1. Macpherson, Margaret, ‘Plays and People: an Examination of Three Ugandan Dramatists: Byron Kawadwa, John Ruganda, and Robert Serumaga’, in The Writer and Society in Africa: the Last Fifty Years and Prospects for the Next, Makerere Golden Jubilee Writers' Workshops, Paper No. 4 (Nairobi, 1972)Google Scholar.

2. The term ‘popular’ theatre is used here as opposed to ‘art’ theatre. For definitions, see Desai, Gaurav, ‘Theatre as Praxis: Discoursive Strategies in African Popular Theatre’, African Studies Review, XXXI, No. 1 (04 1990), p. 65–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3. The continuing influence of mission drama can be seen in Kawadwa's play St. Lwanga, first performed on the occasion of the Pope's visit to Uganda. The play treats the story of the Ugandan martyrs, the first Christians to be killed by the men of the Kabakka. Wycliffe Kiyingi also wrote a passion play in which the sufferings of Christ are presented in a modern Ugandan setting. Mission plays, especially nativity plays, along with Shakespearean performances also from the typical dramatic experience in schools of educated Blacks in Southern Africa. See Orkim, Martin, Drama and the South African State (Manchester, 1991), p. 22Google Scholar.

4. For much of the information on theatrical groups and the cultural atmosphere of Uganda in the 'fifties, 'sixties, and 'seventies, I am indebted to an as-yet unpublished paper by Rose Mbowa, given at a symposium in Bayreuth in July 1989. Another source of information was Wycliffe Kiyingi himself, whom I interviewed together with Rose Mbowa in his office in downtown Kampala in July 1989.

5. Eagleton, Terry, in Literary Theory (Oxford, 1983), p. 28–9Google Scholar, notes ‘the importance of the admission of English literature to the Civil Service examinations’, and argues that, ‘armed with this conveniently packaged version of their own cultural treasures, the servants of British imperialism could sally forth overseas, secure in a sense of their own national identity and able to display that cultural superiority to their envying colonial peoples’.

6. Hussein, Ebrahim, in his unpublished thesis, On the Development of Theatre in East Africa (Berlin, 1975)Google Scholar, points out that school performances were the main occasion where a racially-mixed audience of parents could meet – although he states that the audience consisted mainly of White, Indian, Goan, and South African parents. Wycliffe Kiyingi also pointed out that for many Ugandans theatre was a school activity, related to parents' day, not a serious activity.

7. See Horn, Andrew, ‘Individualism and Community in the Theatre of Serumaga’, African Literature Today, XII (1982), p. 22–48Google Scholar. When Renga Moi was performed on the occasion of an OAU meeting in Kampala convened by Idi Amin, he referred to Serumaga's plays as ‘gymnastics’.

8. See Cook, David, ‘Theatre Goes to the People’, Transition, V, No. 25 (1966), p. 23–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9. See Horn, Andrew, ‘The Golden Age of Ugandan Drama’, Literary Half Yearly, XIX, No. 1 (1978), p. 22–49Google Scholar.

10. Wole Soyinka dedicated A Play of Giants (1984) to Byron Kawadwa. On p. vii-x of his introduction, ‘On the Heroes of Our Time: Some Personal Notes’, Soyinka refers to Kawadwa's death, Serumaga's exile, and the exodus of artists and intellectuals. See also Horn, Andrew, ‘Uganda's Theatre: the Exiled and the Dead’, Index on Censorship, VIII, No. 5 (1979), p. 12–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11. This type of incidental music seems to come from the concert format which Jimmy Katumba has also adopted in his own shows. He, too, had presented his shows as a mixture of music and dramatized sketches, often with an educative content. In one of his shows, he inserted sketches on sanitation and health care.

12. The video screen is used as a device of the ‘divided stage’. The man on the phone in his home is seen on the video screen, while the police sergeant who receives the call is sitting at his desk on the stage. The possibility of presenting two localities simultaneously has obviously become a fad with the Ebonitas.

