband at home, or at some party, I don’t know. You went to see the boy in the office. You called him out, took him to the canteen, bought him a lavish dinner … But still he refused. He wouldn’t budge. You threatened. He remained adamant. Then you changed tactics again and begged him. Still he refused. But he was willing to make and one concession: he wouldn’t prosecute if you would just go away quietly and leave the goods to be destroyed. Shall I go on? (Pause) … That was when you saw your chance. You pretended to agree. The lorries were driven into the Customs Yard. You went away. But later, the next day, when other people came on duty, you went back and claimed your lorries using your normal channels. Aduke   Fine! Fine! So why did I kill him after getting the goods out? Is the story reasonable now? Akindele  Ah! That was where you misfired. The boy had

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written a report and filed it. When he returned to duty that night and found the lorries gone, he called you and threatened to expose everything. This is the report madam. It’s too late to deny. Aduke   Let me see! Akindele  In court! You’ll see it in court. My theory is that you agreed to meet him. I don’t know where yet. Then you pumped him full of booze, ran him over with a car, and then dumped him near the post. Aduke   Extraordinary! I did all that! Akindele  Except that you had overlooked two things. Aduke   Yes? Akindele  One: The boy had given up drinking for over a year before the incident. A hernia operation which he had, had put paid to his drinking days. You see what I mean? Then the second point, there was a witness to what happened that night. Aduke   A witness who claims he saw me? Akindele  Yes. A woman! She saw you when you came for the boy in your car. And she saw you when you drove back and dumped him. Aduke   A plant, isn’t it? Some woman you’ve bought to perjure herself and swear to falsehood! I thought you’re paid to uphold the law, not subvert it! Akindele  I don’t know what you mean, madam. Only, it’s your husband I pity. That’s why I’m here. He’ll lose everything, unless he denounces you and washes his hands of it all. It’s the only way he can save himself. Before it’s too late. Because there is a witness, willing to talk and swear to all of this. Ereniyi  (Hoarse.) Is this true, Inspector? Akindele  Everything, Chief. It’s all down here. Aduke   But it’s absurd! Absolutely ridiculous! I was in this house all that night. I didn’t go out even for a second. My husband can witness to it. Reniyi, tell them! Akindele  Chief, is this true? Let me warn you that you’ll have to come to court to swear to it. And it’ll be your

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word against that of our witness. Against all the evidence amassed in your wife’s numerous bank accounts. Because we know the other accounts too, to the last kobo. Against the testimony of your former colleagues in the department. I need not remind you what all that will cost you in your campaigns. Are you willing to come into the dock and say she was with you all night? (Silence.) Come, madam, the game’s over. Let us go. Aduke   (In panic.) Reniyi! Reniyi! Won’t you talk! Akindele  Madam, no need to make a fuss. Come quietly. Aduke   Reniyi! My husband! Ereniyi  (Turning away.) Sorry my dear. The evidence is simply too overwhelming. My talking won’t achieve anything. Except ruin all my chances. I mustn’t think of myself alone, I’ve got to consider my responsibility to others, and especially to the Party … Aduke   You mean … you mean you’ll let them take me away? Ereniyi  (Shouting.) I warned you, didn’t I? About all this greed for money? See where it’s landed us. Aduke   (Clinging to him.) But … but … it’s a lie! A lie! And you know it! Reniyi! Ereniyi  Quiet, let me think! Aduke  (Hysterical.) What do you mean by ‘quiet’, ehn? Answer me? Wasn’t it you behind it all? Was it not you who – (stops as he slaps her. She falls at his feet and clings to him.) Ereniyi  Shut up, I said! Aduke  Reniyi! You hit me! You dared to … We’ll see today, me and you! We’ll – (she leaps up angrily, and Ereniyi moves to defend himself. But just as swiftly, her countenance changes, and she starts laughing. The husband is startled.) Reniyi! What big fools we are! Can’t you see? It’s all a trick! This man here is a devil. A real devil! See how he planned it all, the whole story! Just to make me get angry at you, and then begin to denounce you! Don’t you see? I’m sure they have a tape hidden somewhere too!

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Ereniyi  (Beginning to understand.) What! My God! Akindele  (Hastily.) Let’s go, madam. Ereniyi  Go where? You heard what she just said? Aduke   It’s all a trick, and very clever too. They know all about us. Above all, they know of your ambition, how you’ll sacrifice everything to it! So they come and use it, to separate us. You see? To make me hate you. They do it such that I turn against you in anger, and begin to denounce you. Because, I tell you, I’m the witness he was talking about! The only one they believe can expose you! Nobody else! They wanted to trick me, to get on their side and begin to babble, so they can rope you in! That’s all it is! Ereniyi  Oh God, of course! It’s all so clear now. And to think that I almost fell for it! Oh God! To think that there are people in this world who … who … oh God! (Turning on them.) Have you left my house at once? Or what are you still waiting for? Get out at once, you bastards! You filthy liars! You offspring of pigs! You – Out of my house! Now! Akindele  But it’s true, isn’t it, Chief? It’s really you behind it all! Confess! She’s merely the front for all your diabolical schemes! All that money paid into secret accounts. All these murders and sudden deaths! It’s all to feed this ambition of yours, isn’t it! As if someone like you, a criminal, can ever become Governor! Ereniyi  (Hurt, almost fuming.) I’m going to smash you my friend. Like a roach! I’m going to break you up totally! What you’ve just said, you’re going to pay so painfully that all your life you’ll never forget! You! Do you think it’s you, little rat, who’s going to stand in my way? After such a long, long struggle! Is it you or the likes of you who will snatch away the fruits from me, just a few steps to the winning day? Such a long and bitter struggle … Aduke  (Trying to stop him.) It’s enough, Reniyi! Don’t say any more! Just let them go. Ereniyi  (Maddened, brushing her aside.) The cheek of it! …

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160  Femi Osofisan

Listen, do you know? From a wretched village urchin, yes! That’s where I came from! I was one of those born with jiggers in our toes, big as footballs sometimes, and with craw-craw on my head, itching. always itching! Half of my face was eaten with it, caked up with the dried pus. Like the other children, some gone early, long ago, to the grave. And when it pained too much, we scrubbed out the craw-craw with sand, yes! And had someone piss on it to keep it dry. Are you listening, smart boy? We wake up early in the shivering dawn, tie a rag to our waist, and trek in a file down to the stream four to five kilometres away. That’s where our history of worms comes from, the history which seems to baffle the budget planners. It’s from that infested stream which we drank from, and washed in, with our germs and jiggers – Aduke   I say it’s enough, Reniyi! Come … Akindele  It’s okay, we’re leaving … Ereniyi  Stop there, and let me finish! You must listen! Let me tell you how my haggard little mother fought through it all and one morning took my arm and led me through seven villages to the place by the tarred road where the Christians had planted a school. The teacher! I remember him still, with his helmet! He took a look at my head, the flies swarming there, the map of craw-craw all over my face, and shook his head. And mother had to do a dance, a dance which I would see for the first time, but not the last! For you see, all the poor of this earth have their special dances which they dance before the rich and powerful – the dance to get them past locked doors, the dance to escape the stamping boot, the dance to calm the barking Alsatian, the dance for the screaming siren, the dance to soften the impact of the brutal baton, so many dances! That day, my mother danced! … Aduke   But listen to me, Reniyi! Listen – Ereniyi  You heard him just now, laughing, sneering! But does he know? My mother danced! You’ve seen it before? No? You’ve seen a ripe woman abandon her dignity

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and plead for favours? Never? Only the poor know. She tore her hair. Her rags came apart, showing her worn underpants. Like an animal, she fell on her knees. Crawled and begged and wept. She displayed her rags, her gaunt limbs, her dirty feet marked with the scars and dust of unnumbered roads … I’m telling you! I see it again and again, every day, every hour, every minute, a picture in my head that I can’t forget! It was the only way I got into school! And it wasn’t finished. No, it was only the first of her performances. For there were times she could not find the school fees and they would throw me out for a week, a fortnight, sometimes even a month. And she would gather her rags together again, and come to grovel on the classroom floor, while the teacher gritted his teeth and swore at her, and tapped his helmet, and struck his enormous cane on the table … Yes, are you listening! That’s where I’ve come from, from the very depths of humiliation! My mother on the floor, grovelling, clinging to the feet of the teacher. And me, standing outside in absolute terror, too scared to go near, too ashamed even to face all the boys crowding round me, laughing, jeering, pointing at the woman on the floor, my mother … All through school I bore the nicknames in silence: ‘Omo Mama Elekun!’, Son of the Snivelling Mother!’, ‘Omo E Jewo Sah!’, ‘Omo Tisa E Gba Mi!’ The bursts of laughter and mockery, this laughter I’m hearing again now from your lips! … But I survived it all, storing it up in my breast, because I knew that one day I would have my revenge! Yes! That those children would fall on their faces one day and worship that same woman they were humiliating! … That’s how I survived, by hiding and hoarding my rage! I have dreamt of Mama placing her feet on the heads of those arrogant boys one day, of her pronouncing sentence, and of them begging and begging in their broken voices! Aduke   Reniyi, listen! It’s all over now! Come in and rest. That time is gone, for ever … Ereniyi  (Still carried away.) In a few weeks, tell him! In a few

