Theatre Arts
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Item THE ARTS THEATRE, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, 1955-1985: A STUDY OF THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A THEATRE CENTRE IN AN AFRICAN UNIVERSITY(1992-11) ADEDOKUN, R. A.The aim of this research is to highlight the historical significance of the contributions of the Arts Theatre, University of Ibadan, to theatre development in Nigeria. A remarkable landmark in theatrical development was reached in 1955 by the commissioning of the Arts Theatre - the first well-equipped modern theatre in Nigeria. It is significant because, hitherto, the professional theatre had been sneered at in Nigeria and had only flourished as a peripatetic vocation tenously sustained by the enthusiasm of Hubert Ogunde Dance Theatre Company and the nascent Yoruba travelling troupes. But today, theatre has become a household phenomenon, about which the Arts Theatre has disseminated positive information in the last three decades. The educational programmes incepted at the Arts Theatre in 1963 have matured into full university degree programme. The success of this initiative has further inspired the establishment of similar programmes in many other Nigerian Universities. Today, students take degrees in Theatre Arts and fill high level manpower positions in government and private enterprises after graduation. The Arts Theatre has also bred frontline playwrights, distinguished scholars and accomplished theatre practitioners. The Arts Theatre also remains the main source of inspiration for new theatre structures and resident university theatre troupes. This thesis examines fully the implications of the fact that the Arts Theatre was the first architectural archetype designed for the serious promotion of theatrical activities and which has made the theatre a respectable profession in Nigeria, We conclude that, though beset by old age, the Arts Theatre is capable of further active contributions if properly refurbished, maintained and efficiently administered. We set out by introducing our aims, our research methodology and definition of terms. Here also we identify our problem and define our scope of study. Chapter I contains a review of relevant literary works on reputable Arts Theatres in the world, the origin of theatre as academic subject and the structural attributes of the Arts Theatre. Chapter 2 traces the purpose of the university, origin and development of the Arts Theatre, theatre forms, the early dramatic activities of Randall Hogarth and various other contributions made by Geoffrey Axworthy, Wole Soyinka and Joel Adedeji. Chapter 3 focusses attention on systematic theatre education at Ibadan highlighting its workshop origin, evolution of academic programmes and associated amateur student and staff production; children's theatre, yoruba Travelling theatre and film. Chapter 4 deals with the promotion of theatre profession in Nigeria focusing on the implications of the University Acting Companies and promotion of African writings, International Productions and Foreign Visiting Artists and workshop. Chapter 5 contains a retrospective review of fields covered in the work and results achieved. It is also the concluding chapter. The Appendices and the plates have been carefully selected principally to provide objective insight into the various Arts Theatre activities. Interview with Professor Fola Aboaba for instance touches on a wide range of the Arts Theatre events.Item THEATRE IN NIGERIA: A CONSIDERATION OF THE SCENOGRAPHIC, TECHNOLOGICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS(1994-05) ABORISADE, J. O.'Theatre Arts' is essentially a visual arts discipline in which the elements of architecture, scenography and technology play very significant roles. However, these areas and aspects have suffered neglect, in the past, in the arena of Nigerian scholarship. Consequently, the present study aims at a historico-critical evaluation, analysis and documentation of the development and functions in the contemporary Nigerian theatre, as witnessed especially in and at Ibadan in the past twelve decades in broad terms and since 1948 (the founding year of the University of Ibadan) in particular. If there was in the pastan authentic African (especially Nigerian) theatre, then there ought to have been a corresponding typical and unique African theatre performance space form. Therefore there is a need to rediscover that form. But if the traditional African-particularly Nigerian theatre had had no unique and typical performance stage or space form, other than the village square, market place and the Kings' palaces, then it has to be accepted that the modern (present-day) architectural theatre forms of Africa and in particular of Nigeria have been imposed or have evolved from the cross currents of contacts with Western civilization and foreign influences and, therefore, they are basically foreign and of non- African origin. Consequently, the present search for a new theatre form, architecturally, would yield better results if the merger of the traditional and western modern architecture employing modern technology in equipping them to achieve flexibility, adaptability and timelessness could be pursued. In order to achieve that, what one has to do now is to critically examine the functionality of the present