Theatre In Ghana Literature Review

Chapter 2 – Literature Review
2.1 Theatre
In defining the word ‘theatre’, one can take a look at its interchangeable synonym ‘drama’. “Etymologically, the word ‘drama’ comes from a Greek noun [which originally means] an action and then a play for the stage” (Balme). Theatre is also defined to be “a highly collaborative endeavour and that it takes the form of drama, comedy or musical theatre” (Akashoro, Kayode, & Husseini, 2010). As Shakespeare once put it “’theatre is a mirror for highlighting man’s humanity’” and can be used to connect people from different walks of life (Akashoro, Kayode, & Husseini, 2010). For the sake of the paper, we will use the following definition: “An art concerned exclusively with live performances of actions planned

The majority of information that has been gathered on the subject pertains to southern Ghana, namely the Akan, the Ewe and the Fante (Gibbs, 2004). However it is incorrect to assume that those in the rest of Ghana do not enjoy a rich theatre culture.

The development of Ghana’s evolving theatre tradition stems from dances, rhetorical forms, symbols and symbolic acts (Gibbs, 2004). Across the country, “migrant groups cultivate their distinct identities by meeting to sing, tell stories and dance in the manner of their ‘home towns’ (Gibbs, 2004). In A History of Theatre in Africa, James Gibbs discusses how theatre in Ghana evolved from narratives to concert plays. One set of narratives that has impacted Ghanaian theatre is those of Ananse the spider and his trickster ways (Gibbs, 2004). Dramatists have brought these Akan-Fante tales to life through plays called anansegro (Gibbs, 2004). The plays are generally performed by a performing group that consist of a “chief of a group (Anansesenhene), chief of the women (Kuwwura), spokeperson (Okyeame), narrator (Anansesemwura or Mafo), drummers (Akyerema) and mime artists (Anansegoro mma)” (Kerr, 1995). These plays have become an integral part of traditional narrative theatre in Ghana (Gibbs,

Mfantispim, for example, produced Kobina Sekyi, a playwright who wrote The Blinkards, an English-Fante speaking play that reprimands his countrymen and women for adapting the mannerisms of their British colonial masters (Gibbs, 2004). His work has gone on to inspire other 1930s writers like J.B Danquah, who wrote The Third Woman and F.K, Fiawoo who wrote The Fifth Landing Stage (Gibbs, 2004). One of the most dominating and influential figures in the history of Ghanaian theatre was Efua Sutherland. From the late 1950s to her death in 1996, Sutherland was heavily involved with the Ghanaian theatre scene by leading the Ghana National Theatre Movement with Kwame Nkrumah’s blessing, being the “driving force behind the construction of the Drama Studio” that attracted other African playwrights like Wole Soynka and writing several plays herself (Gibbs, 2004). After the coup d’etat that overthrew of Nkrumah’s government in 1966, Ghana’s theatre scene began to grow without the influence of government (Collins, 2002). That changed when J.J. Rawlings’ took power for a second time in 1981. Playwrights like Asiedu Yirenkyi, Ama Ata Aidoo and Mohammed Ben-Abdallah held high office in the ministries of Information, Education and Culture (Gibbs, 2004). Rawlings also promoted