ALTERNATIVE THEATRE PARADIGM: DEMOCRATISING THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN AFRICA (original) (raw)

Democratisation from time immemorial has been a people-oriented phenomenon. While development in the context of this discourse points to change – positive change, which involves the improvement of the quality of people’s situation/condition; considering Alternative Theatre in the light of the above topic, therefore, implies the galvanising of the consciousness of the people towards active participation in addressing their development needs and aspirations. This simply emphasises the planning of activities aimed at directing this process of change essentially from the perspective of the people. Through the platform of Alternative Theatre – a veering from the conventional theatre tradition, this paper highlights the instrumentality and effectiveness of a remarkably burgeoning and diversifying performance tradition in democratising this development process. Key word: Alternative Theatre, Development, Development process, Democratisation