Decolonize or else – negotiating decolonization through popular theatre

Abstract

This study explored the role of audience in African performance to discover the relationship between the popular theatre artist and his audience and how that relationship can be exploited in the process of decolonizing and re-Africanizing the theatre, to arrive at dramatic performances that are closer home to African cultural needs. The study took the continued call for decolonization as a point of departure to determine the difficulty a literary artist faces in realizing this goal, as well as to call attention to the potential of participative audience in realizing that goal. The power of the audience to influence and impact the performance is often taken for granted and glossed over in theatre discourses, but it is given a focus in this work because of the perceived vital role audience can play in decolonizing African theatre. Two performances – Ejilarin by Ayokola Arishekola and The Trumpet Parable by Chimalum Nwankwo – are used in this study to critically evaluate the status of the theatre audience. While the two plays studied here provide a glimpse into both popular audience and elite drama audience, the focus is on the former. Data for this study were based largely on participation and oral interview.

Keywords: Active Audience; participation; Performer/Audience relationship; decolonization; popular theatre