ABSTRACT

Long before cultural contact with Europe, Black Africa had its very own personal forms of dramatic expression. But in order to understand them one must banish all notions of theatre as it is thought of today - something dependent on text, on halls, on lights, sound and box-office returns. In this sense, African tradition has not handed down to us a specific theatrical system; rather it has handed down a series of functions, which themselves were modified under colonial influence and which gradually moved away from their roots though they were never eliminated completely.