West African Popular Theatre

" . . . a ground-breaking contribution to the field of African literature . . . " --Research in African Literatures

"Anyone with the slightest interest in West African cultures, performance or theatre should immediately rush out and buy this book." --Leeds African Studies Bulletin

"A seminal contribution to the fields of performance studies, cultural studies, and popular culture. " --Margaret Drewal

"A fine book. The play texts are treasures." --Richard Bauman

African popular culture is an arena where the tensions and transformations of colonial and post-colonial society are played out, offering us a glimpse of the view from below in Africa. This book offers a comparative overview of the history, social context, and style of three major West African popular theatre genres: the concert party of Ghana, the concert party of Togo, and the traveling popular theatre of western Nigeria.