spaces and modify or refurbish them to suit the demands of the contemporary Nigerian theatre. However, most ideal would be the conception, design and realisation of new structures along the lines of new and long attested aesthetic principles and the results of technological researches arising from age-old experiments, new aspirations, current trends and future speculations. Since the arts and the sciences have always been the bedrock of human spiritual, psychological and economic development, and since technology has always aided the attainment of socio-political growth, technology, borrowed or developed, invented or transferred, has a great role to play in the development of Nigerian theatre. Hence, the investigation of its impact in the Nigerian theatre is a necessary and perhaps an inevitable task. The objects of the study are contained in an Introduction covering the purpose, scope, limitation, Overview of Literature, Methodology and Definition of Terms: while the findings in the three respective areas are presented in nine Chapters. Chapters One to Three contain review of literature, overviews of studies and projects in the three areas of study. Chapters Four and Five present, in chronological order, the historical development of theatre in Europe, America, Asia and Africa, especially Nigeria. Chapter Six looks at the genesis of theatre education, scholarship and practice, especially in the western world and recommends a model of training and desirable lines for the future development of theatre in Nigeria. Chapter Seven considers concepts and aesthetics of theatre arts forms and styles and relates these to the contemporary Nigerian theatrical endeavours, especially in the scenographic spheres. Chapter Eight treats the analysis, scenographic and technological executions of the production of the selected illustrative plays. Chapter Nine pursues the search for new physical theatre forms in their various parameters for Nigeria and examines the present state of the physical theatre structures and venues in and at Ibadan. The thesis sees architecture, scenography and technology as prime levers of the development of theatre arts in Nigeria.Item DEATH, NATIONALISM, LANGUAGE AND REVOLT IN J. M. SYNGE AND WOLE SOYINKA - A THEMATIC STUDY(1990-03) ABATI, R. A.This thesis examines four themes in the plays of J.W. Synge and Wole Soyinka - namely, death, nationalism, language and revolt - to represent the multiple aspects of convergence and divergence which a combined reading of their works reveals, and to appreciate the sensibilities, the social contexts and the significance (local and universal) of both writers. It is divided into six chapters: Chapter One: Introduction; Chapter Two: Death in J.M. Synge and Wole Soyinka (Tharatomimesis and Thanatodicea Examined); Chapter. Three: J.M. Synge, Wole Soyinka and the National Question; Chapter Four: Language: The Synge and Soyinka Experience; Chapter Five: Modernism and the Theatre of Revolt: J. W. Synge and Wole Soyinka; Chapter Six: Conclusion. The thesis advances four main propositions, viz: (a) Synge and Soyinka express an abiding concern about the centrality of death in human experience; man, both writers contend, is, in the midst of life, in death; hence, they paint an artistic landscape in which the individual urge to assert itself is often subverted by the reality or the threat of death, thus giving vent to the idea that death is the ultimatum of life. (b) Both writers have been dismissed as a-national in their respective countries, not just because they are incapable of political thought, as has been alleged in Synge's case, or unpatriotic, as alleged in both cases, but because of their refusal to embrace the reductionist and exclusivist literary dogma preached by the ultra-nationalists in their societies. Both of them advocate the freedom of the creative instinct from ideological fetters and assign themselves the task of desecrating the sacred gods of their time with the belief that truth, as opposed to flattery, should be the oyster of art; and it is perhaps this critical detachment and objectivity that constitutes true nationalist writing. (c) Synge and Soyinka, like many writers, accord language a pre-eminence in their scale of artistic tools; of particular interest is their foregrounding of language; that is, the fluency with which their language attains performative dimensions and generates visual and aural impulses, and the implications of this for the theatrical communication of their plays. (d) A search for the root of both writers' sensibility must be traced, in part, to the modernist temperament of their works manifest not only in their 'avantgarde' utilisation of language but more contextually in their revolt against preconceived existential and social notions and ethos. In sum, this thesis attempts to give intimations of the individual genius of both writers, situate them within their social and historical contexts, and assess their universal value; the parallels between them are highlighted but their differences are not overlooked. On the whole, however, this exercise can represent only the beginning of a more complex discussion of both writers, particularly with regards to their backgrounds: the Anglo-Irish National Theatre Movement and the Modern Nigerian Theatre of the pre-Independence and post-Independence eras.