{"id":456,"date":"2020-11-12T18:50:32","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T18:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/?p=456"},"modified":"2022-02-05T09:51:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T09:51:10","slug":"contemporary-plays-by-african-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/contemporary-plays-by-african-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Contemporary Plays by African Women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Edited by Yvette Hutchison and Amy Jephta<\/strong>
338 pp. London: Methuen Drama<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reviewed by Patricia Keeney<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thought-provoking introduction to this collection of seven plays by women from across Africa begins with the inevitable question: what do African women write about? Considering the wide range of \u201clived (and imagined) experiences\u201d of its authors, the introduction asserts that a black woman putting pen to paper is \u201calmost always a political act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Built around the Women\u2019s Playwriting Conference of 2015 held in Cape Town, South Africa, the volume represents the publication of new plays by African women\u2014an event, the editors acknowledge, that is still rare, one that tends to exist \u201con the fringes of criticism, academic pursuit and production.\u201d This is unfortunate since these plays do reflect much of their individual societies while emphasizing important differences in artistic approach of the continent as a whole. Beyond the expected tropes of tragedy, trauma and the interrogation of post-colonial legacy, one finds in their cultural specificities genuine theatrical invention, along with generous doses of humour and irony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These scripts cover a range of forms and styles from interviews to collective and collaborative creation. Often translated into English from a mother tongue, by the author herself, they encompass songs and sayings in the local language that vividly individualize each piece. Glossaries of terms are liberally supplied. As well, each script includes a basic biography of the writer, a brief production history and a useful critical contextualization of the theatrical\/social\/political landscape from which the piece emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must also be said that there is a certain disparity in quality. Although some plays hijack dramatic possibility with an overemphasis on message, all are worth a look. The editors seem more interested in representing a wide range of styles rather than attempting to canonize. As such, each writer\u2019s approach is quite different. For instance, Niqabi Ninja<\/em> by Egyptian playwright, translator and performer Sara Shaarawi is a punchy, cartoonish, dark-humoured revenge tale inspired by violence against women at the Tahrir Square demonstrations while Unsettled<\/em>, by Kenyan poet, playwright and screen writer J. C. Niala is a sophisticated look at the delicate balance typifying black\/white co-existence in that country\u2019s ongoing contentions over land rights and housing development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For its part, Not That Woman<\/em> by Nigeria\u2019s Tosin Jobi-Tume scrutinizes the stigmatizing of female victims of sexual abuse illustrating how it is often perpetuated by women themselves. Centred on the mysterious death of the founder of a women\u2019s refuge centre, it relies heavily on awkward drawing room-style dialogue and a static list of abuses making it at once both discursive and too prescriptive. Its use of a \u201cplay-within-a-play\u201d is simply not woven effectively into the fabric of the human drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also somewhat overstated is I Want<\/em> to Fly <\/em>by Zimbabwe\u2019s Thembelihle Moyo, a script which highlights the \u201cplight of the girl child\u201d who \u201cdreams of a better life,\u201d wanting more than simply an arranged marriage and financial comfort. In South African poet Koleka Putuma\u2019s Mbuzeni<\/em>, we are told the story of four orphan girls, their sisterhood and their fixation with burials. Purporting to convey \u201cthe \u2018untold\u2019 black female narrative,\u201d the playis compellingly symbolic and discomfitting in its merging of existence and the afterlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A totally different style of text is Boganyi <\/em>by Cameroonian Sophia Mempuh Kwachuh. This is a dance-drama \u201ctold from the perspective of a ghost\u201d and based on \u201cthe common belief in Africa generally and in Cameroon specifically, that people don\u2019t completely cease to exist when they die.\u201d Set in Cameroon\u2019s pre-colonial period, it depicts one clan subduing another. Vividly imagined, it reads like a choreo-poem utilizing the voices of a beautiful young dancer and her various male admirers. The piece expresses both her passion for dancing and her courage in dealing with the manipulations of the males who would take advantage of her lowly status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most complex and significant plays in the volume is Silent Voices<\/em> by Ugandan, Adong Judith. Based on interviews with people involved in the Lord\u2019s Resistance Army during the Northern Ugandan War (1987\u20132006), it deals with the vexing issue of forgiveness and reconciliation, \u201chow victims have been ignored . . . at the expense of justice.\u201d Serious, complicated, highly dramatic, passionate, variously chaotic and arguably too long, it has also been regarded as the \u201cthe spiritual rebirth of theatre in Uganda\u201d after the regime of dictator Idi Amin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In creating Silent Voices, <\/em>Adong \u201clistened to the anger and frustration expressed by . . . victims about Uganda\u2019s Amnesty Act, which they felt \u2018rewarded\u2019 perpetrators for confessing to heinous crimes.\u201d The silence of the title refers to \u201cthe repressive silencing these victims feel their government is forcing on them in the name of forgiveness.\u201d In researching this material, the playwright returned to her own war-ravaged town \u201cto study the use of theatre in the psychological therapy of the children who filled the ranks\u201d of the infamous LRA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The play was initially turned down for production by most Ugandan theatres who felt it \u201cpreached revenge.