The Role of Dance in the Nigerian Democratic Environment

NIGERIA’S THEATRE AND DRAMA: Audiences, Communities and Constituencies A Festschrift in Honour of Professor John Sani Illah Edited by: Tor J. Iorapuu and Festus O. Idoko, 2019

Preface We are particularly fascinated and glad to edit this festschrift in honour of Professor John Sani Illah. Needless to say, this festschrift has been long in coming to fruition. In fact, it has been incubating for some time now. Ab initio, the idea was to put together an episteme from a collection of scholarly articles that dwell on Nigeria's theatre and drama, not excluding, of course, discourses from the parlance of film and the arts generally. Evidentially, these articles evolved from theoretical as well as practical knowledge and engagement of the respective contributors in the various field. Thus what we have come up with is a theatre, film and art discourse from the literary to the performative as we honour one the greatest scholar of our time- Professor John Sani Illah. Further to this, what we have here in this festschrift now turns out to be much more than we bargained for. Having received many articles, we had to painfully struggle to de-select some because we did not want a voluminous book and partly because we did not want just any kind of article. So those whose articles have made it should count themselves fortunate and we are indeed grateful for all who showed interest to be a part of this project. Indeed we also applaud the extreme patience and support of all the contributors. Michael Etherton has made the point that drama has a dual existence because it configures as both literature and performance. However, we know that there is no one-to-one correspondence between the dramatic text and the performance. Nevertheless, the fact that theatre and drama occur within and between audience and communities is a twist to the mix. Along this line of reasoning, it is worth noting the fact that the landscape of Nigeria's theatre and drama is vast and varied. It is a melting point; a vaudeville; a pot-pourri of literature and performance in all ramifications. Every chapter in this festschrift seeks to deepen knowledge as it engages the reader in a thought provoking intellectual intercourse. Given these qualities there is no doubt that the book can and will add value to the reader's resources and depth of knowledge, understanding and appreciation of theatre and drama. Tor J. Iorapuu and Festus O. Idoko, Department of Theatre and Film Arts, Faculty of Arts, University of Jos Nigeria. 2019

Creative & Media Arts: A Practical Source Book, 2014

Drama-and-theatre has roots in what Aristotle conceived as mimesis, an imitation of people's life and, therefore, grows and feeds from intrinsic cultural resources. In a conglomerate entity like Nigeria, with about 400 ethnic nationalities, can we therefore, like Ogunbiyi (1981) speak of a truly 'Nigerian' drama and theatre? If we accept the existence and validity of a "third culture" which is what our national culture is, then Nigerian theatre and drama become a mosaic of different ethnic enactments under a unifying national 'motif'.

Kakaki: A Journal of English and Literary Studies, 2020

This paper reviews drama, principally, and theatre, subordinately, in Nigeria as well as their development in both Western and Northern parts of the country. Similarly, it analyses and summarises the long-standing argument that whether what was obtainable in Africa before the introduction of the Aristotelian concept of drama was drama per se or mere ritual.

2017

Professional theatre practice in Nigeria has become more of a thing of the past. Unlike what obtained in the early 1960s, up to the 1980s, when live theatre was vibrant in many parts of the country, even in university campuses, the situation has deteriorated to an extent where trained artists hardly think of making a living from the stage. A lot of reasons have been proffered for this unfortunate state of theatre practice in Nigeria. These include, lack of theatre venues, general insecurity, rise of TV entertainment, negative attitude of the public against the profession, non-commitment of trained artists, and poor funding. Paradoxically, stand-up comedy genre has defied the above and risen to become top flight entertainment, even at public functions. This paper argues that if there is synergy, the theatre can leverage on the power of the television medium to rise again, just as Silverbird Galleria has proved the point that cinema can be a profitable business venture. The submission...

2018

Thank you, Mr Dipo Adesida, my brother and friend: I appreciate you. You guys have proved to me that, good friendship is indeed more worth than a thousand rubies. I recognize your contribution towards the completion of this project. My utmost gratitude posthumously goes to Prof.

