The motif of African perfomance drama in the Kiswahili play: The example of Mashetani, Pungwa, Ngoma ya Ng’wanamalundi andMashetani Wamerudi
Keywords:
African performance drama, motif, Inter-textuality, New historicism, Kiswahili playAbstract
This paper investigates the use of devises of African performance drama and cultural heritage in the construction of the Kiswahili play. In the investigation the paper analyzed four Kiswahili plays sampled purposively for use of African performance drama devises as a recurring archetype used in the design and construction of the modern Kiswahili play. The play-books were Mashetani, Pungwa, Ngoma ya Ng’wanamalundi and Mashetani wamerudi. The analysis was based on two theories namely; New Historicism by Greenblatt and the theory of Inter-textuality by Julia Kristeva. The inter-textuality theory enabled a comparative identification of texts and the history of the themes adopted from African performance drama by the play writers in a span of almost fifty years to construct a typical modern Kiswahili play. The inter-textuality theory also enabled us to establish the freedom of the Kiswahili play author in making reference to African performance drama items in the plays and in analyzing their style, methods and themes adopted from African performance drama to reconstruct and realize a new typical modern Kiswahili play.
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