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Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre
Theatre Matters: Performance and Culture on the World Stage
Theatre, in a variety of forms and contexts, can make, and indeed has made, positive political and social interventions in a range of developing cultures across the world. In this book a distinguished team of theatre historians and dramatists, explore how theatre has a dynamic and often difficult relationship with societies and states, arguing positively that theatrical activity can make a difference.The collection begins with a foreword by Wole Soyinka and, through the volume, specially chosen plays, projects and movements are examined in countries such as Brazil and Argentina, Nigeria, Eritrea and South Africa, and India and the Caribbean countries.
228 pages, Paperback
First published December 10, 1998
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April 11, 2014
'Theatre Matters: Performance and Culture on the World Stage', edited by Richard Boon and Jane Plastow, is an interesting study in modern theatre, with a special emphasis on playwrights working is a post-colonial or neo-colonial background.
It is especially relevant for those who are researching the intercultural aspects as regards to theatre. I also believe that it could be of great use to those studying post-colonial literature, although to a limited degree.
Chapters include:
1) Introduction, by Jane Plastow. A well-written summary.
2) 'The Revolution as Muse': drama as surreptitious insurrection in a post-colonial, military state, by Femi Osofisan. One of the best chapters in the book. Osofisan, who writes "pungently political theatre from a broadly Marxist point of view" and "whose fame is second only to that of Wole Soyinka in their home country (Nigeria)", examines his own considerable work and plays (like 'Once Upon Four Robbers')in an illuminating contribution.
3) 'Making theatre for a change: two plays of the Eritrean Liberation Struggle', by Jane Plastow and Solomon Tsehaye. Another great contribution. Afeweki Abraha's 'If it had been like this', where a society in which gender roles are reversed on stage is presented to a 'conservative', patrairchal audience to varying, limited results is compared to Alemseged Tesfai's 'The Other War', which emphasizes 'the manipulation of love' used to serve the oppression of any one group (Eritrean) by another (Ethiopian).
4) 'Race matters in South African theatre', by Ian Steadman. Mthuli Ka Shezi's 'Shanti', argues that all sufferers under the political system, whether African, Indian, or coloured, are united as blacks, and should join together to fight an apartheid state. Steadman explores, to great detail, the 'black aesthetic' in South African theatre and how the habit of thinking and speaking on behalf of a continent and an assumend homogenous race, "one in which the expression 'African' has come to mean 'Black' and in which 'Black' has come to mean 'African' has haunted African literature and theatre for decades".
5) 'Dreams of Vilence: moving beyond colonialism in Canadian and Caribbean drama', by Christopher Innes. Derek Walcott's 'Dream on Monkey Mountain', described as "a masterpiece" and "a poem in dramatic form or a drama in poetry" is compared to Tomson Highway's 'Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing', with a special attention to their similarities especially considering their unique Caribbean and Canadian roots and influence. Walcott also won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1992.
6) 'The French-speaking Caribbean: journeying from the native land', by Carole-Anne Upton. A special emphasis is paid to Daniel Boukman, especially his play 'The Slavers', which seeks to reinvent the familiar iconography of the middle-passage in a contemporary socio-political attack on the condition of Caribbean migrant workers in Paris.
7) 'Binglishing the stage: a generation of Asian Theatre in England', by Jatinder Verma. A short chapter which argues that Binglish has the texture of translation: the translation of Asian experiences, histories and stories and sensibilities to England.
8) 'Popular theatre for the building of social awareness: the Indian experience', by Jacob Srampickal SJ and Richard Boon. An outstanding contribution, which covers the work of the Social Action Groups (SAGs) n rural India, and why so many varied challenges are presented and how one should ,ultimately, overcome them.
9) 'The promise of performance: True Love/Real Love', by Paul Heritage. Heritage sheds an interesting light on the challenges and experiences of Guti Fraga's 'Nos do Morro' ('Us from the hillside') from the hillside of Vidigal, Brazil. The seminal work of Augosto Boal is also discussed to some detail.
10) 'The theatre of Ricardo Halac in Argentina', by George Woodyard. Another great chapter. It is a shame that if it wasn't for such a book as 'Theatre Matters', which brings together such interesting contributions the work of such visionaries would remain unexplored.
It is especially relevant for those who are researching the intercultural aspects as regards to theatre. I also believe that it could be of great use to those studying post-colonial literature, although to a limited degree.
Chapters include:
1) Introduction, by Jane Plastow. A well-written summary.
2) 'The Revolution as Muse': drama as surreptitious insurrection in a post-colonial, military state, by Femi Osofisan. One of the best chapters in the book. Osofisan, who writes "pungently political theatre from a broadly Marxist point of view" and "whose fame is second only to that of Wole Soyinka in their home country (Nigeria)", examines his own considerable work and plays (like 'Once Upon Four Robbers')in an illuminating contribution.
3) 'Making theatre for a change: two plays of the Eritrean Liberation Struggle', by Jane Plastow and Solomon Tsehaye. Another great contribution. Afeweki Abraha's 'If it had been like this', where a society in which gender roles are reversed on stage is presented to a 'conservative', patrairchal audience to varying, limited results is compared to Alemseged Tesfai's 'The Other War', which emphasizes 'the manipulation of love' used to serve the oppression of any one group (Eritrean) by another (Ethiopian).
4) 'Race matters in South African theatre', by Ian Steadman. Mthuli Ka Shezi's 'Shanti', argues that all sufferers under the political system, whether African, Indian, or coloured, are united as blacks, and should join together to fight an apartheid state. Steadman explores, to great detail, the 'black aesthetic' in South African theatre and how the habit of thinking and speaking on behalf of a continent and an assumend homogenous race, "one in which the expression 'African' has come to mean 'Black' and in which 'Black' has come to mean 'African' has haunted African literature and theatre for decades".
5) 'Dreams of Vilence: moving beyond colonialism in Canadian and Caribbean drama', by Christopher Innes. Derek Walcott's 'Dream on Monkey Mountain', described as "a masterpiece" and "a poem in dramatic form or a drama in poetry" is compared to Tomson Highway's 'Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing', with a special attention to their similarities especially considering their unique Caribbean and Canadian roots and influence. Walcott also won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1992.
6) 'The French-speaking Caribbean: journeying from the native land', by Carole-Anne Upton. A special emphasis is paid to Daniel Boukman, especially his play 'The Slavers', which seeks to reinvent the familiar iconography of the middle-passage in a contemporary socio-political attack on the condition of Caribbean migrant workers in Paris.
7) 'Binglishing the stage: a generation of Asian Theatre in England', by Jatinder Verma. A short chapter which argues that Binglish has the texture of translation: the translation of Asian experiences, histories and stories and sensibilities to England.
8) 'Popular theatre for the building of social awareness: the Indian experience', by Jacob Srampickal SJ and Richard Boon. An outstanding contribution, which covers the work of the Social Action Groups (SAGs) n rural India, and why so many varied challenges are presented and how one should ,ultimately, overcome them.
9) 'The promise of performance: True Love/Real Love', by Paul Heritage. Heritage sheds an interesting light on the challenges and experiences of Guti Fraga's 'Nos do Morro' ('Us from the hillside') from the hillside of Vidigal, Brazil. The seminal work of Augosto Boal is also discussed to some detail.
10) 'The theatre of Ricardo Halac in Argentina', by George Woodyard. Another great chapter. It is a shame that if it wasn't for such a book as 'Theatre Matters', which brings together such interesting contributions the work of such visionaries would remain unexplored.
Displaying 1 of 1 review