Dramatic literature for development: Imperatives of Nwamuo's save our lives and Duruaku's a question of choice.

Abstract

The topical issues of social disparity, deprivation, unemployment and corruption which obviously dehumanize the youth and women recommend a modification of strategy for engagement. Drama which encapsulates the performative arts of the theatre, the fore ground upon which the expressive arts are physicalized, is a useful tool for the social re-engineering that this state of affairs beckons. It is on stage that the songs and tunes of the creative mind, as well as the recorded tears and lamentations of the proletariat are orchestrated. These creative ideas can be recreated and presented before a psychologically famished populace
by a dramaturgist in anticipation of a stage production. The deprived masses find solace when drama is taken to them, reminiscent of old tunes sung when time was young and beautiful under the moonlight folktales arena. This paper argues that in a democratic dispensation, the Playwright should function outside the "caged Proscenium" and take theatre to the people adopting the Community Theatre Workshop / Theatre for Development approach. Two plays are here examined: Nwamuo's Save Our
Lives and Duruaku's A Question of Choice. Both plays are concerned
with the problems of the masses and ways of resolving them.