Hey friends! Who's ready to continue on our International tour of theatre
history? I know I am! I got my bags packed, got my sunscreen ready, and I got my sunglasses on!
We won't be needing the time machine today because we're gonna still be in the same time
period as our previous two lessons Roman Theatre to the Middle Ages and Intro to Eastern Theatre
but we will be traveling across the world to several new places. Hop on that camel because
we'll be looking at three different forms of theatre from around the world including
traditional theatre in Africa, Khayāl al-ẓill in Egypt, and Inti Raymi and oral storytelling
traditions in South America. By the end of today's lesson you'll be able to define,
describe the background, and list the elements of these different artistic forms.
Oh, we gotta go or this caravan is gonna leave us behind! Yo, wait for me!
Welcome back to ancient Africa. We are in a place of advanced metallurgy and tools including nails,
bronze weapons, and furnaces that burn hotter than those of the Romans.
Theatre here takes many different forms but we're going to focus on traditional theatre in Africa.
Traditional theatre is the oldest form of African theatre. Because the days before colonialism,
traditional theatre has a different structure than typical European theatrical forms. Traditional
theatre in Africa focuses on indigenous costumes rather than a specific script or story. Now it's
really important for us to remember Africa is not a monolith, it is a continent with 54 different
countries, each with their own unique cultures and customs which influence their theatrical forms.
For instance, in Southern Africa the Khoisan people told ritual dramas with dances.
Spectacular masquerades were held in Sierra Leone,
Nigeria, and Ghana. Koteba in Mali included music, chanting, dancing, and short skits in
plays with audience participation. Fun fact, Koteba is still being performed today in Mali.
Although all 54 countries in Africa have their own distinct cultures, there are some similarities in
their theatrical backgrounds. Traditional African theatre was not performed on a specific date or
time, rather it was associated with major events like birth, hunts, marriage, death,
initiation rights, and more. Sometimes theatre was associated with daily life like telling stories
around the fire while other times it was intended for important religious or social functions.
Traditional African theatre was passed down orally meaning nothing was written. There were
no scripts or playwrights. Instead of focusing on one person's words on a page, traditional African
theatre came from the culture and customs of the community. Communal histories and myths
that share important morals were told. Many times the themes of these stories criticized corruption
kind of like Talchum and Korea. And many of the elements of traditional African theatre are also
similar to Talchum such as character types, music, and dance. In Koteba, characters were
not seen as individuals, rather they were general character types such as the dishonest merchant or
greedy miser. These character types were used to mock political and social targets such as
corrupt leaders. Many forms of traditional African theatre stressed music. Songs were an
important part of the performance and drumming was the most dominant musical accompaniment.
Usually a master drummer would take the lead and set the rhythms.
Finally, dance was another essential element of traditional African theatre. Sometimes the dance
was accompanied with costumes and masks. Often the dance was communal, everyone would participate and
there was little to distinguish between the audience, the performance, and the creators.
Whoa, that also sounds like Talchum. Maybe you can see how many similarities you can
find in the PDF for this lesson. But before you go there we have to finish our travels
and our next stop is still on the continent of Africa as we look at Khayāl al-ẓill in Egypt.
Hello Egypt! Home to the famous Cleopatra, the Great Sphinx, and of course the pyramids. Here in
Cairo is where Khayāl al-ẓill reached its peak. Khayāl al-ẓill translates to either Shadows of
the imagination or Shadows of fancy. Basically Khayāl al-ẓill is shadow puppetry with flat,
cut out figures moved in front of a light source so that their shadows are projected onto a screen.
Now shadow puppetry was actually quite common around the world in places like China,
Southeast Asia, and India before coming to Egypt. Khayāl al-ẓill is thought to have begun
in the 10th Century in Cairo and became extremely popular in the 13th and 14th centuries. Although
it was performed year round, Khayāl al-ẓill was especially in high demand during Ramadan,
a month of fasting, reflection, prayer, and community observed by Muslims. During Ramadan,
Muslims do not eat while the sun is up. During the evening they have a meal called iftar at sundown.
In Cairo during the 13th and 14th centuries after iftar people would enjoy Khayāl al-ẓill. Usually
the place were performed on stages made from canvas and wood. These stages were portable
and could be taken to cafes, tents, or even the larger rooms in a house. The puppets were
generally about 12 inches tall and made from stiffened, stretched camel hide. They were
attached to long wooden rods so that they could be animated from behind by moving the sticks.
