Nkyin-kyin : : essays on the Ghanaian theatre / / James Gibbs.

• Superior document: Cross/cultures ; 98
• Author: Gibbs, James
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Cross/cultures ; 98.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (265 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

This collection brings together essays written over a thirty-five year period. They reflect James Gibbs’s position vis-à-vis the Ghanaian theatre as sometimes a remote onlooker, sometimes an enthusiastic participant observer, deeply involved in issues of perception and influence in a society moving through colonialism to nationalism, independence and beyond. The main body of the book is divided into four sections. The first, “Outsiders and Activists,” looks at theatre for community development during the late 1940's, some connections between drama and film, and the astonishing involvement in Ghanaian performance culture of the Haitian poet and playwright Felix Morisseau–Leroy. The second section, “Intercultural Encounters,” examines ways in which classic Greek drama has been used by producers and writers in West Africa, with special reference to Victor Yankah, Kobina Sekyi (Ghana’s first published playwright), and the Nigerian Femi Osofisan. Section Three, “Plays and Playwrights,” concentrates on Efua Sutherland, Ama Ata Aidoo, and Joe de Graft. This section uncovers issues of documentation and achievement that draw attention to the need for investment in organising resources for writing Ghana’s theatre history. The volume draws to a close with personal accounts of touring student productions in the 1960's (with due attention to the influence of Bertolt Brecht) and of involvement in a British film production on location. The book closes with an updated complete bibliography of Ghana’s chief dramatist, Efua Sutherland.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Propaganda and Mass Education / Alec Dickson -- Who Is Kofi Basake?: ‘Village Drama’ in Ghana / Ken Pickering -- ‘Where people were free – they’ll remember me’ / Félix Morisseau—Leroy -- Antigone and Her African Sisters: West African Versions of a Greek Original -- The Fifth Landing-Stage: Reading and Re-Reading Across Cultures -- Efua Sutherland (1924–96): The ‘Mother’ of the Ghanaian Theatre -- What Is Married in The Marriage of Anansewa and Who Performed the Wedding Ceremony? -- The Call to the Priesthood and Other Stories in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Anowa -- A Theatrical Prophet with Strange Honours: A Response to a Profile by Kofi Agovi / Joe de Graft -- The Legon 7: The Story of a Campus Drama Group, October 1968–June 1970 -- Victim of the Third World War: Filmmaking in Ghana: The Dying of the Light (1994) -- General Bibliography -- Efua Theodora Sutherland: A Bibliography of Primary Materials, with a Checklist of Secondary Sources.