Martin Banham & James Gibbs 
African Theatre 14: Contemporary Women 

Looks at the lives, challenges and contributions of African women from across the continent to making and participating in theatre in the 21st century.


Drawing on expertise from across the African continent this collection reflects the realities for women working and making theatre: how Egyptian director Dalia Basiouny has documented the ‘Tahrir Stories’ of the Egyptian Revolution; how in Uganda women have used various theatrical devices, such as oral poetry, to seek common ground in a rural-urban inter-generational theatre project; and the use of physical theatre to examine disavowed memory in South Africa. The contributors also look at how practitioners are re-thinking performance space and modes of performance for gendered advocacy in Botswanan theatre, and how women are addressing gender-based violence and rape culture, comparing performance and street-based activism in South Africa and India. A particular strength of the volume is its interviews: with Jalila Baccar of Tunisia, by Marvin Carlson; six Ethiopian actresses are interviewed and introduced by Jane Plastow and Mahlet Solomon; and Ariane Zaytzeff explores ‘Making art to reinvent culture’ with Odile Gakire Katese of Rwanda. The new play to be published is
The Sentence by Sefi Atta, introduced and contextualized by Christine Matzke.


Volume Editors: JANE PLASTOW & YVETTE HUTCHISON Guest Editor: CHRISTINE MATZKE Series Editors: Martin Banham, Emeritus Professor of Drama & Theatre Studies, University of Leeds; James Gibbs, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, University of the West of England; Femi Osofisan, Professor of Drama at the University of Ibadan; Jane Plastow, Professor of African Theatre, University of Leeds; Yvette Hutchison, Associate Professor, Department of Theatre & Performance Studies, University of Warwick

Table of Content

Foreword – Jane Plastow and Yvette Hutchison and Christine Matzke

Introduction – Sandra Richards

The work of Dalia Basiouny: an artist’s account – Dalia Basiouny

Performativities as activism: addressing gender-based violence and rape culture in South Africa & beyond – Nicola Cloete

Performativities as activism: addressing gender-based violence and rape culture in South Africa & beyond – Sara Matchett

Exploring poetic voice in the Uganda Women’s Intergenerational Theatre Project – Susan Nalugwa Kiguli and Jane Plastow

‘After images’: impressions of the ‘after’ by South Africa performer-choreographer Mamela Nyamza’s – Alude Mahali

Jallila Baccar of Tunisia: a portrait of an artist – Marvin Carlson

In conversation: interrogating and shifting societal perceptions of women in Botswana through theatre – Lebogang Disele

Binti Leo: women in the arts in Tanzania – Vicensia Shule

Odile Gakire Katese: making art & reinventing culture with women: interview – Ariane Zaytzeff

Contemporary Ethiopian actresses – Jane Plastow and Mahlet Solomon

Introduction to Sefi Atta’s
The Sentence – Christine Matzke

Playscript:
The Sentence by Sefi Atta – Sefi Atta

Book reviews

About the author

CHRISTINE MATZKE, Lecturer in African Literatures and Cultures, Humboldt-University, Berlin.