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more weeks, that dream will come true! I’ll be Governor, and she’ll be First Lady, by my choice! Yes! And here you come, talking of murder! … Aduke   (Stunned.) Did you say … wait, Reniyi! Did I hear you say just now that Mama, your mother, will be First Lady? Ereniyi  Yes! At last! To wash away those days of shame! Aduke   So what about me? Me! Ereniyi  You are my wife. Your turn will come. We have all of our life together, a whole future before us. But first, the old woman. Before she dies, let her taste, even if briefly, the sweet nectar of power … Aduke  So that’s why you brought her over today! And you didn’t even tell me! (Sobbing.) Akindele  I’ve listened to you, sir, and if that’s how you really feel, then I’m sorry for you, for you’re not the kind of Governor the people need. Your heart is too full of bitterness. You’re going in only for vengeance. Not for service. Half of the people won’t survive even your first year in office at this rate! And it’s the more reason why I must stop you. Ereniyi  You can’t stop me, damn you! People like you, you’re only there to take orders. And see, the secret of power is here, I’ve learnt it well! (He dips his hand in his pocket and brings out currency notes, which he flings disdainfully on the floor.) That’s the shape of it! The beginning and end of power! Alpha and Omega! That’s what l learnt from that abject beginning. From those hard school benches, from the mockery of my mates, I learnt slowly the truth about life. When their fathers drove in after school to carry them home, I would hide behind a tree and drink it all in. The glowing faces of affluence. The shining clothes of lace and damask. The smart coats and ties. The decorated caps. I drank it all in, watching till all the cars disappeared and I was I alone in the school. Then and only then would I turn and begin my four kilometre walk home, alone in the dust and sand. Alone in the scorching sun. And my mind

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would be on fire, with all kinds of dreams and plans. Ah, how far I’ve had to walk! How far! There’s no looking back again, where I’m going! Akindele  I’m very sorry for you, with all this venom inside – Ereniyi  But I made it, didn’t I? I grew rich! I conquered power! Look around. Look at me, where’s the sign left now of that village boy? Show me! Nothing! I’ve walked away and triumphed! I’ve joined the ranks of the powerful. Through crooked streets, yes, and hard, cruel nights. I’ve arrived in victory! I am a candidate for Governor for the most powerful party in the land! And Governor I shall be! Akindele  Not with a rope round your neck! Ereniyi  Rubbish! Or don’t you understand? You’ve got to have proof, and not all this fairy tale you’ve been spinning all evening! You need evidence. A witness. Someone bold enough to come forward, to dare mount the witness box and point accusing fingers at a man who would be his next Governor! Show me the man, and then let’s see if he can’t be bought! Akindele  Suppose I have the man, Chief? Suppose I can produce him even now? Ereniyi  A man? Don’t make me laugh. Another of your theatrical games, isn’t it? Akindele  I’m talking of a man, Chief! Flesh and blood! A man who saw it all. Who witnessed everything when you drove your car over the poor officer and crushed his skull. For it was you, wasn’t it? It was you, not your wife! But someone saw everything and is ready to swear to it – has already sworn to it in fact, in an affidavit, because he was there! Ereniyi  You’re making it up! No one was there! Akindele  Do you wish to see him? It’s a man you’ve met before, many times! A man you ran over and then abandoned, because you thought he was dead … the very officer himself! Ereniyi  & Aduke What! Akindele  Yes, you thought he was dead, didn’t you? You

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thought you had killed him, but he lived! We put him in hospital, and luckily, he survived. Chief your ambitions are ruined. Ereniyi  (Scared now.) No! No! He was dead! I know he died. Akindele  You wish to see him? Ehn? (Calls.) Come in, Mr. Kuyinu! Come in! (From the kitchen, Kuyinu limps in.) Ereniyi  (Scared.) Kuyinu, you! You! No! It’s a ghost! Kuyinu (Hoarse.) I didn’t die, Chief. (Coughs.) … Your car didn’t quite finish me! So it is you (coughing) who … who are finished now! You’re finished … Ereniyi  (Screaming.) I killed you! I killed you once, you stubborn goat! I killed you and I shall kill you again! Till you die! (He lunges forward at Kuyinu and slaps him violently. As he does, the mask on Kuyinu’s face fragments, revealing behind it the face of Bojula.) Ereniyi  (Taken aback.) What … what’s this? You’re not Kuyinu? … Bojula  No, chief. I may as well confess. It was a mask made for me by the theatre department at the University. Now, thanks to you, I won’t be able to return it intact! Aduke   But I don’t understand! Who are you? Akindele  His name is Bojula, madam. Sergeant Dapo Bojula, another of my assistants. Aduke   A trick! It’s a trick! We’re lost, Reniyi! Ereniyi  You’re really a devil, aren’t you? Akindele  (To Coral.) Collect the tapes, Coral Yes, Chief, your wife was right, I’ve got my tapes all over the place. That confession was really beautiful. Come with me, please. It’s all over. Ereniyi  (Haggard.) No … No! I’d rather die! (He rushes over to a cabinet, pulls out a gun. But Coral is fast upon him, rips gun of his hand, and sends him sprawling on the carpet.) Coral  Sorry, sir. Didn’t mean to – Aduke  (Running around frantically.) Please! Please! Spare him! Please! I’ll pay you anything! Anything! See? (She runs for her bag and empties it out. Currency notes and jewels tumble on the floor.) All of it for you! And more! All my

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gold! All our money, have it all! (Runs to drawer, pulls out false bottom, and again, notes and jewels fall out.) Please! For my sake! For the sake of our children! Our friends! His mother! Mercy for the sake of God. Akindele  (Hard.) No, madam. It’s murder. It cannot be done. Aduke   (Running to Coral.) Sisi! Sisi mi! You’re a woman too, like me! Please, for my sake, plead for him. He’s worked so hard to reach where he is. Don’t bring him down like this! Please! And it’s not just him alone. It’s all of us … it’s so many dreams going to perish! … Coral  (Anguished, turns to Akindele.) Sir? … Please? Akindele  (Angrily.) Please, what? You heard me! Coral  Yes, but if there’s a chance? If we could … Bojula  And me too, sir. I heard everything, in there. I’m sorry for them. I too, I came from the poor, and – Akindele  Shut up, both of you! You don’t know what you’re saying! You want me to have you dismissed? Coral  (Insistent.) It’s only a plea, sir. Akindele  Because he came from poverty! And me, me also, where do you think I came from? Look at me! Do you think I had no mother too who had to learn her special dance, who picked her stores from the leftovers of markets? If everyone who was born poor were to make that an excuse to murder and plunder. Aduke  But that’s what happens everywhere, Inspector! Anywhere you turn. It’s the world we’re living in! How can we alone change the rules? To survive, we all plunder, and murder, in various degrees. If we aim for the top, we must kill our conscience … Akindele  That’s why I joined the Force, madam, to fight it the little way I can. No one has to live compulsorily by the rule of beasts… That boy, Kuyinu, whom you all seem to have forgotten, he died, you know! Do you think he too, he had no strong dreams impelling him to live? He had a young wife, a child, all the foundation stones of a future he believed in…

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Ereniyi  They bought you, isn’t it? That’s why you chose this moment to strike? My opponents sent you on my trail? How much did they pay you? A million? Two? Tell me, and I shall double it for you! Plus other things too, if you wish, when I win! Akindele  You see what I mean, Chief, when I said you’d never understand? You think money is all that matters. Money and power… I’m sorry for you. You just won’t accept that other people also have their dreams? That some of us, maybe only a handful, can decide to dedicate our own lives to cleaning up the mess you and your kind insist on making all over the place!… Coral, Dapo, there is no choice, once you join the Force and take the oath. Let us go.. Aduke   (Calling.) Officer … er, Inspector, may I see you alone? Akindele  (After a brief pause.) Well, why not? Take the chief to the car, both of you. I’ll join you. Ereniyi  I’m going, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. As soon as the news of this arrest gets out, you’ll be sorry for yourself! Akindele  It’s a risk I’m willing to take, Chief. Please go now. (Coral, Bojula and the Chief go out.) Aduke   Well, Inspector… you’ll sit down for a while? Akindele  It’s quite late as you know, madam. Aduke  I know. But there’s something I’d like to show you. Wait (She fetches her bag, fishes inside an inner pocket, and brings out an identity card.) I believe you recognize this? Akindele  (Taking the card, and starting.) No! You? Aduke   Sh! It’s secret, you realize. Even he doesn’t know. Akindele  You…an Inspector with the Police Intelligence! Aduke   So now you know. Akindele  But… but I don’t understand… Aduke  I was recruited some years back. At that time, I didn’t know a thing about my husband’s affairs. But when I got to know, it was too late. I could not leave the service,

