A new wave of African creative form emerged with varying levels of  expression that sought to redefine and recreate traditional performances for presentation. In Ghana, Efua Sutherland’s experiment with the narrative form Anansegoro(spiderplays) was to recapture the idea of drama as ‘community experience’ and also to see the African theatre as a composite art form in the sense of emphasising the integration of the dramatic, lyric, and choreographic forms which call for audience participation and involvement.

Similarly, across the African continent, other experimental projects on the drive towards a specifically African theatre were carried out. In his plays, The Witch Of  Mopti and The Verdict Of The Cobra, Ghanaian playwright, Mohammed Ben Abdallah  achieves a greater integration of form and message that is directly inspired by African creative principles and values. In Nigeria, Ola Rotimi’s experiments with the traditional open space sought to involve the audience positively in the dramatic experience and to establish close intimacy between actors and audience. Also, in order to dispose of certain belittling descriptions of the African language that came along with colonialism, there was a conscious attempt to use African languages as legitimate tools of creativity. In East Africa, Ebrahim Hussain’s Kinjeketile was written and first performed in Swahili, while Duro Ladipo's Oba Koso and Oba Moro was done in 1963 in the Yuroba language. Ngugi wa Thiongo also experimented with the Gikuyu language in Kenya.

Another prominent feature of these experimental projects was the use of improvisation to address the desire to communicate effectively with an audience whose collective problems and concerns are also the subject matter of the improvised pieces. This can be seen in the ‘Popular theatre’ productions and it is clearly articulated in Athol Fugard’s South African production of Sizwe Banzi Is Dead.

Development has been defined by Nat Colletta as:

A process of positive socio-economic change  in the quality and level of human existence which is aimed at raising the standard of living, quality of life and human dignity.[1]

Thus developmental projects should aim at developing the physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual faculties of the human being. The question that readily comes to mind is, “What has theatre got to do with development.”

As Mlama puts it:

It is difficult for many development agents to visualise theatre as having any relation to development. This reflects a general negative view of theatre in many parts of the world.[2]

Throughout the history of theatre, there have been varying views as regards the purpose, values and significance of theatre. It is no wonder that the value and potential of the theatre as an agent of change have been often overlooked and disregarded.

Whiting  observes that:

To the Romans, theatre was a little more than a degraded pleasure; a project by slaves for the titillation of their masters. To the early church, theatre was an evil to be crushed along with thievery and prostitution. To many entertainers such as strolling players and television comedians, theatre has been regarded as a means of carving a living through a few jokes and antics to catch the momentary fancy of the general public. To some parents, the theatre is an evil bound to wreck the personality of a child who succumbs to its lures.[3]

To see theatre only as a business venture and a means of entertainment is one-sided and most unfortunate for the theatre has acted as a tool for education and information from the classical period to modern day practices. According to Aristotle, the purpose of theatre is to delight and instruct. The middle ages also saw the church using dramatic interludes in its church services to make its lessons more graphic and also to vivify church doctrine.

It must also be noted that the indigenous performing arts popular to the masses play political, social and economic functions within the communities in Africa. Thus they serve as a means of inculcating values and attitudes; and also provide the opportunity for the people to integrate and interact in order to be able to learn and share experiences which enable them to make individual and collective appraisals of their hopes, aspirations, norms, beliefs and practices. In effect, folk art form or theatre popular to the people has a role in solving the socio-economic, political, and moral conflicts in the society.

It is in this context that we can begin to examine the relationship between development and theatre. The latter providing a medium for the former. Reviewers of developmental projects in Africa have asserted that development objectives tend to be forced on the people with little understanding on both sides. Terms like ‘Development’ and ‘Gross National Product’ have surfaced from above without giving much consideration to those at the receiving end. The masses of the people who are  at the receiving end in effect are not able to maximise or sustain the potential benefits of the projects. Development then remains within the realm of the  transference of technology and modernisation from a top-down approach which only aims to impose decisions. Communication is thus one way and this is of course self defeating because no development plan can function without the support of the people it is meant to help; and no people will embrace a plan without understanding it and deciding whether or not it will benefit them.

Penina Mlama in her book, Culture and Development, quotes Khan and Bhasin:

The development strategies and programmes implemented during the last three decades have failed to attack the cause of rural poverty. The benefits of whatever development growth that has taken place have not trickled down. Landlessness has increased  and so have poverty, unemployment, and inequality. Peasants, landless people, plantation workers and women have been marginalised. In addition to this, through environmental destruction, the very resource base of the people is being rapidly destroyed.[4]

This amongst other factors paved the way for Theatre For Development which appropriates the popular theatre of the people. It focuses on the involvement of the people in every aspect of the development process. Here development is categorically defined as a  continual process through which human beings themselves evolve in order to affect positive change in the social and physical environment.

Again, Mlama observes and writes:

A popular theatre movement has emerged in Africa as a conscious effort to assert the culture of the dominated classes. It attempts to create a way of life where people at the grassroots level are aware of the forces at work in determining their living conditions. It aims to make the people not only aware of but also active participants in the developmental process by expressing their viewpoints and acting to better their conditions. Popular theatre is intended to empower the common man with a critical consciousness crucial to the struggle against the forces  responsible for his poverty. It is an attempt to enable the masses to break free from the culture of silence imposed on them and reawaken or strengthen their latent culture of resistance and struggle which needs to be part of the process to bring about their development[5].

Like conventional theatre, Theatre For Development is based on the desire to and need to communicate but its modes, methods and definition of communication differs. The conflicts as seen in conventional theatre are expressed as problems in Theatre For Development. The descriptions of Theatre For Development rely heavily on jargon such as ‘Participatory’, ‘Bottom-Up’, ‘Conscientisation’, ‘Liberation’, and ‘Consciousness’ often derived from Paulo Friere’s theory of popular resistance. Theatre For Development also thrives on clauses such as theatre for the people , by the people , about the people, and from the people. Projects are usually based on the existing art forms of the community and made accessible  to  everybody through a common language to all. People are just not audiences, but actors and active participants in getting the problems solved. Here the people probe into their own experiences to become creators of their own drama. This is not always the case since there are other methods such as Augusto Boal’s ‘Forum Theatre’ which will be discussed later in this work.

Theatre For Development is practised on a wide range of approaches and different methodologies in contemporary Africa. It has also seen varying degrees of successes in realising its goals and objectives. It is not however, intended here to argue on the advantages and disadvantages of Theatre For Development. My central pre-occupation of this website is to undertake a comparative review and discussion of the concepts,  theories, and models of Theatre For Development  projects in some countries. In particular: the philosophy; relationships with local government and non-governmental organisations; and parameters of success of same.

[1] Colletta N, Worker-Peasant Education In The People’s Republic Of China: Adult Education During The Post-Revolution Period, Washington D.C: World Bank, 1982.

[2] Mlama P, Culture And Development: The Popular Theatre Approach In Africa, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppasala, 1991, p23.

[3] Whiting F, An Introduction To The Theatre, Harper & Row, New York, 1954.

[4] Khan N, & Bhasin K, ‘Sharing One Earth’, Asian South Pacific Bureau Of Adult Education Courier Service, No.37, 1986.

[5] Mlama P, Culture And Development: The Popular Theatre Approach In Africa, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppasala, 1991, p67.