Traditional African Drama and Theatre

The form of Nigeria's stand-up comedy today-the use of microphones and formal congregation of audiences especially-took off from practices in the West, but it does not follow that everything about the industry has a foreign origin. Before the advent of colonialism certain performances that have similarity with contemporary nature of stand-up comedy existed within the different societies that now make up the country. They include Efe 1 in the southwest among the Yoruba, Yan Kama and Wawan Sarki 2 among the Hausa/Fulani in the north, and Njakịrị 3 as was practiced by the Igbo in the southeast of Nigeria. These performances are done mainly, as Roger Grainger observes, by "clowns, fools and jesters [who] are persons licensed by society not only to express things which are commonly unthought (and very often unthinkable) but to embody them, and under certain circumstances, within agreed interpersonal settings, to act them out" (23). He goes on to aver: Clowns [just like in wawan sarki] and carnival characters [as in efe] seize the nettle of humanity's inability to devise a painless way of organising itself by making it laugh at its own absurdity and defusing its pain, at least temporarily, by the creation of an alternative reality, one whose obvious unreality [emphasis in the original] detracts from the personal relevance of the subject matter it presents. (Grainger 23) In addition, the Njakịrị variant, even though bereft of professional clowns and specific season for its enactment like the duo of Efe and Wawan Sarki, can also perform the same functions of painlessly presenting satire. It is akin to Alfred Radcliffe-Brown's "symmetrical joking relationship" wherein two or more individuals involved exchange jocular insults and none is culturally allowed to take offence (195). Efe, among the Yoruba, has the main function of providing laughter through ridicule. Often performed by Gelede masked

A revival of Credo Vusamazulu Mutwa’s 1993 African epic, "uNosilimela", opened at the Wits Theatre in Johannesburg on 21st May. A timely homage to an extraordinary man and a seminal piece of theatre. When the play was first performed in Johannesburg and Soweto, though it did have a tremendous impact on some, it did not by a long chalk have the impact it deserved. There is a danger that it will not have very much more of an impact now, twenty-five years after the statutory collapse of Apartheid. "uNosilimela" is almost a text book for young Africans on the beauty and the values of precolonial culture, what these days is often referred to as ‘Ubuntu’. An important part of the culture of a people is its arts and here again Mutwa not only fills the plays with the songs and dances of numerous languages and cultures but reveals what they mean and what their function is. He also rejects any ethnic chauvinist tendencies, an important message in this time of zenophobia. "uNosilimela" is rooted in the myths and astronomical knowledge of the ancestors. Structured like a traditional storytelling, its staging, built on Mutwa’s ideas about precolonial performance as well as those of the present time, is one of the most original and exciting elements of the play. For the African playwright and director he suggests it is in African forms and content, storytelling and ritualistic performances that the answers are to found. Their unique dramaturgy has the potential to unlock majority theatre in South Africa.  At the end of the play the earth is destroyed and as one of the characters cries out: “A new Africa will be born out of the ashes of the old. It is the will of God!” Mutwa yearns for a new Africa that is united and knows and is proud of its African identity. This is a powerful call – not only for Africa in general but particularly for South Africa where the people seem to have forsaken their roots and the values of their ancestors and forsaken Ubuntu in order to assimilate themselves into the dominant globalised culture of the white minority and the West.

African traditional drama has been researched from several perspectives. But there are hardly studies fully focusing on the deployment of language to achieve performance goals in particular performances. This failure may have roots in the widely held assumption that verbal language (dialogue) is not a serious element of African traditional drama. Studying language in particular performances will show that there are instances of full and effective deployment of verbal communication in the African traditional drama. This article, therefore, studies language in ewa-ọma performances. Using basic literary appreciation and critical analysis methods, with a new historicist bias, the literary and rhetorical components of language are identified and analyzed according to their space-time relevance in two performances, to demonstrate the manner of realization of dialogue and (inter)weaving of literary and rhetorical strategies. Literary tropes and rhetorical devices are effectively deployed i...

