Theatre in Kenya: reflecting at the crossroads

© 2000 Salome Mshai MwangolaThis thesis is a narrative that sets Kenyan theatre within the context of Kenyan history and culture. It is a reflection on the current challenges facing the Kenyan nation. It investigates this as a legacy of the past and in relation to a depiction of the collective memory of the Kenyan people and explores the potential for present action that can positively influence the direction of the nation as it moves into a new phase of nationhood. It argues that theatre offers the potential for a platform where the future can be negotiated in a way that fairly presents the different voices representing the wide diversity of Kenyan communities. The thesis considers an indigenous ontology that weaves together different time realms to be the starting point for an understanding of Kenyan society. Within this ontology, theatre is viewed as an important form of collective discourse that allows a community to engage present realities with the wisdom gained by the experiences of the past and the consciousness of a responsibility towards the future. The thesis negotiates the challenges of articulating Kenyan realities and experiences by privileging Kenyan understandings of terminology and discourse. In considering the role and responsibilities of the theatre artist within Kenyan cultural frames, it argues for the artist as the facilitator of current discourse on the Kenyan nation whose responsibility is to provoke and enable all within the society to actively participate in determining the destiny of the nation. The thesis will therefore begin by negotiating a retrospective narrative that uses Kenyan rites of initiation to identify significant events whose legacy continues to influence present day society. It then explores this past from the perspective of indigenous Kenyan theatre. Following this is an introspective analysis of present society, focusing first on events within the political arena, and then on those within the theatrical. In presenting the need for a forum that facilitates a democratic response to appraisals that locate the problem and its solution squarely within the Kenyan nation, the thesis affirms the need for both society and theatre artists to adopt a community based theatre that uses indigenous perceptions of theatre as a central integral and important part of the society. The final chapter of this thesis offers a critical framework of the kind of artists that can turn the theoretical potential of theatre as a facilitator of the Kenyan cultural crossroads into practicable reality. It concludes by affirming a notion of community theatre that empowers individuals within the society, enabling all to negotiate a meaningful collective future