BOOK REVIEW: Dugga, Victor Samson. CREOLISATIONS IN NIGERIAN THEATRE. Bayreuth, Germany: Bayreuth African Studies, 2002 (original) (raw)
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NIGERIA’S THEATRE AND DRAMA: Audiences, Communities and Constituencies A Festschrift in Honour of Professor John Sani Illah Edited by: Tor J. Iorapuu and Festus O. Idoko, 2019
Preface We are particularly fascinated and glad to edit this festschrift in honour of Professor John Sani Illah. Needless to say, this festschrift has been long in coming to fruition. In fact, it has been incubating for some time now. Ab initio, the idea was to put together an episteme from a collection of scholarly articles that dwell on Nigeria's theatre and drama, not excluding, of course, discourses from the parlance of film and the arts generally. Evidentially, these articles evolved from theoretical as well as practical knowledge and engagement of the respective contributors in the various field. Thus what we have come up with is a theatre, film and art discourse from the literary to the performative as we honour one the greatest scholar of our time- Professor John Sani Illah. Further to this, what we have here in this festschrift now turns out to be much more than we bargained for. Having received many articles, we had to painfully struggle to de-select some because we did not want a voluminous book and partly because we did not want just any kind of article. So those whose articles have made it should count themselves fortunate and we are indeed grateful for all who showed interest to be a part of this project. Indeed we also applaud the extreme patience and support of all the contributors. Michael Etherton has made the point that drama has a dual existence because it configures as both literature and performance. However, we know that there is no one-to-one correspondence between the dramatic text and the performance. Nevertheless, the fact that theatre and drama occur within and between audience and communities is a twist to the mix. Along this line of reasoning, it is worth noting the fact that the landscape of Nigeria's theatre and drama is vast and varied. It is a melting point; a vaudeville; a pot-pourri of literature and performance in all ramifications. Every chapter in this festschrift seeks to deepen knowledge as it engages the reader in a thought provoking intellectual intercourse. Given these qualities there is no doubt that the book can and will add value to the reader's resources and depth of knowledge, understanding and appreciation of theatre and drama. Tor J. Iorapuu and Festus O. Idoko, Department of Theatre and Film Arts, Faculty of Arts, University of Jos Nigeria. 2019
Creolisations in Nigerian theatre
2002
This book is an attempt by a promising new theater academic to elaborate his understandings of theater in Nigeria today. It is an expose of "total Nigerian theatre," a hybrid or creolized form that the author posits is rapidly becoming the signature theater of Nigeria. Dugga argues that "total Nigerian theatre" is reflective and constitutive of the modern and postmodern political entity that is the nationstate of Nigeria. Stylistically and aesthetically, it is a multimedia performance experience delivered primarily in Pidgin English with liberal admixtures of both Standard English and any number of indigenous languages. Extremely interactive, it anticipates a high level of audience participation that is characteristic of African performance traditions.
ON THE DIFFERENCE OF THE SAME: THEATRE, PERFORMANCE AND THE TORTUOUS PATH OF A NATION'S DEVELOPMENT
Nigerian Theatre Journal , 2010
For any art form to be used for development, it has to first develop itself. In this paper, I intend to problematise inherited definitions of theatre which exclude emergent performance forms and show ways in which they keep theatre perpetually underdeveloped and less likely to reach its full potentials in catalysing development in Nigeria. This enquiry therefore will go beyond merely adducing economic downturn as the reason for the execrable nature of theatre-going in Nigeria to underscoring how conservative reading of theatre and obsolete theatre studies curriculum in schools have metamorphosed into major co-culprits in making theatre underdeveloped. By analogy, one cites the fact that rather than asphyxiating theatre in the west, the proliferation of theories and ―post-theories‖ has catalysed a polyphony of performance genres that has enriched the resultant meta-theatre. Thus, aboard a ―paper canoe‖ of interrogating emergent recondite texts in other climes, my critical navigation in this paper, will course through the murky waters of our present non-existent theatre to the shore of advancing a further liberalisation of our art to acknowledging the fact that the emergent performances we see as different could still be the same theatre we know. Hence, this paper examines the possibilities of incorporating all strands of emergent performance traditions in Nigeria—video film, stand-up comedy, city festivals/carnivals, music/song performances, road shows/processions and the likes—through a liberalising of scholarly definition of theatre which will in turn occasion an overhaul of the theatre curriculum in schools; with a view to charting a multi-artistic course to making our society a better one for every one.