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and I could not leave my husband. That’s why I’m asking you to understand. Akindele  My God, It’s all so complicated! Aduke   Will you drop the case now, if only because of me? Akindele  Drop it! Like that! Aduke  You’ll be well compensated, I promise. Look, you’re not a young man in the Force… Akindele  No, it’s my eleventh yearAduke   You must know about the Dead File then? Akindele  The Dead File? Aduke  Look, we’ve been through several political crises within the time of your service in the Force. Governments have come, have fallen, and have been replaced. Governments! Well, each of them naturally has is own particular interests, its priorities, people or organizations it wants to protect. That is why the Dead File was created. Sometimes the pressure from the Government are such that we’re helpless, and find ourselves with no option but to turn a blind eye. We’ve done it for so many governments. I am asking you to do this for me. Akindele  (After a pause.) I wish I could, madam. But I can’t. Aduke   You can’t? Akindele  I mean, I have no choice in the matter. The oath I took does not make room for exceptions. Not even friendship will I accept as a bribe. Aduke   Or compassion? Akindele  Your husband, did he have compassion for his victims? Aduke   I see! You will be stubborn, even to a fellow officer! Akindele  You’re trying to corrupt me, madam. Aduke   Let me remind you that the man you have in your hands is not only my husband, whom I will do everything to protect. But he is also in an extremely powerful position in this country. Akindele  Relax, madam, I was told all that even before I accepted the assignment. Aduke  We’ve got connections reaching to the very top

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of our ruling class! We have friends who could buy you and your family several times over, and not even know the difference. If you decide to stop now, and behave, I can assure you, you’ll be more than adequately rewarded. Take it from me! Nobody in your family will remember poverty again for this and many generations to come. It’s an attractive offer, think of it… Akindele  I don’t need to think, madam. This fight is on. Aduke   You mean you’ll prosecute? Akindele  Madam, I don’t wish to forget poverty, because, you see, that’s where I come from, and I cannot forget it. I can’t turn my back, and join the ranks of those who cheat, and steal shamelessly from public funds. Those who have sworn to serve their country, but prefer to plunder it instead, in order to build their own private fortunes. That’s why I joined the Force, madam, to help bring them to book, people like your husband! To help equalize the fight a bit, even if only a little way, between you greedy exploiters and thieves, and the downtrodden on the other side, who are your victims! (Rises angrily.) Can I go? I’m ashamed to be in the same Force as people like you, who use their position to aid and shield crooks! Good night! Aduke  Good, go! Get out! We’ll see who’ll be begging tomorrow! Akindele  Yes, madam! We’ll see! For your own tomorrow is not what I know is the tomorrow of Justice. Goodbye. (He goes. Aduke bursts out crying.) Blackout. THE END

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Book Reviews

Yvette Hutchison & Amy Jephta (eds), Contemporary Plays by African Women London: Methuen Drama, 2019, 338 pp. ISBN 9781350034525 Hb £75.00; ISBN 9781350034518 Pb £24.99; ISBN 9781350034549 EPUB £26.68; ISBN 9781350034532 PDF £26.89.

The first edited collection of plays by African women to come out since Kathy A. Perkins’ 2009 African Women Play­ wrights (University of Illinois Press), this volume is a longawaited addition to the published body of dramatic literature from the continent, written, devised and created by women. The anthology emerged out of a 2015 Women’s Playwriting International Conference in Cape Town and the African Women’s Playwright Network (AWPN) funded by the British Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). AWPN had been set up as an online network by the editors Yvette Hutchison of the University of Warwick, and the South African playwright and director Amy Jephta, in con­ junc­tion with a digital service provider, Every1Mobile, who are committed to social change in emerging markets. With the help of a purpose-built mobile app., African women creative practitioners were enabled to connect with each other on a national and international level, showcase their work, link up with academia and the cultural industries, and thus increase their visibility. Importantly, in a move towards decolonizing methodologies, the app. and the Facebook 169

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group (which ran parallel, but eventually replaced the app. when AHRC funding ran out) have been managed as reciprocal sites between initiators and participants; work and information can be shared and developed independently or in collaboration, as need be. (For more details see https:// warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/theatre_s/research/impact/awpn, accessed 17 June 2019). The seven plays published here, some in translation, came out of this initial partnership between the project team and seven playwrights hailing from Egypt (Sara Shaarawi), Nigeria (’Tosin Jobi-Tume), Zimbabwe (Thembelihle Moyo), Uganda (Adong Judith), Kenya ( J. C. Niala), South Africa (Koleka Putuma) and Cameroon (Sophia Mempuh Kwachuh). Although some already have considerable experience as theatre and film makers, script writers, poets or community activists, with a few having been published locally, their works are as yet little known in the wider world. They could have easily remained ‘literary unknowns’, to borrow a phrase from Amandina Lihamba (‘Foreword’, African Women Playwrights 2009: x), due to inadequate pub­ lishing and marketing infrastructures, limited access to theatre spaces and development funding, and other structural inequalities at the intersection of social power and material resources, including the well-known threesome of gender, class and race. It is the same old story again and again. If the plays are not ‘out there’ to be read, staged and taught, teachers, theatre makers, and students of (African) theatre will continue to engage with the usual circles of established names and dramatic texts, the majority being male. And although ‘canon formation’ in African theatre is not necessarily a bad thing – too often even recognized works merely occupy a niche in both teaching and theatre practice (readers of the African Theatre series will relate to that) – we also need new female dramatists in our repertoire to sustain the vibrancy of theatre and avoid calcification. Koleka Putuma, in the ‘Critical introduction’ to her play Mbuzeni (translated as ‘The act of asking God or a human

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being for an answer’) however writes: Throughout my undergraduate programme at the University of Cape Town, the inability to source plays published from 2004 to 2014 by black South African women playwrights (to stage and perform), perturbed me for two main reasons: the first being that black women currently making original work exist, some who also identify as playwrights. The second being that I began to notice that black female narratives were reliant on authorial prejudices in texts that were written by black and white men, as well as by white women playwrights. I was bothered by how these narratives were still detained in stereotypes, and how the black female in these narratives could not exist as an agent of her own identity and destiny. (272–3)

While some of her words, and those of the editors, echo long-established discourses on African women’s writing – such as the urge of women creative practitioners to ‘hear themselves: in their own voices’ (4) and create agency – Putuma also emphasizes the influence that recognized play­ wrights of any colour or gender can have on positioning black female bodies on stage. This is what this collection is set against, although not in the sense of ‘writing back’ at established authors, but by developing personal themes and narratives, sometimes through workshops and other collabora­tions. So, what then is new in this new collection, apart from ‘new voices’ and the deployment of digital technologies? A lot of the themes in Contemporary Plays continue to address and challenge patriarchal dominance and other hegemonic discourses – be it race, age and social custom, land ownership, education, gendered violence or group affiliation – in conjunctions with the coloniality of power (Anibal Quijano 2000) which older, more established African women playwrights have also already addressed. This anthology, however, brings a new radicalness to the fore in the best political sense of the word – from the Latin, radix (root) as in ‘to look at / change something from the root’ – that I find unprecedented and very timely. The playwrights gathered

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here do not mince their words. They do indeed write ‘on their own terms’ and do not seem to cater to theatrical modes and fads to please dramaturges, programmers, funding bodies or a theatrical public. Instead, they address issues they themselves are interested in; and they do so with a new forcefulness and originality that is both thought-provoking and refreshing, even if not always easy to digest. The opening play, Niqabi Ninja (Sara Shaarawi) tackles socially accepted misogyny and the normalization of abusive sexual conduct and assault not only in Cairo during the socalled Arab Spring, but throughout the protagonist Hana’s adolescence and early adulthood. Shaarawi turns this play into ‘revenge fantasy’ (9) by having Hana create a sassy female Muslim comic superhero in line with the Burqa Avenger in Pakistan or the Pakistani-American Ms Marvel, Kamala Khan, who helps her cope with traumatic experiences and the resulting anger. ‘Revenge’ is also a theme that runs forcefully through Adong Judith’s Silent Voices (the fourth play in the collection) – the play I found hardest to read because of the subject matter, but which gripped me no end, as well as because of its ingenious metatheatricality. Based on durational research and in-depth interviews with survivors of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army, Adong reveals that political calls for ‘reconciliation’, ‘forgiveness’ and ‘amnesty’ do not necessarily lead to a sense of justice for those who were violently affected. Instead, it can lead to a repetition and transgenerational transmission of trauma, and a deep sense of betrayal. The play also addresses the difficulties of, and stigma attached to, ‘rehabilitated’ former fighters, especially child soldiers, and the harm that silence and denial of one’s history can do to family members and loved ones. Violence and stigmatization are also the core themes of ’Tosin Jobi-Tume’s Not That Women (second play) which tackles the issue of domestic abuse and its frequent denial. A more conventional play set in a Nigerian women’s refuge, it presents readers with a (strategic) range of women from all walks of life to demonstrate that everybody can be affected,

