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Overview
Volume Three in this series carries on from the highly acclaimed volumes on Europe and on the Americas. Focusing on non-Arabic Africa, and with contributions from leading experts from the countries featured, the third volume of the World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre series examines theatrical developments in Africa since 1945. Entries on thirty-two African countries are featured in this volume, preceded by specialist introductory essays on Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, History and Culture, Cosmology, Music, Dance, Theatre for Young Audiences and Puppetry. There are also special introductory general essays on African theatre written by Nobel Prize Laureate Wole Soyinka and the outstanding Congolese playwright, Sony Labou Tansi, before his untimely death in 1995. More up-to-date and more wide-ranging than any other publication, this is undoubtedly a major ground-breaking survey of contemporary African theatre.
Synopsis
This lavishly illustrated volume examines theatrical developments since 1945 in more than 40 African countries. The authoritative entries on each country have been written by the leading scholars, critics and theatre practitioners working within the area discussed. Preceding the entries are specialist introductory essays on Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, History and Culture, Cosmology, Music, Dance, Theatre for Young Audiences and Puppetry, and general essays on African theatre written by Nobel Prize Laureate Wole Soyinka and the outstanding Congolese playwright, Sony Labou Tansi, before his untimely death in 1995.
The countries covered are: Angola
• Benin
• Burkina
• Faso
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Chad
• Congo
• Cote d'Ivoire
• Ethiopia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Guinea Bissau
• Kenya
• Liberia
• Madagascar
• Mali
• Mauritius
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Rwanda
• Senegal
• Seychelles Islands
• Sierra Leone
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• Togo
• Uganda
• Zaire
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe
The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre (WECT) is the largest international co-operative publication in the history of world theater. In six outstanding volumes, WECT documents artistic development all over the world, country by country, region by region. Volumes One and Two, on Europe and the Americas respectively have already been published to outstanding reviews. studies and African studies. Volume 4 will deal with The Arab World, Volume 5 with Asia/Oceania, and Volume 6 will provide a Bibliography and Cumulative Index. There is a 10% discount for standing orders.
Library Journal
This useful compendium of information begins with several general essays on African drama, including some 32 dramatic traditions in Black Africa. (There is a separate volume for Arabic Africa.) Some small dramatic traditions are covered by overview essays, but most countries have sustained studies that achieve a surprising degree of depth and subtlety covering many cultures and languages. They examine traditional ritual as well as formal theatrical drama. Entries follow a common form, beginning with an historical essay; moving on to discussions of the national theater, artistic profiles of important dramatists, theater for young audiences, puppet and mask theater, and architecture; and ending with a unit on training, criticism, scholarship, and publishing. Each chapter ends with a strong bibliography, and an extensive general bibliography is included as well. Together with the previous volumes on Europe (LJ 2/15/95) and America (1995), this effort succeeds admirably at promoting interest in global theater.Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., Mass.