Mzo Sirayi has embarked on a highly impressive and daring enterprise with the unfl inching boldness of a scholar who is driven by a passionate pursuit to set the record straight. He manages to pull no punches and make no apologies by being true to his convictions, especially within the context of a new South Africa. The book adopts a largely historicized, critical and analytical perspective, which strikingly approximates that of postcolonial theory. Owen Seda This new and authoritative book is an excellent addition to the few existing books on black South African drama and theatre. South African Drama and Th eatre from Pre-colonial Times to 1990s: An Alternative Reading takes the reader on a tour of the indigenous as well as the modern South African theatre zones. The chapters reverberate with echoes of Africanisation and rock on renaissance waves. This exciting and stimulating book is transparently readable, accessible and is of inestimable value to academics and general readers. Patrick Ebewo

In this collection of essays written from different critical perspectives, African playwrights demonstrate through their art that they are not only witnesses, but also consciences, of their societies.

Mzo Sirayi has embarked on a highly impressive and daring enterprise with the unfl inching boldness of a scholar who is driven by a passionate pursuit to set the record straight. He manages to pull no punches and make no apologies by being true to his convictions, especially within the context of a new South Africa. The book adopts a largely historicized, critical and analytical perspective, which strikingly approximates that of postcolonial theory. — Owen Seda This new and authoritative book is an excellent addition to the few existing books on black South African drama and theatre. South African Drama and Th eatre from Pre-colonial Times to 1990s: An Alternative Reading takes the reader on a tour of the indigenous as well as the modern South African theatre zones. The chapters reverberate with echoes of Africanisation and rock on renaissance waves. This exciting and stimulating book is transparently readable, accessible and is of inestimable value to academics and general readers. — Patrick Ebewo

This book aims to offer a broad history of theatre in Africa. The roots of African theatre are ancient and complex and lie in areas of community festival, seasonal rhythm and religious ritual, as well as in the work of popular entertainers and storytellers. Since the 1950s, in a movement that has paralleled the political emancipation of so much of the continent, there has also grown a theatre that comments back from the colonized world to the world of the colonists and explores its own cultural, political and linguistic identity. A History of Theatre in Africa offers a comprehensive, yet accessible, account of this long and varied chronicle, written by a team of scholars in the field. Chapters include an examination of the concepts of 'history' and 'theatre'; North Africa; Francophone theatre; Anglophone West Africa; East Africa; Southern Africa; Lusophone African theatre; Mauritius and Reunion; and the African diaspora.

Acting on HIV offers a sustained and relatively systematic inquiry into drama as an approach to discussion of HIV/AIDS and related attitudes and behaviors. A distinctive feature of the research that is presented in Acting on HIV is the emphasis on the potential for and value of using drama to promote vital social change in addition to individual behaviour change. It has a strong theoretical foundation and seeks to interrogate the ethical, theoretical and practical complexities of using drama to address issues HIV & AIDS. The research that is communicated through the book is original and timely and will make a significant, trans-disciplinary contribution to scholarly conversations about the role/s and significance of drama in addressing issues of HIV & AIDS. Acting on HIV will have appeal to scholars working within drama and performance studies and those involved in interdisciplinary work or working in the fields of social work, education, sociology, psychology, cultural and media studies, gender studies, criminology, and critical human and social sciences generally including studies of HIV, sexuality and public health among others. Furthermore, the book targets community practitioners, teachers and researchers interested in drama for social change; arts based research methods and drama in education.

African popular theater includes conventional drama plus such nonliterary performance as dance, mime, storytelling, masquerades, vaudeville, improvization, & the theater of social action & resistance. Media such as radio, film, & television are included.