Page 67 - Thietre Arts

Theatre Arts For Secondary Schools

Exercise 2.9

1. One of the purposes of rituals is solving problems in society. Describe the
application of rituals in your society to prove such a purpose.

2. You are invited by a neighbouring school teacher to explain characteristics
of ritual in his/her class. Which characteristics will you explain to them?

General characteristics of African theatre

African theatre performs special roles in the communities with its unique features.
These features are the basic characteristics reflecting the richness in culture and
history of different African ethnic groups and places. Generally, African theatre has
the following common characteristics:

(a) Functionality: African theatre is performed on the basis of specific activities
and events. It is functional serving social, political, cultural, and economic
purposes. Various forms of African theatre are performed in accordance with
certain activities or events. In the African context, most of the recreational and
ceremonial theatrical performances such as dances are performed after work in
the evening, particularly during post-harvest season. Examples of post-harvest
ceremony dances include Sangula dance of the Pogoro in Morogoro and Kioda
of the Matengo from Ruvuma.

(b) Spontaneity: There is no prior rehearsal in most African theatrical performances.
African theatre forms do not involve written documents (script) because they are
oral in nature. For example, when the elders are narrating the evening stories,
no rehearsals are done before the narrations. Even the audience needs no prior
preparation to listen to storytelling or participate in singing and responding.

(c) Participatory: African theatre is participatory in nature. It involves the groups
of performers, the audience and the theatrical works to be performed. This is
because African theatre is not owned by an individual performer, but by the
whole community. During the performance, the audience participates in dancing
or singing. Therefore, in African theatre, the performance is a group activity. It
sets no boundaries between creators, performers and audience by letting everyone
be involved in the performance.

(d) Multiple ways of learning: African people learn indigenous theatrical forms in
different ways. Some people inherit from older generations by imitation from the
performers whom they observe. In stories, the African societies learn through
memorisation, observation, and imitation from the storytellers. Traditional dances
are also learned from the senior dancer through apprenticeship and rigorous
practice on certain performances.

59 Student’s Book Form One

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Theatre arts form 1.indd 59
Theatre arts form 1.indd 59 18/10/2024 18:40