ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an opportunity to explore the mutual resonances that William Shakespeare and Africa have found. It considers how these have been exploited by theatre-practitioners in ways that confound expectations of an antagonistic relationship shaped by histories of imperialism and colonization. The conjuring of an idea of Africa within the world of Shakespearean theatre is an ambivalent matter, not universally to be celebrated. To be sure, Shakespeare in Africa brings into view the impact of contextual complexity in generating meaning and the impact of lingering legacies of apartheid, colonialist educational and cultural practices, and globalization. Even where English is spoken as an official language, as the legacy of English colonialism, the problem of translation is likely to emerge in post-independence engagement with Shakespeare's work. The acclaimed Shakespearean actor Sir Antony Sher articulates the spine-chillingly powerful effect of Africanization in a production of Macbeth.
