During the last fifty years, large sums of money, huge resources of labour and vast amounts of creative energy have been invested in international theatre festivals in Africa. Under banners such as 'Reclaiming the African Past' and 'African Renaissance', the festival participants have used the performing arts to address a variety of topical issues and to confront images embedded by a century of patronising colonial expositions. The themes indicate the desire to take history by the forelock, challenge perceptions and transform communities. Volume Editor: JAMES GIBBS. Series Editors: Martin Banham, Emeritus Professor of Drama & Theatre Studies, University of Leeds; James Gibbs, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, University of the West of England; Femi Osofisan, Professor at the University of Ibadan; Jane Plastow, Professor of African Theatre, University of Leeds; Yvette Hutchison, Associate Professor, Department of Theatre & Performance Studies, University of Warwick Festivals as a strategy for the development of theatre in Zimbabwe, 1980-2010 / Robert Mshengu Kavanagh -- The legacy of Festac '77 : the challenge of the Nigerian National Theatre at Iganmu / Ahmed Yerima -- Festac, month by month & Soyinka's involvement / James Gibbs -- The Dakar Festivals of 1966 & 2010 / Yatma Dieye -- African Renaissance between rhetoric & the aesthetics of extravagance : FESMAN 2010-entrapped in textuality / Amy Niang -- Theatre Programme for FESMAN & commentary / James Gibbs -- The Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) in Ghana, 1922-2010 : the vision & the reality / Victor K. Yankah -- PANAFEST through the headlines: an annotated bibliography / James Gibbs -- International festivals & transnational theatre circuits in Egypt, 1988-2010 : ambassadors of no nation / Sonali Pahwa -- The Jos Theatre Festival, 2004-2011 : a theatre festival in a divided community / Patrick-Jude Oteh -- The Grahamstown Festival & the making of a dramatist : an interview with Andrew Buckland / James Gibbs -- Prison Graduates : [a play / by] Efo Kodjo Mawugbe ; with a review of a performance by James Gibbs -- Book reviews
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