XVII * New Literatures

This chapter has six sections: 1. Africa; 2. Australia; 3. Canada; 4. The Caribbean; 5. The Indian Subcontinent and Sri Lanka; 6. New Zealand. Section 1 is by Femi Abodunrin; section 2 is by Leigh Dale and Chris Tiffin; section 3 is by Richard Lane; section 4 is by Suzanne Scafe; section 5 is by Caroline Herbert and Catherine Lean; section 6 is by Nelson Wattie. A History of Theatre in Africa, edited by Martin Banham, is a volume of historical and critical essays attempting the daunting task of chronicling the history of theatre in Africa. The volume uses the word theatre ‘in a way that embraces a wide range of aspects of performance—in truth we use it in its largest and most inclusive sense’ (p. xv). What is meant by Africa, by theatre and by history are clearly terms to be clarified. According to Banham, while what is meant by Africa is a straightforward choice between ‘sub-Saharan Africa or the total continent including the Maghreb and Egypt’, and bearing in mind that we are dealing with a continent the history of which all agree is not singular, it is the second term, ‘theatre’, that ‘is more elusive and presents a greater problem. The variety of performance forms in African societies is immense, ranging from dance to storytelling, masquerade and communal festival, with a vibrant and generally more recent “literary” and developmental theatre’ (p. xv). Kole Omotoso's opening essay, ‘Concepts of History and Theatre in Africa’ (pp. 1–12), fleshes out what is described as the ‘various and varied rituals, festivals, demonstrations and performances’ (p. 3) that are crucial to the formation of a theatre consciousness in the average African or ‘the initial exposures of young ones to performance’ (p. 4). Given that indigenous languages and indigenous environments are the most enduring aspects of theatre and performance in African countries, one of Omotoso's primary conclusions is that ‘it would seem rather inadequate to speak of Francophone theatre or Anglophone theatre when speaking of the totality of theatre and performance experiences of the African peoples, of French colonial experience in west and central Africa, of the African peoples of English colonial Africa in west, east and southern Africa and of the African peoples of Portuguese colonial experience in west, east and southern Africa’ (p. 4).

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