13. A video insert shows how the husband climbs out of the window, straddles the gate of his compound, tries to open his car (in vain, because the two criminals have taken his keys), and manages to flag down a taxi, talking the driver into taking him to the airport in spite of his having not a single penny on him, and how the taxi then breaks down and he has to continue on foot. This overabundance of images and events is a clear borrowing from television dramatic style, portraying events difficult to convey by means of stage drama. The effect of such a sequence is, of course, extremely funny, and creates tension over whether the husband will really make it in time. It seems to be a concession to an audience that has adopted the viewing habits of television, where no gaps are left for the spectator's imaginary infill between the individual scenes.

14. That the video-plus-sound system, with abundant lighting, is not an ‘appropriate’ theatre technology for Uganda became clear in one of the performances I attended. Since the voltage dropped during the performance, the power was adequate only to operate one of these technical backups, and the technician could not quite decide to which he should give priority. So he switched from one to another and nearly wrecked the whole performance.

15. On the concert party in Togo and Ghana, see Fiebach, Joachim, Die Toten als die Macht der Lebenden (Berlin, 1986), p. 244Google Scholar; Ricard, Alain, Concours et concert: théâtre scolaire et théâtre populaire au Togo (Paris, 1975)Google Scholar; Bidoun Jeyifo, An African Popular Theatre. The concert is also widespread as a dramatic form, particularly in school drama shows, in Southern Africa: see Kavanagh, Robert Mshengu, Theatre and Cultural Struggle in South Africa (London, 1985), p. 48–9Google Scholar.

16. The boastful but cowardly soldier, strongly reminiscent of the ‘miles gloriosus’ in Renaissance popular drama, is a stock figure of popular Ugandan theatre.

17. No drinks were served during the performance. The owner of the bar did not allow his business interests to intrude into the theatre show.

18. The semi-professional downtown theatre groups have, however, developed a very showy style of production – female characters thus appearing in a new flashy dress in every scene. But these theatres are mainly patronised by the business community.

19. The importance of general information about the aims of vaccination campaigns became clear recently in Western Cameroon, where the government started to vaccinate girls (but not boys) between twelve and eighteen against tetanus in the schools without first informing their parents. Immediately, the rumour spread that the vaccine was not against tetanus at all, but was in fact a government scheme to sterilize young women, and thus curb population growth in the west, ensuring the numerical hegemony of the peoples from the central area. Parents stopped sending their girls to school because of this suspected political motive.

20. Radio Uganda recorded and broadcast a number of the plays in the national languages. Health messages were also integrated into Ali Sengoba's popular serial Muserebende. The format was, however, changed again, because it was felt that the seriousness of the health messages was likely to be mistaken in the humorous context of the serial. Now the health messages are set apart from the plot, and presented like separate commercial messages to prevent confusion and underline their importance. This information is derived from an interview with the author of the radio serial, Ali Sengoba, in July 1989.

21. Published by the Ministry of Education, School Health Education Project (Kampala, 1990).

22. I am indebted to Marion Frank, who generously made available to me scripts and videotaped material which she collected during her field trips. Much of the analysis of the Aids plays – as also of the Ebonitas – is based on the information Marion Frank gathered and kindly shared. Her PhD thesis on drama and theatre in Uganda should be available in 1992.

23. The use of placards with inscriptions as a rudimentary form of iconographic representation of ideas has already been referred to. The conference of the killer diseases under the chairmanship of Mr. Aids recalls another significant element of didactic literature, as when the Seven Deadly Sins assemble to boast about how they lure humankind to their destruction. The parliament of fowls and the conference of animals were other popular frameworks for didactic literature, which through the change of perspective from the human to the animal point-of-view helped to reveal irrational or irresponsible behaviour in human society.

24. Give a Chance, p. 20.

25. For project-oriented development theatre, see Breitinger, Eckhard, ‘Agitprop for a Better World: Development Theater – a Political Grassroots Theatre Movement’, in Granqvist, Raoul, Signs and Signals: Popular Culture in Africa (Umea, 1990), p. 93–120Google Scholar.

26. Harriet Masembe, in her play The Riddle, points her finger at Mr. Banja as such a self-seeking administrator in a humanitarian campaign.