Robert Cohen - Theatre, Brief Version-McGraw-Hill Education (2016)

192 Chapter 7 Theatre Traditions: East and West
The antiwitchcraft kponiugo mask of the Poro secret society of the Senufo tribe in West Africa’s Ivory Coast
is believed to protect the community from sorcerers and soul-stealers. Groups of Poro maskers seem to spit
fire between the alligator teeth of their open jaws. Wild boar tusks and antelope horns represent ferocity and
gentleness. © Fulvio Roiter/Encyclopedia/Corbis
“devil dancing,” portrays a suffering patient who seeks
exorcism of the devil and includes this exchange:
YAKKA (demon): What is going on here? What does this noise
mean?
DRUMMER: Somebody has fallen ill.
YAKKA: What are you going to do about it?
DRUMMER: We will give him a medicine.
YAKKA: That will not be of any use! Give me twelve presents
and I will cure him.
The brief dialogue is surely not what we might call traditional
theatre—yet it has all of theatre’s elements: it uses impersonation
to create suspense, conflict, danger, and action.
TRADITIONAL DRAMA IN
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Theatrical performances almost certainly began in Sub-
Saharan Africa, where today we can still see a vast variety
of traditional drama in which ritual and storytelling continually
interweave. More than 1,000 languages are spoken
here, and each language represents a culture with roots in
the past and social community in the present. Many of these
cultures have long-standing traditions of dance-dramas. The
Dogon performers of Mali are celebrated for their stilt walking
and brightly colored masks. The Senufo of Ivory Coast
and Burkina Faso have animal masks to frighten witches—
with the tusks of wild boars, the teeth of alligators, and the
horns of antelopes—and brightly colored masks for certain
women characters (played by men). Such masks feature
arched eyebrows, visible teeth, and scar marks on the
cheeks, and the characters’ hand props often include horsetail
whisks. In the Yacouba country of Ivory Coast, traditional
performers may wear elaborate beaded headdresses
and full-face makeup instead of masks, or, as in the panther
dance-drama, cover their entire heads in painted cloth with
panther ears. Acrobatics feature in Burundi performances;
rain-dance rituals are common in Botswana.