Department of Theatre Arts and Film Studies

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    Kinetic Scenery and Experimentation in Nigerian Theatre
    (Journal of Humanities and Peace Studies, 2024) Iwuh, John
    Scenographers in Nigeria rarely delve into experimental design but embrace the easy option of crossing pedestal boundaries due to technical challenges. A common example is J.P. Clark’s The Raft 1, which requires building a live raft, although Clark also suggests an improvised option of using a mat. How can these two provide the same experience for the paying audience? Molinta Enendu dared to surmount this drab option when 1987 he built a befitting raft for Clark’s The Raft on the University of Calabar stage to sail convincingly, rotating in several directions under the star-spangled night sky. A second and yet more inspiring and challenging was Noah Built the Ark2 (1995), a dramatic adaptation of James Weldon Johnson’s poem of the same title. It was a realistic construction of a sea liner that rocked and rose with the flood of lights, thus breaking the barrier of being the first convincing cruising set on a Nigerian theatre stage. The production photographs were lost due to poor storage, dampness, and humidity. 43 years on, and in all ramifications, no other theatre designer in Nigeria has attempted to match that achievement. This study goes beyond narratives to retrace the production process and carefully reconstruct the lost designs due to their immense value to scene design practice and as posterity for theatre studies in Nigeria
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    Reading the docufiction script
    (Journal of Screenwriting, 2022) Iwuh, John
    The ethical issues raised by merging facts and fiction in docufiction screenplays as a genre suitable for social impact storytelling still linger. Hence, for the intended message to be effectively passed, the genre, formatting and narrative technique have to be clearly established for the readership’s consumption. Therefore, this article will investigate how facts are reinforced by fiction in docufiction. Textual analysis of Nicodemus Adai Patrick and John Iwuh’s Dissent (2019) is employed in explor ing narrative techniques and formatting as indicators of the proportion of facts and fiction in a docufiction screenplay. It concludes that docufiction is a deliberate document with a mission in which the fact supplies the foundation on which fiction stands. Pre-knowledge of the embedded fact is primal to a deeper appreciation of a docufiction. It concludes that the readership’s level of comprehension and satisfac tion will be enhanced if the thin line between facts and fiction is spotted.
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    POSITIONING THE AFRICAN SCENOGRAPHIC IDIOM IN THE EUROPEAN THEATRICAL SPACE-A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
    (University of Uyo Journal of Cultural Research, 2010) Iwuh, John
    This paper examines scenography within the African theatre concept, vis-à vis the ideological pressure from its European precursor (scenographically). It is important to understand the dilemma which African scenography faces due to the transformations African theatre performance has gone through in adapting to modern theatrical demands. These influences cannot be ignored while trying to re-invent, reposition or re-assert the African environmental portraiture in African theatrical performances. One of the factors remains the play-text which informs design, irrespective • of its various sub-cultural contexts. The other is space which accommodates the intended outcome owing to the present status quo of theatre patrons and audiences. And the third is the technology which aids and modifies the final picture of scenery. A look at three categories of play shows that there is a shift in the portraiture of their scenic environments and the search for relative independence of each type.
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    Motif and Colour Signification among the Yoruba
    (Icheke Journal of the Faculty of Humanities, 2020-08) Iwuh, John
    Colour is a dominant medium of visual aesthetics, described in terms of Chroma known in Yoruba as "Aro." However, colour in most Nigerian dramatic performances has aimed mostly to beautify than interrogate its experiential outcome. This research sought to know the effectiveness of indigenous motifs on the audience (with emphasis on colour) based on Yoruba ritual, cultural and religious worldview. Using "aro" as a vehicle for design intentions, decoration and communication, the study draws from tables of the applicable meaning of colour to foreground the research. The paper then looks at colour applications in some Yoruba ritual and contemporary dramatic plays with a focus on indigenous ritual and religious objects. It textually analysed the colour significance of ritualistic aspects of three plays and a performance of one contemporary Yoruba play with European celebrative flavor. Post-performance interviews and Focused Group Discussions were conducted with the audience, and observations were qualitatively analysed using comparative tables. Opinion reveals two significant findings. Colour in modern English plays shows Vitality, energy and beauty, while colour in ritual plays portends gods, spirituality and groves. They perceive colour in modern Nigerian plays as aesthetic, exciting but without spiritual significance. Their audience appreciates colour from a spiritual perspective with deities and related objects or motifs thereof. Yoruba audience also exhibits fears toward ritual objects in performances as they would in real life. The mix of ritual and modern domestic play was able to draw an effective relationship between ancient Yoruba culture and the present and further illustrates the Yoruba audience penchant for figurative communication.