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no matter which social class, religion or region you hail from. Importantly, the play also highlights how women themselves help prepare and maintain the ground for violent behaviour: by the stigmatization of single mothers or childless women and divorcees, by urging daughters to stay in abusive marriages, or by failing to teach their sons respect for females. (These aspects were also stressed in a recent celebrity production of Hear Word: Naija Woman Talk True, a dynamic performance of short skits on Nigerian women’s lives by iOpenEye Productions, Lagos that had its European premiere at the Lessingtage 2019 in Hamburg, Germany. It made me wonder whether these issues reflect a debate particularly prevalent to Nigeria at this moment in time, although these are points too important to confine to one national context). A vital, if unsurprising, undercurrent in all of these plays is the idea of ‘empowerment’. While Hana in Niqabi Ninja is empowered by fantasy and artistic creation, Zimbabwean Thembihle Moyo’s strong-willed 18-year-old character Yinka in I Want to Fly (the third play) is emboldened by a group of supportive women to continue her education and follow her dream of becoming a pilot, thus resisting her father’s plan to marry her off to a moneyed, much older man. Importantly, it is not only Yinka whose educational prospects are nearly thwarted by poverty and parental intervention: her younger brother Thusi equally suffers when he is made to work on a white-owned farm rather than return to school. This, then, is not necessarily a gendered, but an intergenerational conflict, placed against the backdrop of a patriarchal society that views women and children as sexual and ‘money-spinning’ commodities. In their ‘Introduction’, Hutchison and Jephta distinguish between two broad categories of plays: those addressing gendered abuse (which we find in practically all of the texts), and those ‘consider[ing] the role of history in the experiences of women’ (2). Often, it is a combination of both; the spectres of colonialism, armed conflict and tradition continue to haunt, and perpetuate, different

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forms of exploitation and misuse in the contemporary lifeworlds of these plays. J. C. Niala’s brilliantly titled Unsettled (play five) features an unusual combination of secondand third-generation Kenyan White characters, local and diasporic Kenyan Africans (and some British / European Whites), in a budding provincial town, who negotiate questions of belonging, land and property issues, but also personal relations across gender, generations and fairly selfcontained communities. Intriguing is Niala’s use of accents and language proficiency – both English and Swahili – as markers of group affiliation and alleged status while illustrating that things are much more complicated on both public and personal level than first meets the eye. My personal favourite among this highly diverse and captivating collection is Putuma’s Mbuzeni, a play about four orphaned black girls aged ten to thirteen who have made their home in a graveyard, either in the ‘present or a suggestion of the afterlife’ (272). These girls are wise and strong beyond their years – having all suffered some form of neglect, mistreatment and hardship – and yet they remain children with the ability to laugh, share, look out for and fight with each other, and play. The girls have an obsession with funerals and spent much of their time re-enacting these. By doing so, they prove themselves sharp observers of the adult world, but they also let us in on their hidden fantasies and fears. It is a text that can echo our own anxieties, fixations and (fear of) death, but there is a quirky humour to it that provides the topic with a certain lightness, even in moments of deepest sadness. This is a great strength of the play: it makes you mindful and pensive, but not necessarily depressed. While Putuma and the other writers have indeed placed African female narratives at the forefront of this collection (cf. Putuma: 273), their work often transcends the context in which the plays are set, thus speaking to much wider audiences the world over; and not only on the level of the One Billion Rising and #MeToo movements. I witnessed this powerfully

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at the UK book launch at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry in February 2019. Excerpts of Shaarawi, Adong and Putuma’s plays were performed by the Belgrade’s remarkable Black Youth Theatre group, followed by facilitated discussions with respondents and an audience notable for its diversity. People related the plays to their own contexts, thereby starting conversations about culturally contingent safe spaces for women, the normalization of sexually abusive language, UK gang culture and the accountability of legal minors, also in relation to the recent case of Shamima Begum.1 It confirmed my contention that African playwriting has a lot to offer to international audiences, be they non-African or part of the African diaspora, and that it is not of interest only to the socalled BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) communities or academic ‘specialists’. The new decolonizing methodology of this collection will also set the ground for a more ethical approach of ‘doing’ theatre research and creative collaborations on the African continent. Naomi André, in her fascinating study on Black Opera (University of Illinois Press 2018) has come up with three very pertinent questions for an ‘engaged musicology’ that we as spectators, theatre makers or students of theatre should also continuously ask ourselves. Who is being represented (who is in the story / on stage)? Who is telling the story (who speaks / gets to speak, both on and off stage)? Who watches and interprets the story (who is in the audience)? In the case of this collection, the answers are clear. In the final play by Sophie Mempuh Kwachuh, Bonganyi, initially a movement piece, the eponymous heroine (or rather her ancient ghost) relates the story of how she tried to free her family by taking part in a dance contest: ‘And I tell you I had hoped for a day./ The day which I too would stand above the ground and tell my story’ (310). This collection is Bonganyi’s day: women Shamima Begum is a British-born woman who left the UK in February 2015 at the age of 15 to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria. There is a debate about whether she should be tried consequently upon her intention to return to the UK.

1

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creative practitioners from all corners of the continent stand above the ground to tell their stories. My one issue with the book is the publisher’s African pricing policy: the hardback sells for R1481.00, the paperback at R650 on a South African website which, in March 2019, was a prohibitive £78.61 / 34.00! This will certainly preclude wide circulation and needs to be challenged. Christine Matzke Dept. of English Literature, University of Bayreuth, Germany

Tiziana Morosetti (ed.), Africa on the Contemporary London Stage London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, 246pp. ISBN 9783319945071. Hb £79.99.

Africa has long been re/presented on the London stage; from stories of bizarre Georgian caricatures exemplified by Sartjee Baartman, the infamous ‘Hottentot Venus’, who ‘gained some notoriety in London in 1810 to 1811 as a popular performer’ (Lindfors 2014: 36, University of Wisconsin Press), to Ira Aldridge, whose 1833 appearance as William Shakespeare’s Othello on the Covent Garden stage was as remarkable as it was unprecedented. Africa on the Contemporary London Stage offers a much more contemporary account of the re/presentation of Africa on the London stage from the 1950s to the present. Even though the title of the book appears to impress upon the reader that its contents will involve a Pan-African exploration, its focus is mainly on the works of playwrights, theatre companies and practitioners from a Nigerian background or heritage, and the place they occupy on the London stage. More so, the volume does not explore works by African-Caribbean playwrights or black British theatre more generally, due to

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what it considers the ‘mainstream recognition’ enjoyed by black British theatre in the twenty-first century, and ‘[t] he new millennial prominence of British Nigerian cultural presences on the stage’ (4). As such, the introductory chapter by Morosetti serves as a useful entrée to the volume and sets the context for the unfolding discourse presented in the subsequent chapters. In examining the theatre practitioners and companies that represent the British-Nigerian presence on the London stage, Africa on the Contemporary London Stage ‘discusses whether the Africa that emerges from the London scene is stereotypical, or whether it has, on the contrary, contributed to an understanding of the continent and its arts’ (2). The book is divided into two broad parts, with a total of thirteen chapters. Part I and Part II are each made up of six chapters and are suitably framed by the introductory chapter. Part I is subtitled ‘Africa on the London Stage, 1955–2013’ and features a range of voices starting with James Gibbs’ chapter, ‘Freedom, London 1955: A Story of Modern Africa Written and Acted by Africans, or Perhaps Not’. Relying on the archival research he undertook for the chapter, Gibbs argues that Freedom, which was staged at the Westminster Theatre during August 1955 by a group of African actors, cannot in fact be seen as ‘a story of modern Africa written and acted by Africans’ (36). While conceding that ‘there are moments when recognisable “voices of Africa” can be heard, the play was constructed to reflect to its (American/ European) sponsors a fundamentally un-African version of the continent and forces at work on it’ (20). The next chapter by Steve Nicholson, ‘Africa on the British Stage, 1955–1966’, looks at performances during a time in history that was marked by unremitting decline in imperial power and the rise of independence in Africa and how they ‘offer insights into the attitudes and cultural politics of the period’ (45). Tiziana Morosetti’s ‘“On One of Those Sunday Nights”: 50 Years of Africa at the Royal Court Theatre’ offers a contextual discussion of a number of performances at the Royal Court,

