Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes of Contributors
- Introduction
- Shakespeare, Africa & the Globe Olympiad
- The Two Geltlemen of Zimbabwe & their Diaspora Audience at Shakespeare's Globe
- Shakespeare's African Nostos Township nostalgia & South African performance at sea
- Ìtàn Ògìnìntìn, The Winter's Tale Shakespeare meets Yoruba gods
- Performing the Nation at the London Globe – Notes on a South Sudanese Cymbeline ‘We will be like other people in other places’
- African Shakespeares – a Discussion
- ‘Sa bezsominn Shakespeare la’ – The Brave New World of Dev Virahsawmy
- Crioulo Shakespeareano & the Creolising of King Lear
- Playscript
- Book Reviews
Ìtàn Ògìnìntìn, The Winter's Tale Shakespeare meets Yoruba gods
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes of Contributors
- Introduction
- Shakespeare, Africa & the Globe Olympiad
- The Two Geltlemen of Zimbabwe & their Diaspora Audience at Shakespeare's Globe
- Shakespeare's African Nostos Township nostalgia & South African performance at sea
- Ìtàn Ògìnìntìn, The Winter's Tale Shakespeare meets Yoruba gods
- Performing the Nation at the London Globe – Notes on a South Sudanese Cymbeline ‘We will be like other people in other places’
- African Shakespeares – a Discussion
- ‘Sa bezsominn Shakespeare la’ – The Brave New World of Dev Virahsawmy
- Crioulo Shakespeareano & the Creolising of King Lear
- Playscript
- Book Reviews
Summary
The production of Ìtàn Ògìnìntìn for the Globe to Globe Shakespeare festival in the summer of 2012 generated much debate about the nature and reception of modern Nigerian performance culture. Ìtàn Ògìnìntìn, a re-reading of The Winter's Tale in Yoruba, was written by Chief Ayantade Ipadeola, a traditional drummer and performance artist. Reactions and reviews of the production were hugely varied for both the Nigerian and Globe Theatre performances. While some critics praised a dynamic interpretation of an iconic Shakespeare play that blurred the boundaries of drama, music and dance, and crafted an ecstatic and uplifting evening of African performance (Sanders 2012; Olive 2013), others considered questions about faithfulness to the original text and the subversion of Yoruba myths and performance culture (Sanusi 2012). The range of criticisms of this play raised an awareness of modern theatrical performances in Nigeria, especially among the theatre-going British public whose familiarity with such performances is often limited to Nollywood films and intercultural plays written by Nigerian-British writers such as Oladipo Agboluaje and Bola Agbaje. It is important to mention at the outset that shortly before this play was presented at The Globe, there had been a renewed interest in the drama of Nigerian-British writers. A few weeks before Ìtàn Ògìnìntìn, there were productions of three plays in London: Bola Agbaje's Belong (Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, London; 26 April–26 May 2012), Pandora's Box by Ade Solanke (Arcola Theatre, London; 9–26 May 2012), and Janice Okoh's Egusi Soup at Soho Theatre (23 May–9 June 2012).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- African Theatre 12Shakespeare in and out of Africa, pp. 48 - 60Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013