Change Aesthetics in Anglophone Cameroon Drama and Theatre

Fülszöveg

The rise of Anglophone Cameroon theatre since the late 1980s coincided with the general disenchantment with the single party regime of Paul Biya and his essentially Francophone CPDM. Hilarious Ambe takes his analysis beyond the simple confrontation of Anglo- and Francophone political cultures. Within the broader frame of the Anglophone theatre of Hansel Eyoh, Ba'bila Mutia and Victor Epie Ngome, he pursues the growing prominence of the two most prolific dramatists, Bole Butake and Bate Besong, and establishes convincingly a change in paradigm from protest theatre to a dramatic "aesthetics of change." Analogous to Marx' dictum that intellectuals might interpret society, but that the real need is to change it, Ambe reads recent Anglophone drama as blueprints for a radical transformation of Cameroonian society. His writing style is committed to revolutionary aesthetics and to voicing strong opinions for social growth. The work is lively and direct in its approach, and it reflects the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The rise of Anglophone Cameroon theatre since the late 1980s coincided with the general disenchantment with the single party regime of Paul Biya and his essentially Francophone CPDM. Hilarious Ambe takes his analysis beyond the simple confrontation of Anglo- and Francophone political cultures. Within the broader frame of the Anglophone theatre of Hansel Eyoh, Ba'bila Mutia and Victor Epie Ngome, he pursues the growing prominence of the two most prolific dramatists, Bole Butake and Bate Besong, and establishes convincingly a change in paradigm from protest theatre to a dramatic "aesthetics of change." Analogous to Marx' dictum that intellectuals might interpret society, but that the real need is to change it, Ambe reads recent Anglophone drama as blueprints for a radical transformation of Cameroonian society. His writing style is committed to revolutionary aesthetics and to voicing strong opinions for social growth. The work is lively and direct in its approach, and it reflects the author's involvement in many of the theatrical activities which he addresses in this work.
" a provocative analysis of Cameroon aesthetics by a new generation scholar in Cameroon letters." Chris A. Fon
Hilarious Ambe teaches Performing Arts and Literature at the University of Buea, Cameroon. Stage and screen actor for over two decades, he was director of the Yaounde University Theatre until 2005 and currently functions as director of the University of Buea Theatre Company. He gained his PhD at the University of Bayreuth in 2003. Vissza