ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the various ways by which the growing body of what is called African drama is evaluated: as play-texts, as performance, as cultural dynamics and as a social phenomenon. From the establishment of the School of Music and Drama, at the University of Ghana, Legon, and the department of theatre arts at the University of Dar es Salaam in the early 1960s, and the subsequent establishment of the department of theatre arts, separate from literature studies, at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, a number of universities, at least in the anglophone African countries, experienced increased pressure to create distinct courses in ‘drama’ and ‘theatre’ studies. The connection between the development of drama and theatre and educational syllabuses is extensive. On the one hand it stretches beyond the university through the whole system of secondary and primary schooling to basic literacy. On the other hand it can predetermine the form and content of new creative work.