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as well as the place occupied by the Royal Court as a platform and launching pad for plays by African authors and those of African descent. Michael Pearce’s chapter on ‘Biyi Bandele’s Theatre of the Afropolitan Absurd’ makes for a particularly enjoyable reading. Pearce offers a well-rounded examination of three of Bandele’s early plays through what he describes as ‘two distinct but related lenses … the tradition of the African absurd [and] the transnational concept of Afropolitanism’ (87–8). Pearce argues that ‘Bandele’s use of absurdism in Marching for Fausa, Two Horsemen, and Resurrections enabled his searing state-of-the-nation non-didactic critiques. But his complex stylistic choices also implicitly critique Nigerian (and other African) artistic discourses’ (103). Part I also includes a chapter by Lynette Goddard, which examines the early plays of Oladipo Agboluaje set in Nigeria but written for the London audience. ‘Nigerian Political Satire at the Soho Theatre: Class, Culture, and Theatrical Languages in Oladipo Agboluaje’s The Estate and Iyale (The First Wife)’ also offers a counter discourse to the perception of black audiences as homogenous. Sophie Duncan’s ‘Black Masculinity and the Black Voice: Casting and Canonicity in the National Theatre Gala’, one chapter that is not Nigerian-focused, rounds off Part I of the collection of essays with a case study examining Live from the National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage, a 2013 gala performance celebrating fifty years of London’s National Theatre. According to Duncan, the chapter centres on how the gala deployed black identity in three ways: through the narration and performance of the black British actor Adrian Lester (b. 1968); through re-mediatisation of the blackface Othello of Lawrence Olivier (1907–1989), and through archival footage of Kwame Kwei-Armah (b. 1967) and his play Elmina’s Kitchen (2003), performed in an extract from its 2005 film adaptation. (129–30)

Part II, as the subtitle suggests, explores the work of ‘Companies and Theatre Practitioners’. It is introduced by Victor Ukaegbu’s chapter which explores the work of Talawa

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and Tiata Fahodzi; two mainstream theatre companies at the forefront of showcasing the black British experience in all its manifestations. The next two chapters are written by practitioners with a focus on the theatre companies they lead. Alex Oma-Pius’s chapter recounts the work of his company IROKO Theatre and its impact on the African Theatre in Education scene in London. In a similar vein, the chapter by Arne Pohlmeier, the co-artistic director of the Londonbased Two Gents Productions, offers a discussion that takes off from the company’s formation with two Zimbabwean born actors in 2008 and extends to their artistic influences, working methods, and impact on the London stage. The last three chapters of the book consist of insightful interviews with Ade Solanke, Rotimi Babatunde and Dipo Agboluaje, three Nigerian playwrights whose works have been produced in recent years on the London stage. Overall, Africa on the Contemporary London Stage is a recom­ mended read. However, while the book offers interesting perspectives on the presence of ‘Africa’ on the London stage from the 1950s to the present, it cannot be read as truly representative of African creativity on the London stage, as it is weighted towards Nigeria. In this respect, it would have been useful to provide a postscript of a range of other playwrights, works and theatre companies that link back to other African countries and cultures, including even some of the famous productions from Nigeria, such as Wole Soyinka’s The Road at the Theatre Royal Stratford East (1965), or The Lion and the Jewel at the Royal Court (1966), and Femi Osofisan’s Women of Owu at the Ovalhouse Theatre (2004). Colin Chambers’ article, ‘Black British Plays Post World War II –1970s’ (www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/featuredcontent/essays/martin-banham-wole-soyinkas-early-workroyal-court-theatre) and Michael Pearce’s ‘Tracing Black America in black British theatre from the 1970s’ (www. blackplaysarchive.org.uk/featured-content/essays/tracingblack-america-in-black-british-theatre-from-the-1970s-bydr.-michael-pearce) could fill some of the gaps in this book.

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That said, Africa on the Contemporary London Stage makes a hugely profound contribution to Nigerian, indeed African diasporan theatre and performance practice and scholarship. The book provides readers with an insightful and compelling account of the historical and political contexts, as well as the cultural underpinnings of contemporary African performance on the London stage today. Africa on the Contemporary London Stage makes a significant contribution to understanding the history and extant developments in African and African diaspora theatre as it relates to the London theatre scene. Kene Igweonu Middlesex University, London

Austin C. Okigbo, Music, Culture, and the Politics of Health: Ethnography of a South African AIDS Choir Lanihan, Boulder, New York and London: Lexington Books, 2016, 215 pp. ISBN 9781498510103. Hb $85 / £53.

Austin Okigbo’s book offers an ethnographic panorama of musical intervention in the South African HIV/AIDS miasma using the Siphithemba Choir as paradigm. The work is segmented into nine chapters including the introductory and conclusive sections. It is further garnished with illustrations, tables, abbreviations, an appendix of some scored and notated songs of the Choir as transcribed by the author, and a glossary on Zulu orthography and diction to guide the reader. The introductory chapter presents the author’s first encounter with the Siphithemba Choir and their performance, albeit in a rehearsal situation. In that context, the thematic preoccupations of the song texts were apparent, and they include ‘love, fidelity, the Black race, and Africa’, especially ‘love and fidelity in the context of HIV/AIDS’ (2). Against the backdrop of South Africa’s statistical data on HIV/AIDS prevalence, particularly the high provincial figures posted

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by KwaZulu-Natal (the area of the research), it becomes understandable why ‘creative and expressive responses to the HIV/AIDS situation’ was necessary (4). This artistic response as exemplified by the Siphithemba Choir becomes even more pertinent and topical as a medium of public health education that has become complicated by the politics of culture, class, race and resistance. The rest of the book tries to ‘address different aspects of the[se] issues’ as highlighted in the introductory segment. The second chapter delves into socio-cultural issues and historical circumstances that led to the formation of the Siphithemba troupe. Historically, the group was composed of individuals dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS under the aegis of a Christian Mission on the platform of the McCord Hospital. Being a health mission that catered to the Zulu community, the McCord Hospital assisted the people in coping with different outbreaks of epidemics including HIV. By the late 1990s, ‘the HIV/AIDS situation in South Africa was already becoming alarming’, hence the hospital management reasoned that ‘help in the form of spiritual counseling and social support system could be useful in helping people cope with the emotional and material burdens associated with being HIV positive’ (26). Therefore, the Sinikithemba Support Group led by Mrs Nonhlanhla Mhlongo was founded with a choral section in 1997. From Sinikithemba, meaning ‘we give hope’, the Support Group carried forth its spiritual, emotional and economic support to HIV victims which gave birth to the Siphithemba Choir. The next chapter provides a discursive link between music and the management of epidemics in South Africa. Relying on some historical evidence, the author argues that music was a part of the cultural means of responding to epidemics such as Smallpox, Rinderpest Epizootic, Malaria, Influenza in the region, dating back to the eighteenth century; as well as HIV/AIDS from 1982 to the present. From the musical com­positions of Reuben Caluza to the choral work of Lihle Biata, the musical renditions of the Siphithemba Choir find a

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historical anchor and artistic precedence, thereby justifying the historiographical methodology of the author in this section of the book. The fourth segment interrogates the dual ‘spaces’ that foreground and drive the artistic productions of the Siphi­ themba. These are the musical and the social spaces, and both ‘spaces’ seek to catalyse ‘communal action’. In this context, Okigbo goes beyond the aesthetics of the Siphithemba compositions and performance to interrogate the spirituality of their music and its actual application in human relations within their social milieu. The author observes that the Choir’s organization and functionality are rooted in a ‘sense of community’ that is characteristic of ‘the Zulu and Nguni social philosophy of ubuntu’, which privileges communality and mutual support hinged on the trifocal virtues of interdependence, interconnectedness of persons, and well-being of humans and their environment (57). The application of the ubuntu philosophy by the Siphithemba is apt considering the stigma that envelops the patients of HIV/ AIDS that consigns them to live at the margins of society. Furthermore, the ubuntu canon found expression not only in the organization and relationships of the troupe but also in their compositions and performances as well. Even as the troupe was divided into sub-groups and held two rehearsal sections focusing on traditional song and gospel music respectively, the purpose was to encourage creativity, artistic unity and interdependence. In the fifth chapter, Okigbo explores the spirituality and socio-cultural experience of the Siphithemba Choir. He argues that the ‘purposefulness’ of the troupe’s ‘songs and music making’ will be ‘appreciated especially by exploring their musical choices, and the messages and meanings of their songs’ (75). Straddling between two musical genres – traditional and gospel (concepts that are loosely applied by the author), the Choir seeks through their compositions to maintain their indigenous cultural heritage as well as their Christian religious values. The combination of genres was

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also meant to create ‘a powerful tool in transmitting their gospel of hope using a form that is recognizable to their local communities’ (78). In both compositional and performative forms and structures the Siphithemba Choir ‘blurs the boundary between the sacred and the secular’ (179). Nevertheless, they ‘preferred to be designated as a gospel choir, rather than as an HIV/AIDS choir’, probably because they believed they were ‘preaching the gospel through their music and activities’ in an era of HIV/AIDS prevalence (83). But the thematic content of the Siphithemba show their consciousness about the reality of fighting HIV/AIDS which requires some physical, spiritual and emotional attitudes as reflected in the song texts profusely reproduced and analysed by the author. Such themes include struggle and militarism, faith and hope, behaviour change, and stigma and denial. The next segment of the book examines music making processes and stylistic approaches of the Choir. Although various individual members may compose the songs, the songs are woven to reflect the experiences and thoughts of others, a reflection of the common reality that they all share in being HIV-positive. This notwithstanding, the group jointly composes many of the songs in their repertoire and such ‘communal composition’ is done in three major ways: adaptation of pre-existing song tunes through insertions and re-arrangement; a ‘workshop’ creation of songs whereby members contribute bits and pieces that are then synthesized into one composition; and the creation of themes and textual messages that are subsequently woven or ‘beaten’ into a melody that had been earlier harmonized through humming and allied lyrical arts. Thus, the compositional approach of the troupe is fluid, dynamic and elastic. The result is an eclectic composition made up of basics and fragments of the musical arts using improvisation, quotation and adaptation as the overriding stylistic approaches. The dance was equally dramatic with suggestive movements in their kinaesthetic vocabulary created to add meaning and action to the song texts. The author ends the discourse in this section with

