Page 50 - Thietre Arts

Theatre Arts For Secondary Schools

The only way to ensure this is to know your audience. That is, to know their
interests, likes, dislikes and the level of literacy. This will help you think of
possible themes to deliver to your audience.

(iv) Developing an appropriate story: The storyteller has to think of the most appropriate
story for the audience. Also, they should use imagination to create their stories.
Imagination basically helps to paint a picture in the mind. It is an invention of
ideas by seeing. To imagine a thing is to develop a detailed image of it.

(v) Bringing new life into old stories or tales: You should not be afraid to use old
stories and change them to suit your needs or your audience. As a storyteller,
you are not limited to play with your words and plot of the story. You can adopt
your own way of telling stories, which brings a different flavour to the old tale.

(vi) Choosing the best: In most times, children as any other audience deserve the best.
A storyteller has to pick stories that make sense and have a satisfying ending.
The storyteller has to make sure the audience understands the story and feels
satisfied with the conclusion. The narrator must make sure that any questions
are answered and the points are made clear. A storyteller should pick stories
where something happens. The narrator looks out for interesting characters that
the children can identify with and plots that are exciting. Your audiences have
to be able to put themselves in the story.

Performance of African storytelling
Most storytelling performances take place in the evening, usually surrounding a
fireplace after the day-long hard work. In some societies, including the Shona of
Zimbabwe, Ijo of southern Nigeria and Wapemba of Pemba, storytelling takes place
after the harvest period when people are no longer occupied with field work. Stories
are narrated in the evening when community or family members come together.
Storytelling performance combines dance and songs in which the audience becomes
the chorus. By using gesture, facial expression and the voice of the characters, the
storyteller renders the dialogue in the story. He or she interprets different roles in the
story with voice and mimicry. They can move outside the story to make comments or
explanations. In this way, storytellers live and act the stories rather than just tell them.
Though African storytelling is meant for the whole community, the target audience
of storytelling are mostly children. This is because storytelling aims at shaping the
children’s moral behaviour. It also intends to pass information from one generation
to another. Figure 2.3 shows a traditional storytelling.

42 Student’s Book Form One

18/10/2024 18:39
Theatre arts form 1.indd 42
Theatre arts form 1.indd 42 18/10/2024 18:39