As a matter of fact, theatre practice in Nigeria has not been really vibrant over the years. This is the position live theatre and other live performances have found themselves; a platform where they have lost their patronage. The challenge may not be that the Nigerian theatre has failed to reform itself or has remained stagnant. Indeed, the Nigerian theatre has gone through transformation and innovations over the years. The issue remains that live theatre has not enjoyed a wide patronage from the audience especially with the popularity of home videos, films, cable television and social media. Enendu (2012) cited in Edet (2015) juxtaposes and assesses theatre over the years in terms of content and he concludes that: " A close look at and assessment of Nigerian theatre in the twenty-first century perhaps shows convincing indications of developmental trends when compared with the theatre of the pre-independence era.... Without doubt, there has been considerable development in Nigerian theatre practice over the years. " However, the bone of contention and cause for concern still remains the dwindling turnout of audiences to live theatre productions. One may wonder why live theatre and perhaps other live performances are very significant. If the audiences merely gloss over and do not patronize them, why not maintain the status quo? The answer can readily be obtained in the fact that in this era of globalization, it is necessary for a people to assert themselves and announce their presence in the global space or they go into obscurity and oblivion. One potent avenue of achieving this feat is through live performances including theatre. Through live theatre and other live performances, the world view, perceptions, wishes, aspirations and indeed the culture of the people are reflected and transmitted to the benefit of the local and foreign concerns, who imbibe and perhaps practice same. All these are part and parcel of culture and parameters of delineating between one people and another. Live theatre and other live performances are constituents of culture, desire and demand expression and exhibition, else they are lost. Johnson (2014) indicates that " A people without culture are a people without identity and a people without identity are those with a predictable destiny called extinction ". So without the exhibition of our culture; the totality of our ways of life, we may go into extinction. Live theatre is a constituent and an acclaimed veritable vehicle in the task of exhibiting cultures. To this end, the role of live theatre performance in political, economic, educational, social development of a nation cannot be overemphasized. Live theatre is also a veritable tool of socializing young ones from one generation to another. It can be used to teach the history of Nigeria to young people in schools and other places. Suffice it to say that one technique to reconstruct robust audience in live theatre in Nigeria is through public relations activities.

Several scholars have written on Nigerian drama and theatre discussing their origin from rituals and festivals, which were essentially oral, to a literate tradition celebrated with the arrival of Soyinka on the scene in 1960. Ebun Clark"s (1980) seminal work on the emergence of the popular tradition began by Hubert Ogunde, Joel Adedeji, (1969) Abiola Irele and Oyin Ogunba"s (1978) historico-cultural forays into the traditional rise of the Yoruba Traveling Theatre, and Biodun Jeyifo"s (1981) work on the Alarinjo and Ibitokun"s (1993) work on Gelede remain important to any discussion on theatre in Nigeria. While the scholars above based their works on the southern part of Nigeria, the Yoruba cultural milieu in particular, others such as Ossie Enekwe, (1987) Andrew Horn, James Amankulor, (1981) Meki Nzewi ,(1981) Harry Hagher (1981) to mention a few have done extensive research on the Ibo, Kalabari, Efik, Ibibio, Tiv, Hausa and Fulani cultures, respectively. The volume of work on Nigerian drama and theatre and their diverse issues reflect the diversity of the country itself. Undoubtedly the country with the largest population in Africa, the country boasts of over three hundred languages and ethnic nationalities with different cultures, belief 2 systems and aspirations. This difference, therefore, finds expression and manifestation in both the oral, performative as well as written forms of drama and the theatre.

2014

Due to the intrinsic attributes of orature in performative arts, many scholars have paid little or no attention to the integral and distinctive contributions of orature in the evolution of theatre history and practice. But in looking at the various theories on the origin of theatre and the various studies on the evolution of theatre practices over the ages, one could see that oreature had played significant roles to the advancement of theatre which hitherto had not been given a meticulous academic scrutiny. Using a library/desk research methods, this paper is therefore set to examine the significant contributions of orature to the growth of theatre practice in Nigeria using southwest, the most advanced theatre culture in the country as a case study. It is also the aims of this study to identify challenges involved in the deployment of orature to the service of theatre practices and offer plausible solutions. Introduction The term “Orature” and not “Oral literature” used in the paper...

2016

The quantum of social problems that have bedeviled the Nigerian nation is alarming. This ugly scenario poses challenges to all human disciplines. Over the years, artists, playwrights, directors and others have engaged themselves on the crusade of Nation building. It is against this backdrop that this paper has tried to look at some of these social problems through critical analyses of select Nigerian drama. In these dramatic works, prevailing social problems, such as gender marginalization, racial prejudice, political impunities, corruption and class prejudices are dramatized to show their effects on the society. Examples derived from these plays are expected to be adopted to ameliorate current social challenges facing the Nigerian nation. This paper adopts content analyses as a methodology. The research concludes and recommends that Nigerian playwrights and dramatists should continue with the trend of exposing the nations many societal ills for purposes of social criticism and nati...