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an analysis of the form and structure, instrumentation, choreography and dance of the Siphithemba. Chapter 7 looks at the subject of musical instruments and instrumentation in the Siphithemba performance. It highlights and interrogates the cultural politics that underlie the use (and non-use) of the idlamu, a Zulu drum within the Choir’s ensemble. Going beyond the symbolisms and metaphors of indigenous African instruments to the politics of culture, race and religion, Okigbo observes that Western ‘distortion of African cultural practices and condemnation of African values and worldview’ as well as ‘Missionary efforts to suppress the music of African peoples’ played out in the relationship between the Siphithemba Choir and the McCord Hospital management. The attempt by the hospital authorities to ban the use of the Zulu traditional drum therefore highlights the multiple struggles and layers of stigmatization confronting the Choir whose HIV status, race, class and socio-cultural background have condensed into an archetypal albatross with strong political undercurrents that even inhibit their artistic freedom. But the attempt to ‘dance without drum’ and by converting the Europeans’ table into a ‘drum accompaniment’ for their choral rendition and dance performance is for the Choir a symbolic measure of resistance to assert their humanity and find a voice within the space of cultural contestation. In the book’s penultimate chapter, the author expands the discourse on politics of identity and representation as it affects the Siphithemba Choir. From their song texts, there is a palpable notion of ethnic and racial consciousness even within the context of HIV/AIDS prevalence. Words and phrases such as ‘Africa’, ‘Black nation’, ‘Black race’, are recurrent in their compositions, highlighting the sentiment that globally the Black race remained at the receiving end of the pains and deprivation associated with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Indeed, factors such as interracial acrimony in a post-Apartheid milieu, the global politics of HIV/AIDS, and the lingering impacts of Apartheid all contribute to

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a consciousness within the Choir to ‘negotiate a sense of Black and African identity within the context of the AIDS discourse’ (148). Against the façade of racial profiling and prejudice against the Black community and government tagging of AIDS as ‘black disease’, the Siphithemba Choir members consciously express their Africanness through music and allied artistic elements of cultural production such as language, costumes, dance and style. In the concluding chapter, Okigbo makes some general reflections on the Choir and the underlying politics of HIV/ AIDS and health. Through the methodology of microanalysis, the author places the Siphithemba Choir as well as the political and cultural issues reflected in their music within a larger context of South Africa’s political antecedents and public health debate, particularly as they reflect and refract on the politics of HIV/AIDS. The author equally justifies his ethnographic approach in the work as it highlights the local contexts, worldviews, sensibilities and individual and group experiences of the subjects being studied. Okigbo concludes by raising some crucial questions on the reality of daily existence and survival of the Choir members such as the paradox of a gospel choir advocating the use of condoms to reduce HIV infections against the doctrinal dogma of the Church which prohibits condom use. On the whole, Okigbo’s book raises pertinent questions about being Black and HIV-positive in South Africa. It seeks to amplify the voices of the Choir on the global political platform, not merely as singers with a Christian religious background but as Black Africans struggling for survival in an environment choked with racial, socio-cultural and political inhibitions and stigmatization. Hence, the Siphithemba Choir’s musical space is ‘a space of communal social action’ (73). They maintain a ‘worldview that informed their ability to function as a support group that provides spiritual and emotional support to members’, thereby strengthening their dedication to ‘bringing the message of hope to their local community through their songs, and to educate them

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on the need for disease prevention and treatment’ (65). Indeed, Austin Okigbo’s Music, Culture, and the Politics of Health: Ethnography of a South African AIDS Choir is highly recommended for students, researchers, and policy makers interested in the subjects of race, politics, culture, music, HIV/AIDS and sustainable public health education through the performing arts. Charles E. Nwadigwe Department of Theatre and Film Studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria

Emmanuel N. Ngwang and Kenneth Usongo, Art and Political Thought in Bole Butake Maryland, Lexington Books, 2016, 131 pp. ISBN 9781498538107. Hb £49.95 / $75.

The creative ingenuity of the Cameroonian dramatist Bole Butake has inspired a quantity of critical material on African theatre and drama. Selected researches on Bole Butake include John Tiku Takem’s Theatre and Environmental Education in Cameroon (2005), Hilarious Ambe’s Change Aesthetics in Anglophone Drama and Theatre (2007), Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong’s Rituals in Cameroon Drama: A Semiological Interpretation of the Plays of Gilbert Doho, Bole Butake and Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh (2011), and several articles by Christopher Odhiambo. The research insights of the listed works concur with Emmanuel N. Ngwang and Kenneth Usongo’s book as they respond to Butake’s employment of aesthetic imageries and indigenous knowledge to confront and deconstruct the politics of the state and indicate how the application of that politics restrict resourceful metaphors to a few individuals of a community. Unflinchingly, Ngwang and Usongo pursue a political stance in Art and Political Thought in Bole Butake which suggests that the imaginary Fondoms and

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Chiefdoms in which Butake sets most of his plays are indeed metaphorical presentations of postcolonial African status quo in general, and Cameroon specifically. It is within this political frame that Ngwang and Usongo examine Butake’s collection of plays entitled Lake God and Other plays which contains Lake God, The Survivors, And Palm Wine Will Flow, The Rape of Michelle, Dance of the Vampires, and Shoes and Four Men in Arms. Both authors investigate Butake’s thematic universe and aesthetic framework in a bid to capture Cameroon’s postcolonial canvas which they argue is ‘saddled with numerous political and social abuses’ akin not only to the concerns of the Anglophones of that nation but also to other marginalized groups. However, it is worthy of mention that Ngwang and Usongo’s interest in analysing the works of Bole Butake is to make a critical commentary on the ‘Anglophone Problem’ in Cameroon, a situation which has always pitted the English-speaking regions against the authority of the French-speaking leadership in the country, and which restricts development and political participation, and encourages persecution of the Englishspeaking regions. Therefore, Art and Political Thought in Bole Butake consists of ten chapters that critically explore the different subjects of Butake’s drama. In the introductory chapter entitled ‘Contextualizing Butake: An Introduction’, Ngwang and Usongo explore critique of Anglophone Cameroon literature, tracing its origins to the region’s oral source. However, they trace the roots of the scripted version of Anglophone literature to Sankie Maimo’s I am Vindicated (1959). From the tapestry woven by Maimo is the pattern embodied in subsequent plays by English-speaking Cameroonian writers, and the main fabric is politics. According to the authors, the second chapter of the book, ‘The Political Dimensions of Lake God and Other Plays’, responds to authentic political events in Cameroon from 1986–96, at the time when most of the plays in the collection were first published. The authentic historical circumstances that inform the plays, as posited

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by the authors, ‘depict a society struggling under the iron grasp of corruption … the abuse of political power’ (23). They claim that Butake’s plays ‘ indict a regime that has out lived its usefulness, and by so doing, the playwright predicates his works in politics. In other words, Butake is a political playwright, pure and simple’ (23). Further, the authors assert that the revolutionary and resilient character of Butake’s protagonist, Shey Ngong, in And Palm Wine Will Flow is analogous to Butake’s total rejection of playing a cheerleading role in the government of Cameroon in the 1990s by publicly refusing to be ‘Lapiroed’; a topic fully exploited in an interview with the playwright in the second chapter of the book. To be ‘Lapiroed’ was to be co-opted into the oppressive government apparatus as a Minister or government functionary, a situation Butake found himself in 1992, when he was appointed the charge de mission for the ruling party during the first multi-party legislative elections. Chapters 4 and 5, entitled ‘Reconfiguration of Colonialism in Postcolonial Cameroon in Lake God and Other Plays’ and ‘Colonial Legacy and the Culture of Corruption in Lake God and The Rape of Michelle’, respectively investigate colonialism as an uncompleted project. Neocolonialism, the authors argue, has been articulated by Butake in his Dance of the Vampires and Shoes and Four Men in Arms. In the embrace of absolute power, the leadership in these plays are responsible for the depletion of resources from the plays’ communities, and by implication, the broader society. The political elite becomes the subject of parody in both chapters as Ngwang and Usongo illustrate colonial and neocolonial discourse analysis. They comment that a ‘new breed of African leaders corrupted by power and fuelled by greed took over from their colonial masters and continued the dehumanization of their fellow Africans, especially those who opposed or questioned their leadership style’ (45). Emancipation of women and their empowerment has also been the focus of Butake’s theatre practice and dramaturgy. Besides coordinating people’s theatre and women’s

