Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- 1 Concepts of history and theatre in Africa -- Note -- 2 North Africa -- Egypt -- Pharaonic period -- Graeco-Roman period -- Christian era -- Islamic period -- Modern: from Mohamed Aly and Napoleon -- References and further reading -- Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia -- The antagonist theory -- Indigenous para-dramatic performance -- Essentials of the traditional theatre form -- Cult festival as performing art -- On the footprint of the Halqa performance -- Enriching or impoverishing influences -- The basic nature of carnival -- Modern experimentation -- Post-colonial developments -- Notes -- References and further reading -- Sudan -- Reth investiture -- War of words -- Sufi ceremonies -- Theatrical wrestling -- Zar -- British and Egyptian influences -- Notes -- 3 Francophone Africa south of the Sahara -- Francophone Africa: a contested term -- Indigenous traditions of performance: definitions and classifications -- Recreational performances: some examples -- Ceremonial performances: some examples -- Popular theatre -- Popular urban theatre -- Théâtre d'animation politique -- Community development theatre -- French-language theatre: the colonial period -- Expatriate theatre -- Missionary theatre -- School theatre -- Theatre of cultural centres and social clubs -- French-language theatre: the post-colonial period -- Enabling factors -- Theatre and history -- Theatre and politics -- Theatre and society -- Francophone theatre and the search for a new poetics -- African languages literary theatre -- Problems and prospects -- Notes -- References and further reading -- 4 Anglophone West Africa -- Nigeria -- Traditional Nigerian theatre -- The cultural nationalist phase (1860-1944).

Modern Nigerian theatre: travelling theatre (1944 onwards) -- Modern Nigerian theatre: the literary theatre tradition (1956 onwards) -- Popular theatre, or Theatre for development -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References and further reading -- Ghana -- References and further reading -- Sierra Leone -- Traditional theatre -- Theatre in the colonial era -- Post-independence theatre -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References and further reading -- A note on recent Anglophone Cameroonian theatre -- Theatre for development -- Problems encountered -- Notes -- 5 East Africa -- Ethiopia and Eritrea -- Ethiopia -- Eritrea -- Notes -- Kenya -- Indigenous traditional roots of contemporary Kenyan drama -- The social context of dominant traditional forms -- History of post-colonial Kenyan theatre -- References and further reading -- Tanzania -- 200 BC to AD 1800 -- The theatre, 1800 to 1960 -- 1800 to 1918 -- 1920 to 1960 -- Independence and after, 1961 to 2000 -- Theatre groups and writing for the theatre: 1961 to the end of the 1970s -- Radio theatre, 1961 to 1980 -- Ngonjera -- Theatre groups and theatre writing: mid-1970s to 2000 -- Theatre for development, 1979 to 2000 -- References and further reading -- Uganda -- Cultural institutions -- Taking theatre to the people -- Theatre in Luganda -- Theatre in English -- Notes -- 6 Southern Africa -- Indigenous para-dramatic performance -- The reaction of indigenous theatre forms to colonialism -- Colonial theatre -- Theatre in the post-colonial period -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 7 South African theatre -- Issues related to recuperating oral performance forms -- Oral poetry and performance -- Songs and stories of the San -- Bantu South African oral literature -- Recorded European theatre in South Africa, 1652 to 1910 -- Theatre from the Dutch East India Company to Afrikaans theatre -- British theatre in South Africa.

Twentieth-century theatre -- 1900 to1960 -- 1960 to 2002 -- Notes -- References and further reading -- 8 Theatre in Portuguese-speaking African countries -- Continental Africa (Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique) -- Theatrical forms in the pre-colonial era -- Theatrical forms in traditional society -- Dramatic forms in traditional society -- Colonial period -- Autos and the role of the Church -- Indigenous European-style theatre -- Tours by Portuguese companies -- African nationalism and theatre -- Post-independence -- Theatre in the service of the revolution -- Theatre in recent years -- The Islands (Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe) -- Romarias in honour of the saints and autos on the deeds of Charlemagne -- Morna and the theatre in twentieth-century Cape Verde -- Renaissance drama in the Gulf of Guinea -- Tchilôli -- São Lourenço or Auto de Floripes of Príncipe -- Danço Congo -- Contemporary Sãotomenese theatre and the danço congo -- Notes -- References and further reading -- 9 Mauritius and Réunion -- Political and demographic history -- Creolisation -- Contemporary sister-islands -- Breaking out of a colonial past in Réunion and Mauritius -- Militant theatre -- Recovering history: slavery, marronnage and métissage -- Language and cultural miscegenation -- Myths -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References and futher reading -- 10 Surviving the crossing: theatre in the African Diaspora -- Africa and the Atlantic world -- Surviving slavery: African cultures and New World theatres and performances -- Theatre and constructions of Afro-New World identities -- Conclusion -- References and further reading -- Index.