Nigerian Theatre Journal , 2010

For any art form to be used for development, it has to first develop itself. In this paper, I intend to problematise inherited definitions of theatre which exclude emergent performance forms and show ways in which they keep theatre perpetually underdeveloped and less likely to reach its full potentials in catalysing development in Nigeria. This enquiry therefore will go beyond merely adducing economic downturn as the reason for the execrable nature of theatre-going in Nigeria to underscoring how conservative reading of theatre and obsolete theatre studies curriculum in schools have metamorphosed into major co-culprits in making theatre underdeveloped. By analogy, one cites the fact that rather than asphyxiating theatre in the west, the proliferation of theories and ―post-theories‖ has catalysed a polyphony of performance genres that has enriched the resultant meta-theatre. Thus, aboard a ―paper canoe‖ of interrogating emergent recondite texts in other climes, my critical navigation in this paper, will course through the murky waters of our present non-existent theatre to the shore of advancing a further liberalisation of our art to acknowledging the fact that the emergent performances we see as different could still be the same theatre we know. Hence, this paper examines the possibilities of incorporating all strands of emergent performance traditions in Nigeria—video film, stand-up comedy, city festivals/carnivals, music/song performances, road shows/processions and the likes—through a liberalising of scholarly definition of theatre which will in turn occasion an overhaul of the theatre curriculum in schools; with a view to charting a multi-artistic course to making our society a better one for every one.

The growing global economic uncertainties have in recent times been attended by a cutting down of costs by corporate bodies and families alike. In most developing economies, the perennial scaling down of budgets has meant dwindling provisions for leisure and entertainment. This accounts for the sharp drop in theatre attendance in most of these countries. In Africa where people are used to enjoying folk theatre performances in the open community squares for free, the idea of paying for tickets to attend theatre becomes more and more unattractive. The growing cases of global terrorism and general insecurity in most societies has made it even more difficult for families to see the wisdom in risking attending theatre productions at night, what more to spend scarce family income on tickets when there are cheaper and safer alternatives at home by way of cable television and soap operas. The theatre critic's job is in jeopardy if the theatre makers are not producing. Undaunted the theatre makers have been reinventing their audience engineering strategies and production approaches. This paper is an incursion into the new approaches theatre makers have adopted to keep their art and professionalism afloat in the face of persisting harsh social and economic realities.

International Review of Humanities Studies, 2018

The world has witnessed phenomenal changes, even development, in the last few decades. What with the internet and the social media with their attendant plethora of opportunities for both positive and negative minded individuals, corporate bodies, institutions and even governments, to bring their reaches within their grasp! Theatre practice in Nigeria has not been left out. However, unlike other areas of the profession, the live stage has not fared so well. Where the others have progressed, the living stage has retrogressed to the point that there appears to be a shift from the production of stage plays to other forms of performance, notably, the one man comic genre which makes appearance on the live stage on occasion, but which is otherwise, a product of the cinematic genre. This paper takes a retrospective historical glance at the reasons for this shift in order to proffer suggestions for a revival, if possible, of the conventional stage production of plays. The writer is of the view that all the stake holders in the industry among whom are governments at all levels, culture ministries and parastatals; academics and professional theatre practitioners, are all liable and as such, should contribute towards a revival because the main of the theatre revolves on collectivism rather than individualism towards which the profession is presently tilting in the name of stand-up comedy. The paper concludes on the note that though stand-up comedy is a theatrical form, it lacks that aura and spirit on which a nation's cultural and theatrical pride traditionally depend and by which a nation is recognized universally and accepted.

Nigeria is a country reputed for its rich and diverse cultures from the multi-ethnic nationalities that make it up. Indeed, the diversity of traditions and cultures are evidenced in the nation's more than four hundred and seventy (470) tribes. It is in the bid to ensure that each cultural entity is preserved, projected and promoted, that Nigeria has a cultural policy. The cultural policy is decidedly synonymous with the arts and artists since the arts and artists mainly generate the bulk of what materially, at least, constitutes culture. Of course, culture is derived from material and immaterial products all which are products of the creative ingenuities of artists. It is in line with this reasoning that this paper is written, to determine to what extent the Nigerian Cultural Policy has attended to the needs of the arts and artists, with particular emphasis on the performing arts. The performing arts in every culture make up the major part of such Culture's creative and entertainment industry hence this paper is embarked upon to determine to what extent the policy has accommodated the needs of the performing arts. This is done through a detailed analytical assessment of the cultural policy. Recommendations are then made based on the conclusions drawn from the analysis.

This study is sequel to “Trends in the Development of Alternative Theatre Practice: The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria Example”. Unarguably, development in trends in the practice of Alternative Theatre in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria has been established from the foregoing study to have been dictated and directed by emergent constraints/limitations in the process. It is this transitional development, therefore, which was initiated on the platform of the Samaru Project, and then progressed into the Community Theatre, that ultimately gave rise to Nigerian Popular Theatre Alliance [NPTA], a Non Governmental Organisation [NGO] that is not, however, bound by the university thrust to work with communities, using theatre as a tool for development. This study, therefore, focuses on Nigerian Popular Theatre Alliance [NPTA] as a further dimension in trends of Alternative Theatre practice in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, to examine its role in the vanguard of Theatre for Development in a culturally pluralistic nation like Nigeria.