African traditional drama has been researched from several perspectives. But there are hardly studies fully focusing on the deployment of language to achieve performance goals in particular performances. This failure may have roots in the widely held assumption that verbal language (dialogue) is not a serious element of African traditional drama. Studying language in particular performances will show that there are instances of full and effective deployment of verbal communication in the African traditional drama. This article, therefore, studies language in ewa-ọma performances. Using basic literary appreciation and critical analysis methods, with a new historicist bias, the literary and rhetorical components of language are identified and analyzed according to their space-time relevance in two performances, to demonstrate the manner of realization of dialogue and (inter)weaving of literary and rhetorical strategies. Literary tropes and rhetorical devices are effectively deployed i...

Acted in the arena, a mode of performance in which the audience entirely surrounds and seems to envelope the stage action, there is a ceaselessly dynamic relationship between the audience and the performers. At different levels empathic, aloof or hysterical, this relationship constantly affects the nuances of delivery, of pauses, silences and pitch, of the actor’s direction and movements.

QUEEN ZIVA by Ngigi Muya A riveting Kenyan epic drama: SYNOPSIS It’s 500 B.C. KING MOHA supreme leader of the great Abyssinian Empire is on his death-bed stricken by a fever. King Moha’s faithful and shrewd wife, QUEEN PATRA, is consoling him and receiving the King’s final orders in the event of his demise. DIANA, 30 the cunning ruthless daughter of King Moha and Queen Patra, is eavesdropping on the door and hears the ailing King give special blessings to her sister. King Moha directs Queen Patra to send their youngest daughter to the northern forests to harvest medicinal herbs and roots. ZIVA, 18 is the charismatic, beautiful beloved daughter of King Moha and Queen Patra. She holds an aura of mystery as her birth was prophesied by red shooting stars. Ziva and her royal guards are picking leaves when they are ambushed and captured by a gang of slave traders led by the sadistic Chinese pirate, CHIKO. Diana makes a deal with Chiko and Ziva is sold off as a slave. Diana returns to the royal palace and hosts a lavish banquet where she poisons King Moha, Queen Patra and PRINCE KATO. Diana is crowned as the Queen of Abyssinia. Ten years later, Ziva is a slave in China married to MARTIN and mother to DAKOTA and MOHA. One day while toiling in the quarry, the clairvoyant Ashanti slave NENE, forewarns Ziva that she will be “Queen foe night”. The slave camp is attacked and seized by a Viking pirate gang led by ERIK. Erik is enticed by Ziva’s beauty and forces her to play a game which ends up with Erik killing Nene and Martin. Ziva is shipped off to the Persian Empire as a slave. Ziva becomes a maidservant and lover to PRINCESS ZAWADI, the daughter of the powerful KING DARIUS of Persia for seven years. Ziva convinces Princess Zawadi to carry her on a royal voyage to the Kingdom of Abyssinia where Ziva promises “they will rule half the world”. Queen Diana is hosting a royal visit from the Persian Empire. Queen Diana is married to MENELIK and has twin children, PRINCE COCO and PRINCESS PATRA, ruling with an iron fist and her favourite hobby is throwing her opponents to her pet crocodiles. Queen Diana hosts a state banquet for King Darius where they discuss marriage arrangements between Prince Coco and Princess Zawadi. However, it’s a perfect chance for Ziva to exact her revenge. Ziva is wearing a satin head veil and serves chocolate as a dessert. King Darius, Prince Coco and Menelik die from the poisoned dessert while Queen Diana is struggling to breathe. Ziva unveils her head-wrap and confronts her sister after eighteen years of enslavement. Ziva takes a knife and kills her sister Queen Diana. Princess Patra and Princess Zawadi survive the ordeal. Ziva reveals her identity to the people of Abyssinia and they anoint her as their new leader. Ziva orders a three day state coronation festival which will unite the Abyssinian and Persian Empire. Ziva and Princess Zawadi discuss their plans for a “New World Order”. Ziva and Zawadi are crowned as Queens. Queen Ziva commands an ancient night rite to be performed. A BLIND MAN volunteers and shoots an arrow from a distance towards the royal dais. Lo and behold! The arrow shoots through the heart of Queen Ziva killing her. Her last words are “Queen foe night”.