Contemporary African Plays, edited with Introductions by Martin Banham and Jane Plastow of Leeds University, is a collection of some of the most exciting plays from the past twenty-five years of African theatre, spanning the continent's rich and disparate regional and cultural traditions. Included in this collection are three of the most significant plays of this century plus three brilliant plays which will be new to Western audiences: Death and the King's Horseman - A masterpiece from the Nobel-prize-winning Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka Woza Albert! - A skilful and devastating political satire from South Africa by the writers/performers Percy Mtwa and Mbongeni Ngema and Market Theatre director, the late Barney Simon Anowa - A powerful tale from Ghana which tells of a woman's plight and oppression by Ama Ata Aidoo The Chattering and the Song - An ingenious radical drama from the popular Nigerian playwright Femi Osofisan The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco - A witty political allegory about post-colonial Zimbabwe, by Andrew Whaley The Other War - An extraordinary insight into Africa's longest liberation war, by the Eritrean playwright Alemseged TesfaiThe only current anthology to survey the rich variety of contemporary African drama The plays included in this volume are: Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka; Anowa by Ama Ata Aidoo; The Chattering and the Song by Femi Osofisan; The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco by Andrew Whaley; Woza Albert! by Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema and Barney Simon; and The Other War by Alemseged Tesfai. Contemporary African Drama brings together some of the best writers writing from an African viewpoint today.

Contemporary African Plays

Literature & Fiction

SOYINKA, Wole

Aidoo, Ama Ata

Mtwa, Percy

Ngema, Mbongeni

Simon, Barney

Ọṣọfisan, Fẹmi

Whaley, Andrew

Tesfai, Alemseged

Dramas & Plays

Methuen Drama

In The Girl Who Can, the irrepressible Ama Ata Aidoo looks at the roles and rules, and the games people find themselves playing, often unwillingly. She analyses African women's struggle to find their rightful place in society. Her stories raise issues of choice and conflict, teasing about the issues with disarming frankness. How do people behave in cross-cultural relationships? In the modern world, where a plastic label identifies us, what is our identity? Will African women be in the driving seat in the twenty-first century? With the zest and humour, Aidoo raises these questions and provides some challenging answers. In this collection of short stories, Aidoo elevates the mundane in women's lives to an intellectual level in an attempt at challenging patriarchal structures and dominance in African society. Written from a child's perspective, Aidoo subverts the traditional beliefs and assumptions about the child's voice. Her inimitable sense of style and eloquence, explores love, marriage and relationships with all the issues they throw up for the contemporary African woman. In doing so, she manages to capture the very essence of womanhood.

The Girl Who Can (African Writers Series)

Heinemann

Changes is a story about Esi, an independent woman who leaves her husband, Oko, because he intrudes on her time and personal space. Confronted with the difficulty of finding love and companionship on acceptable terms, Esi meets Ali and falls in love, but she must decide if she is willing to make the changes necessary for a relationship. In Changes Ama Ata Aidoo addresses various issues in contemporary African women's lives: love, career, betrayal and family, without offering simple solutions.

Changes: A Love Story (African Writers Series)

Contemporary

Heinemann/Raintree

A collection of 11 stories, these range from the politics of wigs to the joys of motherhood. In them, the author writes about life in post-colonial Africa, inviting the reader to confront life as it is and rise to the challenge of injustice and ignorance. Ama Ata Aidoo has written various plays "The Dilemma of a Ghost/Anowa" and a novel "Our Sister Killjoy". The books in this series are for the general reader, but are also suitable for schools and universities.

No Sweetness Here (African Classics)

Longman Pub. Group

A collection of 11 stories, these range from the politics of wigs to the joys of motherhood. In them, the author writes about life in post-colonial Africa, inviting the reader to confront life as it is and rise to the challenge of injustice and ignorance.

No Sweetness Here (Longman African Writers)

Books Britain

Out of Africa with her degree and her all seeing eyes comes Sissie. She comes to Europe, to a land of towering mountains and low grey skies and tries to makes sense of it all. What is she doing here? Why aren't the natives friendly? And what will she do when she goes back home? A profound version of the theme of self discovery, this novel explores the thoughts and experiences of a Ghanaian girl on her travels in Europe. It is a highly personal exploration of the conflicts between Africa and Europe, between men and women, and between a complacent acceptance of the status quo and a passionate desire to reform a rotten world.

Our Sister Killjoy

History & Criticism

Longman

A collection of 11 stories, these range from the politics of wigs to the joys of motherhood. In them, the author writes about life in post-colonial Africa, inviting the reader to confront life as it is and rise to the challenge of injustice and ignorance. Ama Ata Aidoo has written various plays "The Dilemma of a Ghost/Anowa" and a novel "Our Sister Killjoy". The books in this series are for the general reader, but are also suitable for schools and universities.

No sweetness here

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

In this novel, the author explores the thoughts and experiences of a Ghanaian girl on her travels through Europe. It offers a running commentary on Sissie's feelings of alienation, her reflections on European culture and "civilization" and her return to the warmth of home in Africa. Ama Ato Aidoo has also published her collected plays "The Dilemma of a Ghost/Anowa" and short stories "No Sweetness Here". "Longman African Classics" are designed for the general reader, but are also suitable for schools and universities.

Our Sister Killjoy: Or, Reflections from a black-eyed squint (African creative writing series)

Changes: A Love Story

"Changes" is a spirited and poignant story about Esi, an independent woman who leaves her husband, Oko, because he intrudes on her time and personal space. Confronted with the difficulty of finding love and companionship on acceptable terms, Esi meets Ali and falls in love, but she must decide if she is willing to make the changes necessary for a relationship. In "Changes", the renowned Ghanaian writer, Ama Ata Aidoo, addresses various issues in contemporary African women's lives: love, career, betrayal and family, without offering simple solutions.

British & Irish

Womens Pr Ltd

Ama Ata Aidoo is one of the best-known African writers today. Spanning three decades of work, the poems in this collection address themes of colonialism, independence, motherhood, and gender in intimate, personal ways alongside commentary on broader social issues. After the Ceremonies is arranged in three parts: new and uncollected poems, some of which Aidoo calls “misplaced or downright lost”; selections from Aidoo’s An Angry Letter in January and Other Poems; and selections from Someone Talking to Sometime. Although Aidoo is best known for her novels Changes: A Love Story and Our Sister Killjoy, which are widely read in women’s literature courses, and her plays The Dilemma of a Ghost and Anowa, which are read and performed all over the world, her prowess as a poet shines in this collection.

After the Ceremonies: New and Selected Poems (African Poetry Book)

Poetry

University Of Nebraska Press

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Books by Aidoo, Ama Ata