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empowerment in rural areas of Cameroon, a cross section of Butake’s female characters are not only resilient, they are revolutionary. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 all explore the women’s role in the political transformation of their communities in the collection of Butake’s plays. This resilience and political change that Ngwang and Usongo foreground in the female characters are grounded in the spiritual embodiment of the women, interlinked with ancestral prowess. The power of orality in Butake’s plays as the authors further expose in Chapter 9 cannot be discounted. Concluding the book with a useful reflection on Butake’s legacy as an Anglophone Cameroonian playwright, the publication of Art and Political Thought is a timely publication as its critical stance speaks succinctly about the postcolonial nationhood which urgently requires redefinition. Both authors’ stance, projected through an engaging analytical frame, dissects the Cameroonian postcolonial era and political practice to suggest that the decolonization process needs to be urgently interrogated and revised in ways such that indigenous knowledges are engaged. Their critical engagement with social realism in Art and Political Thought in Bole Butake elevate the void of ethics and morality in politics to a higher level. Their work is no doubt a contribution to postcolonial discourse related to the Cameroonian context. With clarity in style, the book will be a relevant research and teaching material on the subject of social realism, postcoloniality, and Anglophone Cameroon and African drama at the university. Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong Department of Asian and African Studies, HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin, Germany

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Samuel Kasule, Walukagga the Black Smith Uganda, Kampala: Wavah Books, 2018, 170 pp. ISBN 9781910755228. Pb. £9.99 / $14.95.

In a post-dramatic and post-truth world, the onus is most frequently on theatre artists to use traditional fables and myths to re-interpret and propose new solutions to social and political questions that would otherwise draw the sanctions of constituted authorities and tyrants. In African writing, the recuperation of myths and history is becoming more popular to contest and subvert received forms, and, in the process, create a balanced appraisal of the past. Many of the writers go beyond assessing the past though; there is a resurgence of activism that appropriates myths and substantially embellishes them to mediate the theatrics encoded in oral traditions. African settings are rich in myths, legends, dilemma tales and dances, perhaps not more than the rest of the world but the manner of engagement with these elements among African people is unique. In Africa, it takes a madman to counsel a tyrant and relieve the yokes of oppression on the shoulder of brave warriors, wise sages and fearful subjects. One of such narratives is Walukagga the Black Smith by Samuel Kasule. Kasule has taken a folk narrative and constructed a drama that contests the tyranny, violence and the cycle of political criminality. Walukagga the Black Smith is a drama derived from the oral tradition of the Baganda people about a tyrannical Chief whose rule is ended by the intervention of a madman. Written in Luganda and translated to English language – both published in this volume – this is a re-visioning of the popular traditional story of Walukagga to address the contemporary issues of corruption, oppression and political uncertainty on the African continent. It is more than an adaptation of the folktale however; rather, it is a re-reading and re-presentation of a people’s mode of dealing with societal aberrations, scourges and anathemas.

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Set in the suburb of a bustling city, where Walukagga the blacksmith maintains his workshop, next to a drinking parlour that also serves as the meeting place and gossip centre for the community, the play opens with Majangwa pondering the intricate workings of a close circuit television camera. Majangwa of course is a madman. Right at the outset, we are introduced to the contemporary toys of the modern age, alerting us that this Walukagga is not the familiar oral tale, but a re-reading with sinister undertones. Instead of a Chief, we have a Governor – a war veteran who has usurped the management of the city and turned the people into withering and abject subjects. As Governor, he rules the city with violence and exhorts illegal taxes indiscriminately. He also has arms and sponsors youths to carry out criminal ventures in his behalf, including driveby shootings. His main interest seems to be the creation of violence in the city. Not satisfied with the control of the city, Gavana the Governor wants to acquire the land where Walukagga’s workshop is sited because the latter is more famous as a competent professional. The Governor sets out to humiliate the blacksmith so he could easily gain the land. He commissions him to build a robot which has human attributes. However, following the advice of Majangwa the madman, Walukagga requests five huge pots of human tears and five large sacks of human hairs – ingredients for making the robot. Gavana’s inability to procure these items leads to his downfall. Walukagga is a protest play that addresses inflammatory themes of land, economic exploitation and gun violence in a country grappling with the technological advancement of the digital age. Kasule exposes the old forms of political chicanery and its inability to understand the undermining nature of modern technology. As the playwright states in the Preface, ‘the play is translated into English to enable (not disenable) understanding and reading by non-Luganda speakers … to reach a large audience’ (9). Walukagga was first produced by Bakayimbra Dramactors

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at Theatre Royal, Kampala, Uganda in January 2017. It was directed by Charles Senkubuge. Sola Adeyemi Goldsmiths University of London

Judith G. Miller (ed.), Chantal Bilodeau (trans.), Seven Plays of Koffi Kwahulé: In and Out of Africa Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2017, 322 pp. ISBN 9780472073498. Pb £63.95.

Seven Plays of Koffi Kwahulé: In and Out of Africa is an anthol­ogy of plays translated into English from the French language by Chantal Bilodeau and Judith G. Miller. Consisting of ‘That Old Black Magic’, ‘Jaz’, ‘Big Shoot’, ‘Misterioso-911’, ‘Blue-S-Cat’, ‘Brewery’ and ‘Melancholy of Barbarians’, published and performed at different times of the Francophone author’s career, these texts engage a major critical narrative frame that is thematically relevant not only to the author’s Ivorian roots, but also to the African continent. Further, the ‘In and Out of Africa’ fragment in the title suggests that Kwahulé undoubtedly universalizes his subject matter which he adequately explores in the seven plays. I should mention at the outset that Judith G. Miller’s insightful and informative introduction titled ‘Soundscapes, Mindscapes, and Escape: An Introduction to the Theatre of Koffi Kwahulé’ agrees with the universality of the author’s dramatic world. She states: Reacting to what has come to be seen by some as the illusionary pan-Africanism of the earlier generations and especially refusing the perceived expectation that African playwrights must produce plays in which the vision of Africa corresponds to a particular myth of Africa, to wit a culture of drums and dancing and themes of corruption and tribalism, the ‘hybrid’ playwrights launched angry manifestoes in the early 1990s … Their plays depict a world in which themes of racism, exile, civil violence,

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cultural dislocation and identity shifts can apply to all manner of people, not just the formerly colonized. (3)

Varied characters whose appealing and dramatically relevant personae range from villains to victims authenticate these themes. Further Kwahulé’s characters employ a unique style of vibrant lyricism even in the middle of degenerate acts. He supports his technique of lyricism with a generous use of music in the plays to speak to those discourses that discursively link to African history and its numerous diasporic networks. ‘That Old Black Magic’ involves a jazz quartet. Besides playing jazz music at some scenes, the quartet improvises Fauré’s Requiem at climatic moments of dramatic action, precisely capturing the fight between Shorty, an African American boxer and Todd Ketchel, a Caucasian boxer and former ‘great white hope’, during which the latter dies. Characters such as Susie, an African American artist and sister to Shorty, perform Negro spirituals in ‘Jaz’ revealing the aesthetic bonds that accurately depict the power structures, class and race dynamics that proliferate in the play through its white and African American characters. A confluence of these subjects is projected through a ‘play-within-a-play’ technique. In ‘Brewery’, a German cantata accompanies scenes of murderous acts, depicted precisely at the aftermath of a war that is raging in an unnamed African state. One can only imagine the level of devastation, as military officials lay claims to a brewery, which they argue has been seized from a defeated and overthrown despot. In superlative tones, the military condemn dictatorship and the ills of colonial and neocolonial practices, when they themselves are clearly ‘home guards’ and partisans to such imperialist authenticities. The technique of the play leaves the reader thinking critically about the national, transnational and neocolonial statement that the playwright hopes to make. Indeed, finding a topic to connect with the dramatic universes that Kwahulé creates in the seven plays is without a doubt a device to realize the horrific historical, social and

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cultural moments that cannot be divorced from the relation between the oppressed and oppressor in the various terrains of horror in Africa, such as in the Rwandan Genocide, for instance, as illustrated in ‘Big Shoot’. Horrendous rape crimes are also illustrated in ‘Jaz’. ‘Jaz’, as Chantal Bilodeau mentions in her introductory remarks, was first written after the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia during which ‘rape was used as a weapon against Bosnian Women’ (66). The play’s protagonist is a woman named Jaz. The readers are introduced to a rapist with a cynical Christ-like allure who first derides the femininity of Jaz before eventually raping her in a public bathroom located in a building on the street where she lives. The fateful encounter with the predator is presented through an imperative narrative voice: the door opened and she felt brutally pushed inside. By the man. He immediately closed the door behind them. No… ‘Get undressed’ he said to Jaz. The voice was soft And the tone a bit obsequious… Strangely. A kitchen Knife. … Jaz got undressed. ‘Your underwear.’ He was shaking like a leaf. Not of being caught … (82) He slapped her He forced her to sit on the bowl and yelled