A bright lantern was put behind the puppets and in front of the puppeteer to cast the shadows onto
a cloth screen that the audience sat in front of. Khayāl al-ẓill's plays had multiple topics
from traditional fables to histories to political satires. Many were serious stories split up into
sections so that the audience would have to come back night after night to hear the entire tale.
Cairo's most successful Khayāl al-ẓill playwright was Ibn Daniyal who was originally from Iraq.
Three of his plays still exist today and are the only complete examples of our Arabic drama from
the Middle Ages to survive today. The elements of Khayāl al-ẓill include the shadow master,
the stock principal character, and the other creators. The shadow master moved
the characters according to the script. The shadow master could make the puppets fight,
dance, or turn somersaults often accompanied by the music of flutes, drums, and tambourines.
Sometimes there are special effects too like smoke, fire, or thunder!
Usually the shadow master would know at least 28 plays, one for each night of Ramadan. Wow,
can you imagine memorizing 28 plays? The shadow master would add songs and poetry and try to
change voices for different characters. Sometimes the shadow master would even make animal noises or
bird noises. The more sounds and voices the shadow master could make, the more popular they would
become. At the end the shadow master would always remind the audience to come back the next day to
see more. Now Khayāl al-ẓill plays had a variety of topics but usually had one thing in common,
a stock principal character called the Muqaddim. This character was similar to a narrator or the
chorus in those Greek plays that we learned about earlier. The Khayāl al-ẓill would always appear
with a stick like he was commanding the other puppets. Often he would begin with the dance
and then introduce the other characters. And speaking of others, that's our last element of
Khayāl al-ẓill, other creators. For a successful Khayāl al-ẓill performance, several other artisans
were required. Tinsmiths, lantern makers, candle makers, thinkers who build mechanical devices,
and rope, leather, and woodworkers all help to create the necessary items to depict elaborate
scenes From ships on the sea to animals in their habitat to massive battles. The cutter
was also equally important because they created the puppet characters. They used special scissors
knives to cut out and then stitch the puppets from camel leather and sometimes fish skin.
The megariz is pierced each puppet to attach the wooden rods. They inserted the sticks so that the
puppets would move the right way. Finally, the actual performers were respected as a
class of public entertainers and sometimes became famous and wealthy. Huh, sounds kind of familiar!
And while we're talking about familiar, it's time to get off our familiar camels and switch
to some llamas as we go Inti Raimi and oral storytelling traditions in South America.
Welcome to Peru! Once the heart of the Incan Empire which stretched from Colombia all the
way down to Chile. In its capital Cusco, the Inca celebrated every year the most
important religious and theatrical festival Inti Raymi, the Festival of the Sun. Remember earlier
in this unit when we talked about the Greek festival of Dionysus? Well similar to that,
Inti Raymi was held in honor of inti the Inca sun God and it was meant to guarantee a good harvest,
protect the people's health, prevent disasters, and celebrate the coming of the new year. The
festival was also said to symbolize the mythical origins of the Incas so it was a huge deal.
For 15 days this festival included chanting, marching musicians, dances with colorful costumes,
animal offerings, and oral storytellers. Similar to African traditional theatre, oral storytelling
was vital for the Incas. Without a written language, the Incas relied heavily on storytellers
to pass down their oral history so the Empire employed hundreds of them to memorize the Inca's
legends and myths and traveled throughout the land passing down these messages to the people.
Although Inca theatre had close ties to religion, it was not exclusive to
religious festivities. Incan storytellers, the Pukiskulla, also provided the public with
dramatic and heroic tales called wanka as well as comedic and day-to-day stories called Aranway.
The most famous place that remained from the Incan Empire are Ollantay, considered to be the oldest
expression of the Quechua language, the language spoken in the Incan Empire, and the tragedies of
Usca Paucar and Atahualpa. Since we're in Peru I'm going to check out Machu Picchu, but before
we hop back onto our llamas let's review what we learned today including traditional theatre
in Africa, Khayāl al-ẓill in Egypt, and Inti Raymi and oral storytelling traditions in South America.
You are now able to define, describe the background, and list the elements of these
different artistic forms. In our next lesson we will explore the Italian Renaissance and learn
all about Commedia Dell'Arte so make sure to check out the PDF and practice questions
before then. Until then remember in theatre like in life, the limit is your imagination!