Dynamics of Distancing in Nigerian Drama. A Functional Approach to Metatheatre

Anwar, Nadia

ISBN 10: 3838208420 / ISBN 13: 9783838208428

Published by Ibidem Press, 2016

About this Item

pp. 274.

Seller Inventory # 26387945880

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Dynamics of Distancing in Nigerian Drama. A Functional Approach to Metatheatre
• Publisher: Ibidem Press
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3838208420
• ISBN 13: 9783838208428
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Nadia Anwar presents a compelling reading framework for the study and analysis of selected post-independence Nigerian dramas, using the conceptual parameters of metatheatre, a theatrical strategy which foregrounds the process of play-making by breaking the dramatic illusion. She argues that distancing, as a function of metatheatre, creates a balanced theatrical experience and environment in terms of the emotive and cognitive levels of reception of a particular performance. Anwar's book is the first in-depth study of the concept of metatheatre with reference to Nigerian drama including Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman (1975) and King Baabu (2002), Ola Rotimi's Kurunmi (1971) and Hopes of the Living Dead (1988), Femi Osofisan's The Chattering and the Song (1977) and Women of Owu (2006), Esiaba Irobi's Hangmen Also Die (1989), and Stella 'Dia Oyedepo's A Play That Was Never to Be (1998). The perspectives of Bertolt Brecht (1936), Thomas J. Scheff (1963), and other theoreticians of dramatic distancing and metatheatre are used in the analyses and, where required, challenged through appropriate contextual and theoretical adjustments. The book is the first attempt to illustrate how Brechtian approach to the display and generation of emotions can be revised through Scheff's model of emotional balance.

About the Author

Nadia Anwar completed her doctoral studies in Nigerian Drama from the University of Northampton and currently works as an Assistant Professor at the University of Management and Technology, Lahore. Her primary interests include postcolonial and postmodern literatures in general and African drama and theatre in particular.