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‘Now piss piss or I stick the knife in it to extract the purifying sap’ (86)

‘Jaz’ is written in poetic language and lyrical form which exposes the fear, pain and fragmentation of the mind of the rape victim. The repetitive formulation of phrases and words such as ‘No no no, Shit shit shit, shit in the earth, shit in the air, shit in the sky’ (84), in the play emphasizes the anguish and psychological impact of the act as it is performed; coupled with its violent and indelible markers on the body. While ‘Jaz’ performs rape, ‘Melancholy of Barbarians’ raises critical questions about the brutality of patriarchy and machoism. Through a coordinated dialogue pattern, ‘Melancholy of Barbarians’ highlights contested and ambivalent approaches to dismantling social and cultural constructions that come with the performance of patriarchy. The intensity of violence and tragic deaths that occur in ‘Jaz’ and ‘Melancholy of the Barbarians’ (2008) is taken to a higher level in ‘Big Shoot’ (2000), ‘Brewery’ (2006) and ‘Misterioso’ (2005). ‘Big Shoot’, inspired by the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, interrogates the epistemology of the idea of good neighbourliness. With this play, Kwahulé questions how one could respond to humanity by following an existential model. To problematize this question, Kwahulé introduces his readers to two male characters, namely Sir and Stan. The power dynamics that plays between these two individuals places Sir at a privileged position over Stan who is enclosed in a transparent square box. While in this box, he is repeatedly beaten and tortured by Sir simply because he is just passing by. Sir, of course is not Stan’s keeper, in the Biblical sense. ‘Big Shoot’ is a theatrical rendition of the senselessness of evil performed through acts of inscribing torture to the body. Communication between the two characters evokes Samuel Beckett’s postmodernist style wrought around the meaninglessness of life, illustrative of the following dialogue pattern:

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Stan:  I was passing by. Sir:  Good, you were passing by. And then? Stan:  Well I passed by. Sir:  Ah, we’re moving forward at least. So you were passing by and then. Pfff! You were passed! Like a deflating balloon? Stan:  In a way. Sir:  Like an over inflated beach ball. Stan:  If one wants yes. Sir:  Who’s ‘one?’ There’s you, there’s me, and nobody else. So who’s ‘one?’ Stan:  Like an overinflated beach ball. Sir:  There you go. So you passed by and you disappeared Stan:  Yes. (109)

This play employs a series of code mixing and code switching between English and French, usage of which propels the characters to the summit of human brutality, as Sir shoots Stan for criticizing his poor rendering of the French language with an accent. Critical attention should be directed to Kwahulé’s use of language, punctuation and, most of all, his creation of contested spaces employed by his manifold characters. Despicable acts are performed in bathrooms, glass boxes, at a war front, in a boxing ring and in a lift – ‘Blue-S-Cat’ is about Man and Woman who are stuck in a lift. Yet, the utterances of the characters in some scenes do not seem to resonate with their situation in a confined space, as the dialogue pattern comes across as internal monologues and streams of consciousness that highlight their internal desires, wishes and frustrations. As such, for instance, ‘Blue-S-Cat’ is a complex, yet captivating piece that is subject to multiple layers of interpretation. Experimental in form, the plays in Seven Plays of Koffi Kwahulé: In and Out of Africa are not conventional, with events and episodes in the plays running into one another. Titles and roman numerals partition ‘Brewery’, ‘Melancholy of the Barbarians’ and ‘Misterioso-911’, while ‘Jaz’ could be perceived as storytelling, a monologue or a poem. The collec­

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tion of plays is a useful contribution not only to perfor­mance arts, but also to history and cultural studies. It is recommended to students, teachers, performers and directors of theatre studies across the globe to read and for performance. Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong Department of Asian and African Studies, HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin, Germany

Frida M. Mbunda-Nekang, Thorns and Roses: A Play Bamenda: Langaa Research & Publishing, 2018, 73 pp. ISBN 9789956763238. Pb £14–£17.

The thematic considerations of Thorns and Roses cut across gender dynamics, resilience and contemporary politics in a fictitious African locality. These subjects, which are quite familiar to localities across the globe and which unfortunately have not been totally dismantled, are taken up again by Mbunda-Nekang in her play mainly as a reiteration of morally depraved humans who practise civic responsibility while pretending precepts of good governance. Divided into four acts, with a plot that frames the issues of governance in contemporary politics and resilience and dynamism of femininity, Thorns and Roses chronicles the life of secondary students Nchindah Noyen, Mnkong Peter, Nene Buji, Yaya, Nchioh and Yune in a coming-of-age narrative, with a hint of romance. The main protagonist of the play is Noyen who in spite of being raised by a strict single mother falls prey to Inspector Jerome’s whimsical sexual advances that leave her pregnant (Act 1, Scene 11). Despite the inspector’s action being described by the school principal as ‘corruption of innocence’ (28), she is expelled from Kamsi Secondary School, an echo of the kind of betrayal perpetuated by misogyny previously tackled by such playwrights as Werewere Liking in such plays as Singuè Mura: Considèrant que la femme. Commenting on moral corruption,

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Mbunda-Nekang interrogates the social conceptualization and construction of gender roles engaged by her protagonists in the play: Nchioh (Interested) Yune, how else can women make it except through hard [work]? We need to work hard to convince our parents who believe that a [woman’s] place is in the kitchen to send more of our sisters to school. (Act 1, Scene 11)

Running concurrently with the gender debates in the play, the playwright creates an administrative and political world that is enveloped by corruption and ethnic bias. Who gains political power and eventually has control over educational infrastructures in a community is a question mooted in Thorns and Roses. The play continues to follow the development of the students who are caught-up in the quagmire of political and ethnic conflicts. The shutting down of the only vocational secondary school in which Noyen finally re-enrols provoke the anger of the Febien, the women’s sacred cult which decides to intervene: Noh Noyen I suggest that the Febien takes a Keng, the peace plant to Mr. Kamsi and [implore] him to do whatever he did to have the school closed down so that the school be reopened. If we close down Kamsi’s school we are making our situation more difficult. What happens to our children in that school? What we want is development. I suggest our sister Noh Maih and a few others be given that assignment. Leader I think Noh Noyen’s suggestion is good. Remember we are good wives and must respect our husbands and Mr. Kamsi is one of them. I also strongly believe that Mr. Kamsi will not run down our plea. He will be on his heels to have the decree closing the school revoked because he is not a stranger in the village. He knows that not even the Fon nor can the Kwifon battle with the Febien and succeed … if per chance he ignores our plea then we will meet again to do what Febien does in situations like this. (35)

Mbunda-Nekang’s play explores gender relations, girlchild education, and empowerment of women through

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diplomacy. The determination of the women’s culture corroborates a similar role performed by women in the drama of Bole Butake and Charles Soh, to suggest that the potency of indigenous belief and practice is a panacea to corrupt politicians. Thorns and Roses is a relevant play as it authenticates incessant discourses about gender myths, politics and women’s empowerment. Further, it adds to the repertory of plays written by Anglophone Cameroonian authors. I should mention that paucity rules this domain. The fact that she raises the subject of girl-child education engaged in earlier discourses by critiques like Catherine Acholonu, Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie, Obioma Nnaemeka, Naomi Nkealah and others on gender relations, suggests that, through her play, concepts of African Feminism could be reconceptualized to embody community development, political leadership, indigenous knowledge production and practice, ethnicity and transnational mobility. Thorns and Roses is a useful contribution to the teaching repertory of secondary and tertiary educational institutions. Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong Department of Asian and African Studies, HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin, Germany

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AT18 17mm ppc TJI v8_B+B 14/10/2019 11:27 Page 1

Cover: A Nightingale for Dr DuBois by Femi Osofisan. Directed by Segun Ojewuyi. Performed at McLeod Theater, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 2016 (Photograph © Steve Buhman)

ISBN 978-1-84701-236-4

9 781847 012364 www.jamescurrey.com

African Theatre 18

African Theatre 18

This open volume showcases the plethora of styles, approaches and perspectives that populate the contemporary field of African theatre studies, with contributions from Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana. Contributors engage a variety of performance forms, ranging from investigations into radical dramatic and popular musical performances, through ‘street theatre’ (festivals and masquerade shows) and pop culture, to applied theatre, dance, audience, cultural performances and folktales. Articles address African American and African cultural dialogue; choreographic study; the carnivalization of indigenous African festivals; the stigmatization of disability; the performance of nationality; orality and African performance aesthetics. Highlighted in this volume is the detective play The Inspector and the Hero by Femi Osofisan, one of Africa’s leading playwrights. The play has until now only been published in Nigeria.

Volume Editor • Chukwuma Okoye

Volume Editor • Chukwuma Okoye

African Theatre provides a focus for research, critical discussion, information and creativity in the vigorous field of African theatre and performance. Each annual issue concentrates on a major topic, and through its resolutely pan-African coverage and accessible style, broadens the debates to all interested in drama and the many roles it plays in contemporary African life. The editors and editorial board bring together an impressive range of experience in African theatre.

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