This book provides a meticulous examination of the work of playwright Robert Serumaga and the Golden Age of Uganda’s theatre (1968-1978). It considers the question of individualism—or its extreme form, solipsism—on the one hand, and activism or a social conscience on the other. Theatrical innovation is another key concern. It deconstructs the ruling histories, historiography and performance analysis of the time as irremediably tainted by a ferocious post-independence nation-statism. This is a study of a theatre of commitment, dissidence, resistance, resilience, struggle, signification and survival; a theatre born under the unrelenting glare of severe, scorching censorship, and incarceration. For the very first time, Serumaga’s work is examined in its entirety and afforded the room, complexity and scope it requires and deserves. For the very first time, too, scholars of the Golden Age of Uganda’s theatre will have to make no more than a single stop in their search for what were hitherto scattered tidbits and sources of Uganda’s theatre history.

This book provides a meticulous examination of the work of playwright Robert Serumaga and the Golden Age of Uganda's theatre (1968-1978). It considers the question of individualism―or its extreme form, solipsism―on the one hand, and activism or a social conscience on the other. Theatrical innovation is another key concern. It deconstructs the ruling histories, historiography and performance analysis of the time as irremediably tainted by a ferocious post-independence nation-statism. This is a study of a theatre of commitment, dissidence, resistance, resilience, struggle, signification and survival; a theatre born under the unrelenting glare of severe, scorching censorship, and incarceration. For the very first time, Serumaga's work is examined in its entirety and afforded the room, complexity and scope it requires and deserves. For the very first time, too, scholars of the Golden Age of Uganda's theatre will have to make no more than a single stop in their search for what were hitherto scattered tidbits and sources of Uganda's theatre history.

This second volume of A History of East African Theatre focuses on central East Africa; on Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The first chapter is concerned with francophone theatres, comparatively studying work coming out of Burundi and Rwanda alongside a focus on French language theatre in Djibouti. The chapter is particularly concerned to explore how French and Belgian cultural policies impacted theatre during the colonial period and how the French ideas of Francafrique and promotion of elite, French language art have continued to resonate in the post-colonial present. Chapters Two and Three look comparatively at the rich theatre histories of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and are divided between a study of British East African colonial impact and an analysis of the post-colonial period illustrating how divergent political thought and societal make-up led to exponential differentiation in national theatres. The final chapter, on Theatre for Development and related social action theatre, covers the whole East African region, offering the first ever historicised analysis of this mode of theatre making which, since the 1980s, has come to dominate funding and opportunity in performance arts.

The Routledge Handbook of African Theatre and Performance brings together the very latest international research on the performing arts across the continent and the diaspora into one expansive and wide-ranging collection. The book offers readers a compelling journey through the different ideas, people and practices that have shaped African theatre and performance, from pre-colonial and colonial times, right through to the 20th and early 21st centuries. Resolutely Pan-African and inter- national in its coverage, the book draws on the expertise of a wide range of Africanist scholars, and also showcases the voices of performers and theatre practitioners working on the cutting-edge of African theatre and performance practice. Contributors aim to answer some of the big questions about the content (nature, form) and context (processes, practice) of theatre, whilst also painting a pluralistic and complex picture of the diversity of cultural, political and artistic exigencies across the continent. Covering a broad range of themes including postcolonialism, transnationalism, interculturalism, Afropolitanism, development and the diaspora, the handbook concludes by projecting possible future directions for African theatre and performance as we continue to advance into the 21st century and beyond. This ground-breaking new handbook will be essential reading for students and researchers studying theatre and performance practices across Africa and the diaspora. Kene Igweonu is Professor of Creative Education at University of the Arts London, where he is also Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of London College of Communication. An interdisciplinary researcher, Professor Igweonu has extensive experience of senior academic leadership in immersive and interactive practices and performance practice. His practice research and publication interests are in storytelling, theatre, and performance in Africa and its Diaspora, as well as the Feldenkrais Method in health, wellbeing, and performance training. A champion for arts and creative industries, Professor Igweonu is Chair of DramaHE, Council Member for Creative UK, and until August 2023, President of the African Theatre Association.

Contemporary Uganda and other East African states are connected by the experience of Idi Amin's tyranny, rapacious and murderous regime, and the latter second Uganda Peoples Congress government, that forced Ugandans to go into exile and initiate armed struggles from Kenya and Tanzania to oust his government. Because of these experiences of disappearances, torture, murder and war, issues of identity, politics and resistance are significant concerns for East African dramatists. Resistance and Politics in Contemporary East African Theatre demonstrates the significant role of theatre in resisting tyranny and forging a post-colonial national identity. In its engaging analysis of an important period of theatre, the book explores key moments while considering the specific practice of individual artists and groups that provoke differing experiences and performance practices. Selected examples range from early post-colonial plays reflecting the resistance to the rise of tyranny, torture and dictatorships, to more recent works that address situations involving struggles for social justice and the cult personality in political leaders. Resistance and Politics in Contemporary East African Theatre offers a new vision of Ugandan theatre as a performative space, a site where new aesthetics, forms, multiple voices, and identities emerge.

What are the stakes of cultural production in a time of war? How is artistic expression prone to manipulation by the state and international humanitarian organizations? In the charged political terrain of post-genocide Rwanda, post-civil war Uganda, and recent violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Laura Edmondson explores performance through the lens of empire. Instead of celebrating theatre productions as expression of cultural agency and resilience, Edmondson traces their humanitarian imperatives to a place where global narratives of violence take precedence over local traditions and audiences. Working at the intersection of performance and trauma, Edmondson reveals how artists and cultural workers manipulate narratives in the shadow of empire and how empire, in turn, infiltrates creative capacities.

Here is an introduction to the history of English writing from East and West Africa drawing on a range of texts from the slave diaspora to the post-war upsurge in African English language and literature from these regions.