Emerging paradigms for applied drama and theatre practice in African contexts

Abstract

The prevailing tendency in applied drama and theatre research and practice in African contexts has been for both critics and practitioners to apply the Freirian educational paradigm of ‘codification’ and ‘decodification’ in the interpretation of their work. Guarav Desai asserts that most of the theoretical premises of applied theatre workers in Africa take their origins from the Freirian educational pedagogy. It therefore follows that an understanding of Freire's codification theory is crucial for the appreciation of African theatrical practices. Although many applied theatre critics have followed Freire's pedagogy, it sounds rather paradoxical to critique a performance-based practice such as applied drama and theatre using criteria of a non-performative nature. What is needed is more performance-based paradigms that would make applied drama and theatre practice a truly creative enterprise. This article examines a few paradigms that have emerged in applied drama and theatre practice such as folk media, popular participation, integrated development and intercultural theatre. These paradigms are interrogated using illustrative examples drawn from the work of two theatre organisations that have made significant strides in HIV/AIDS education, namely Amakhosi Theatre Productions in Zimbabwe and DramAidE (Drama in AIDS Education) in South Africa.