Nigerian theatre in a digital era
Deleted Journal, 2024
Within the last two decades, there have been diverse painstaking attempts by Nigerian theatre pedagogues, under the umbrella of the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists (SONTA), to underscore the germaneness of the theatre in society by constructing themes to address issues of concern in its yearly conference. One of such is the thematic preoccupation of SONTA 2022 which was headlined, "Nigerian Theatre in a Digital Era." In this paper, we argue against the frame of apprehending the 'digitalisation' of Nigerian theatre from the lens of electronic or computerised technology as constructed by the West. We examine the historical boundaries of what it means for a theatre to be in a digital era and more so, at what point would we say that the Nigerian theatre entered its own digital era. The paper draws on historical analysis to contend that Nigerian theatre is caught betwixt the web of Eurocentric apprehension of 'digitalisation' and a functionalist logjam of finding relevance in a fast-changing world driven by the Western-styled technology. It submits that the Nigerian theatre is far behind in its attempt to catch up with the Western idealisation of 'digital theatre' as the West is gradually shifting from digitalisation to post-digital encounters with emphases on human beings. Hence, the call for a reinterpretation of the digital era in the Nigerian theatre based on a fresh understanding in light of the argument for a post-digital world.
NAVIGATING LANDMINES AND PATHWAYS_ INTERROGATING NEW APPROACHES TO THEATRE MAKING IN NIGERIA.docx
The growing global economic uncertainties have in recent times been attended by a cutting down of costs by corporate bodies and families alike. In most developing economies, the perennial scaling down of budgets has meant dwindling provisions for leisure and entertainment. This accounts for the sharp drop in theatre attendance in most of these countries. In Africa where people are used to enjoying folk theatre performances in the open community squares for free, the idea of paying for tickets to attend theatre becomes more and more unattractive. The growing cases of global terrorism and general insecurity in most societies has made it even more difficult for families to see the wisdom in risking attending theatre productions at night, what more to spend scarce family income on tickets when there are cheaper and safer alternatives at home by way of cable television and soap operas. The theatre critic's job is in jeopardy if the theatre makers are not producing. Undaunted the theatre makers have been reinventing their audience engineering strategies and production approaches. This paper is an incursion into the new approaches theatre makers have adopted to keep their art and professionalism afloat in the face of persisting harsh social and economic realities.
TDR/The Drama Review, 2011
Matters: Theatres in the Second Part of the 20th Century) by Valentina Valentini, represents a breakthrough in theatre studies and performance theory outside of the Anglo-Saxon world. Its publication in Italy can be compared to the innovative works of Patrice Pavis (Languages of the Stage, 1982), Marco de Marinis (Capire il teatro [To Understand Theatre], 1988), and Hans-Thies Lehmann (The Postdramatic Theatre, 1999), which each introduced a major change in European theatre studies. A renowned Italian theatre scholar and professor at La Sapienza University in Rome, Valentini modestly claims that her book is meant as a textbook for teachers and students of theatre and performance practice and theory. However, it is also accessible to nonspecialists, who might be unfamiliar with the "archaeology" of contemporary performing arts and their main aspects: its 200 pages are very well equipped with numerous footnotes, titles, and sources, and richly illustrated with photographs from various historical and contemporary performances. Some of these represent memorable moments in the history of theatre and performance, while others serve to illustrate the main hypothesis: the complex relations between different performance and artistic practices can only be examined and analyzed from a contemporary philosophical perspective which, in turn, can contribute to the development of the field of theatre studies. References