Decolonizing the stage : theatrical syncretism and post-colonial drama / Christopher B. Balme.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Balme, Christopher B., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drama--History and criticism.

Drama.

Theater--Developing countries.

Theater.

Literature and society--Developing countries.

Literature and society.

Postcolonialism in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 304 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [1999]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Decolonizing the Stage is a major study devoted to post-colonial drama and theatre. It examines the way dramatists and directors from various countries and societies have attempted to fuse the performance idioms of their indigenous traditions with the Western dramatic form. These experiments are termed 'syncretic theatre'. The study provides a theoretically sophisticated, cross-cultural comparative approach to a wide number of writers, regions, and theatre movements, ranging from Maori, Aboriginal, and native American theatre to Township theatre in South Africa. Writers studied include Nobel-Prize-winning authors such as Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, and Rabindranath Tagore, along with others such as Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Jack Davis, Girish Karnad, and Tomson Highway.

Contents:

1. Indigenous Theories of Syncretic Theatre

2. Ritual Frames and Liminal Dramaturgy

3. Language and the Post-Colonial Stage

4. Orality as Performance

5. Visualizing the Body

6. Dance and Body Language

7. Spaces and Spectators.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0191674265

9780191674266