\u201d But outside Uganda it found an audence and it was produced in New York, Toronto, Chicago and London. Indeed, the then artistic director of the Old Vic, Kevin Spacey, spoke of the play\u2019s importance. It took until  2012 for Silent Voices <\/em>to be premiered at the National Theatre of Uganda, \u201camidst fear of Adong\u2019s arrest for her portrayal of the government\u2019s role in northern Uganda war crimes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scale of the piece\u2014its political and dramatic scope\u2014is immense. Settings move from theatre to bush, from hut to jungle, from rehabilitation centre to courtroom, from past to present. The play is written for a cast of 30\u201310 adults, 10 children and 10 dancers. Each actor plays several roles reflecting the chaotic reality of lives lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most significant character, called simply Mother, is singular and powerful, a time bomb throbbing at the ideological and dramatic heart of the play. Those closest to her\u2014Omony and Margaret\u2014swirl around her steely resolve. The former is her son; the latter, his girlfriend who works as a rehabilitation officer trying to help the once child-soldiers. But she is also the granddaughter of a former rebel leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We first meet Mother in her prison cell, awaiting a trial. The essential mystery of her life  spins every other character into frenzies of lie, fear, anger. Her many stories are intertwined, highly charged with event, often horrific and always climactic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rock of resistance, Mother is locked deep inside her memories. Everyone who approaches her believes she is crazy, a condition easier to accept than the complicated truth. Her refrain: \u201cWe were all happily hopeless with our full mist day. But the sun just sneaked in with promises. They called it peace talks.\u201d Simultaneously wish and lament, riffs on these phrases drop from her lips throughout the play, encompassing the bitterness of war and its endless aftermath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silent Voices <\/em>also proceeds through traditional song and dance, highlighting and dramatizing major events. The songs exist textually in both Acholi and English, the sound of the original lyrics consistently strengthening the overall intensity. Chilling depictions of the children\u2019s army show them barking out orders intended to humiliate, even kill new recruits. Imbued with born-again Christian slogans, those in charge preach and murder, look for weaknesses in the ranks, euphemistically sending the weak \u201chome.\u201d Young girls are given to commanders as \u201cwives\u201d creating a hierarchy of junior and senior spouses with all the bullying that entails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to convey the magnitude of this violence on children? Are they numb with shock and grief? The script expresses childish reactions with lines that seem psychologically inadequate. Many, we must believe, have simply become hardened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After some of these scenes, the play reminds us that we are, in fact, witnessing a re-enactment at the Child Soldiers Rehabilitation Centre. This is clever drama that mixes make-believe with actuality to express the emotional, imaginative and political complexity of its subject. Stage directions insist that \u201cthe audience must always be addressed as part of the different groups,\u201d ensuring that no-one escapes responsibility for what is happening whether \u201crebels, community or police attendants at a court hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past constantly infects present as we glimpse the double lives led by the play\u2019s main characters, all of whom are both innocent and guilty. Evidence reveals that Mother was involved in the kidnapping of a six-year-old. For her crime, Mother was beaten by neighbours and sent to prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We learn Mother\u2019s back story\u2014how \u201conce upon a time she knew heaven\u201d first in her father\u2019s house, then with her new husband, \u201cdancing powerfully\u201d to epic poetry recitations. During a prison interrogation scene, we learn that Mother had herself been abducted as a girl, becoming wife number 25 of 66, and that her son, a baby born in captivity, was son 6 of 12 sons and 22 daughters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mother insists that her ritual be performed and it is. Priests in white robes and purple sashes carry small covered pots containing the cut up bodies of murdered children. Mother cries out in maternal guilt, \u201cI killed them all! All the missing children!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inexorably, the play reveals that perpetrators and victims are related, both biologically and symbolically. Hence, the aptness of doubling characters who play both brainwashed children in a rebel army and the scarred adults of a truth and reconciliation process that seems to benefit no one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the final scene, the core idea is enunciated by Mother\u2019s lawyer who informs us that a peace agreement was reached and that Mato Oput<\/em>\u2014the ceremonial drinking of the bitter root\u2014was performed. Rebel leaders congratulated themselves but nobody bothered to consult the victims. The defence lawyer notes that in the face of such horrors, the mind can only retreat into madness; that is, Mother\u2019s plea of innocence on the basis of insanity. However, in order for Mother to \u201cgain full guilt,\u201d the play returns briefly to her ancestral home where we witness the \u201crape of fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.\u201d At the trial, Mother\u2019s decimated family fills the stage singing the desperate refrain, \u201cWhat about us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the courtroom, Mother accuses everyone of complicity and demands they give their individual testimony, be allowed to tell their story. How does a victim who has lost everything forgive the person who has gained all? Mother laments: \u201cI was happily hopeless with my full mist day. Then the sun peaked in with promises and disappeared almost immediately.\u201d The play ends with victim voices filling the stage: \u201cWhat about me? What about us? What about now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This volume is an important one for the voices of African women playwrights. The theatrical information it contains should be invaluable to directors, companies and festivals interested in producing the work it features. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*<\/a>Patricia Keeney<\/strong> is a theatre critic, novelist and poet based in Toronto. She has been teaching Literature and Creative Writing at York University in Toronto for more than 30 years and has lived and worked in South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt spending additional time in several other parts of the continent. Her acclaimed recent novel, One Man Dancing<\/em>, is set primarily in the Uganda of dictator Idi Amin and looks closely at the protest work of the Abafumi theatre company of Robert Serumaga. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2020 Patricia Keeney
Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Creative<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/11\/CS-Bks-African.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":640,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/france\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":0},"title":"France","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"December 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"France has built a supportive environment for theatre-makers and playwrights through sustained state funding of the arts and a nurturing interest from theatre gatekeepers, such as artistic directors, and from audiences. Yet according to our respondents, levels of activity in the field of contemporary plays are shrinking. One expert affirmed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fabulamundi Workbook"","block_context":{"text":"Fabulamundi Workbook","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/category\/fabulamundi-workbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image14.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image14.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image14.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image14.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":646,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/poland\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":1},"title":"Poland","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"December 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2018, one of Poland\u2019s most influential theatre critics, Jacek Sieradzki, famously declared the \u201cend of the contemporary Polish plays problem\u201d as part of his final judging report for the 24th National Competition for Staging Contemporary Polish Plays. He wrote: \u201cThis competition was created [in 1994] to encourage Polish authors\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fabulamundi Workbook"","block_context":{"text":"Fabulamundi Workbook","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/category\/fabulamundi-workbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/featured-poland.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/featured-poland.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/featured-poland.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/featured-poland.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":638,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/czech-republic\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":2},"title":"Czech Republic","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"December 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Contemporary playwriting and theatre translation in the Czech Republic are characterised by established structures of support for writers, yet our interviewees reported contrasting opinions on levels of interest in new plays from commissioning theatres and audiences. The theatre scene in the Czech Republic includes state-run venues, which operate on a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fabulamundi Workbook"","block_context":{"text":"Fabulamundi Workbook","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/category\/fabulamundi-workbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image8.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image8.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image8.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image8.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":643,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/italy\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":3},"title":"Italy","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"December 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A contradictory picture of Italy\u2019s contemporary playwriting and theatre translation culture emerged from our survey and interviews. Many experts confirmed that interest in new plays has increased manifold in the past ten years, and our survey shows that activity levels are high. However, our qualitative data suggests that contemporary playwriting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fabulamundi Workbook"","block_context":{"text":"Fabulamundi Workbook","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/category\/fabulamundi-workbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image19.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image19.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image19.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image19.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":579,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/fabulamundi-workbook\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":4},"title":"Contemporary Playwriting and Theatre Translation Cultures in Europe: A Report on Current Systems, Conventions and Perceptions","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"December 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Margherita Laera* Abstract Commissioned by the E.U.-funded project,\u00a0Fabulamundi: Playwriting Europe Beyond Borders, this report assesses current practices, perceptions and norms in the field of contemporary playwriting and the translation of contemporary plays in nine different European countries: Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and the U.K. Mapping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Essays"","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/category\/essays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image11.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image11.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image11.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/image11.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":649,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/22\/romania\/","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":5},"title":"Romania","author":"Patricia Keeney","date":"December 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Romanian experts appeared to have the lowest confidence levels in the popularity of contemporary playwriting among all the countries we surveyed. Our data suggests that opportunities for local playwrights to earn their living are very limited and support systems are lacking for writers and translators. 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