Editors: Banham • Gibbs • Osofisan

Co-published with: James Currey, Oxford

 

About African Theatre:

African Theatre provides a focus for research, critical discussion, information and creativity in the vigorous field of African theatre and performance. Each annual issue concentrates on a major topic and through its resolutely pan-African coverage and accessible style, broadens the debates to all interested in drama and the many roles it plays in contemporary African life. The editors and editorial board bring together an impressive range of experience in African theatre. The next issue will be on Companies.

 

About This Volume:

 This volume presents studies of theatre that young Africans have made and performed to audiences across the continent. It shows a wide range of work, much of which depicts the crises that young Africans face as they enter the world of adult relationships and compromises.

The contributions, by adults who are deeply involved with the theatre of young Africans, recount the inspiration and enthusiasm that has led to the artistic achievement and powerful creativity of this work. Michael Etherton’s introduction analyses its artistic scope and political impact. What emerges from the voices of the young people themselves is how they are using theatre and performance to struggle for their rights and for positive changes in their lives.

 

Contents:

Introduction by Michael Etherton – Creating for & with Children in Ghana. Efua Sutherland: a Retrospective by Esi Sutherland-Addy – Competitive Youth Theatre Festivals in Ghana by Awo Mana Asiedu – Three Malawian Student Performances by Pia Thielmann – African Youth, Performance & the HIV/AIDS Epidemic by Esiaba Irobi – Young People’s Drama & Social Action in Northern Nigeria by Ogah Steve Abah – Promenade Theatre in a Sudanese Reformatory by Ali Campbell – Youth Theatre in the Displaced People’s Camps of Khartoum by Luke Dixon – Theatre with Street Children in Senegal by Rosa Stourac McCreery – West African Child Rights Theatre for Development by Michael Etherton – The Impact of Child Rights Theatre in Sierra Leone by Paul Moclair – Sewit Children’s Theatre in Eritrea by Christine Matzke & Jane Plastow – Project Phakama. Stories of South Africa, London & Lesotho by Yvonne Banning, Caroline Calburn & Lucy Richardson – Approaching Theatre Work with Children in Zimbabwe by Robert Mshengu Kavanagh – Young People’s Theatre in Zambia by Dave Pammenter – Hopeful Youth Drama in Kibera, Kenya by Phan Y Ly – Playscript: The Ghosts Return devised by students at the University of Botswana; transcribed & with an introduction by David Kerr – Book Reviews Cover: based on a photograph of a traditional children’s game from northern Ghana, Sutherland Research Archive (© Estate of Efua T. Sutherland)