Modern African Drama (Norton Critical Editions)

Pretty decent selection of plays. After reading the introduction, I felt no need to read the Backgrounds & Criticism section - partly because I just didn't care, and partly because the plays are really obvious. This is true of most modern drama, so is not a fault of the collection.

The plays:

Fate of a Cockroach : Manages to pack in a send-up of tribal authority and an examination of the whole modern condition thing. Very entertaining.

Intelligence Powder : A collection of Mullah Nasreddin stories.

Sizwe Bansi Is Dead : How To Succeed In Apartheid South Africa.

Death and the King's Horseman : Culture clash, the role of tradition, etc. Local British official tries to prevent a purportedly-barbaric local custom from taking place, a son show more returns from school in England, hilarity surprisingly does not ensue. Started off a bit poorly but quickly picked up : quite good.

Collision of Altars : Did not finish. Extremely overwritten, opens with an inept pantomime, tries so hard to tackle Big Issues that it forgets to be a play.

The Dilemma of a Ghost : Culture clash, the role of tradition, etc. A son returns from school in America with a first-world wife in tow. A good grasp of how families actually work, not how they are supposed work.

I Will Marry When I Want : Keeping up with the Joneses, Kenya edition. This one is also overwritten, though not as bad as Collision of Altars. What else would one expect from the author of Petals of Blood? This is good social critique, a solid moral tale, but a rather disappointingly predictable narrative.

Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels : This tale has been told countless times: a trickster god sets people up for a fall to highlight their lack of virtue. There is an attempt at a framing device early on, and at breaking the fourth all at the end, neither of which do anything but interfere with the drama. Still, it's not a bad version of the story. show less