Martin Banham & James Gibbs 
African Theatre 8: Diasporas 

This volume in the African Theatre series celebrates the African theatrical diaspora from Brazil to Tasmania, and Canada to Cuba, and also includes the playscript Messing with the Mind by Egyptian writer and director Khaled El-Sawy.


Diasporas’, as used in the title of this volume, refers to a multitude of groups and communities with widely differing histories, identities and current locations. This book brings together essays on theatre by people of Africandescent in North America, Cuba, Italy, the UK, Israel and Tasmania. Several chapters present overviews of particular national contexts, others offer insights into play texts or specific performances. Offering a mix of academic andpractitioner’s points of views, Volume 8 in the African Theatre series analyses and celebrates various aspects of African diasporic theatre worldwide.


Guest Editors: CHRISTINE MATZKE, Lecturer in African Literaturesand Cultures, Humboldt-University, Berlin; and OSITA OKAGBUE, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Drama, Goldsmiths, University of London.


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

Introduction – Christine Matzke and Osita Okagbue

Performing Black Canadas: The Trans-American Imaginary of Black Canadian Theatre – Maureen Moynagh

The Theory of
Ase: The Persistence of African Performance Aesthetics in the North American Diaspora – August Wilson, Ntozake Shange & Djanet Sears – Esiaba Irobi

African Presence in Cuban Theatre – Cariad Astles

Marginality, Sacrifice & Transgression: Mothers & Rebellious Women in Two Plays by Cuba’s Eugenio Hernández Espinosa – Conrad James

Interculture on Stage: Afro-Italian Theatre – Sabrina Brancato

Black British Theatre in London 1972-1989: A Brief Overview – Yvonne Brewster

Talking about
Something Dark: An Interview with Lemn Sissay – Jane Plastow

Jews, Blood & Ethiopian Dance in Israel: Critical Race Theory & the Postcolonial – Rob Baum

Nature in Migration & the ‘Natural Migrant’: Performing African Settlement in Tasmanian Community Arts – Mary Elizabeth Anderson

Translator’s Introduction to Khaled El-Sawy’s
Messing with the Mind – Mona Khedr

Playscript:
Messing with the Mind – Khaled El-Sawy

Book Reviews

About the author

Jane Plastow is Professor of African Theatre, University of Leeds.