African Popular Theatre

For those of us who attempt to teach both francophone and anglophone African theater, David Kerr's studies in popular theater ranging from very early precolonial times (sixteenth century) to the post-apartheid era are already providing a godsend. He himself is the first to point out, in a remarkably self-deprecating preface, that there are lacunae in this work, but his achievement is important in that all the different guides to the theatre in general or to African theatre in particular...lack a synthetic, chronological approach linking together theatrical movements and influences in various countries to the changing perspectives of African economies and politics. -

• Pre-colonial African popular theatre; colonialism and theatre; the reaction of indigenous African theatre to colonialism; Syncretic popular theatre - militaristic mime; concert party and Yoruba theatre; literary drama and popular theatre; the travelling theatre movement; theatre for development; popular theatre and macro-media; populist theatre and national ideology in modern Africa; popular theatre and the struggle for liberation in southern Africa; towards a theatre of popular struggle.