THE CENTRALITY OF THE NARRATIVE STORYTELLING PERFORMANCE STRATEGY IN SAM UKALA’S IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

African literary drama draws its artistic materials from the numerous forms of Oral literature. Storytelling, an ancient but living oral tradition is one of such forms that some African dramatists have resorted to in expressing their various themes. As such, storytelling has created an orally rich variant of contemporary African literary drama as demonstrated in Ukala’s dramaturgy. Primarily sourcing his plays from folk material, Ukala is known for reviving and sustaining the storytelling performance via his ‘folkism’ theory which thrives on spontaneity in performance. This paper investigates the centrality of the storytelling strategy in his Akpakaland, Iredi War and Break a Boil as located in his ‘folkist’ ideology. The paper draws attention to such defining characteristics of indigenous storytelling as the opening and closing formulae, improvisation, audience involvement, the pivotal role of the narrator, etc. In so doing, it locates storytelling as the central artistic requirement that not only imbues Ukala’s plays with its aesthetic relevance but also drives its reflection of societal issues.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0058/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>