Abstract:
The study was explicitly on the theatre of Mohammed Ben-Abdallah, a Ghanaian theatre
personality. He is a dramatist, playwright, educator, and political activist. The study focused
on how ritual, faction (fact and fiction), and postcolonial agenda are represented in the selected
plays of the playwright. The purpose of the study was to interpret and analyse the adaptations
of ritual and faction, which paves the way for a discourse on postcoloniality as composed by
Abdallah through his theatre. It was argued that Mohammed ben-Abdallah’s theatre portrays
ritual and faction as its mine of knowledge. However, it appears that the array of scholarship
relating to the dramaturgical functions of ritual and faction as symbols in interpreting social
reality is not evident. The study sought to open new frontiers in Abdallah’s theatre by delving
into these elements through the lenses of ritual theory and post-colonial theory. The study used
textual analysis as its methodology to venture into an exploration of the historical, cultural,
political, religious, and social reality and context of the selected plays. The chosen plays were
Song of the Pharoah (2022); The Slaves (2011); The Fall of Kumbi (2010); and The Trial of
Mallam Ilya (2008). The plays are uniquely linked by the cord of history, which is the armature.
In them are extraordinary cosmos carved in the complexity and multiplicity of ideas, notions,
and the total theatre experiences of the proclivities of the essence of the people’s identity and
livelihood, which to a large extent have gone extinct, remained dormant, or failed to rekindle.
The study revealed that the principal aim of Abdallah is to foster a broader comprehension and
admiration for history among a diverse group of people. It was then concluded that Mohammed
ben-Abdallah is a prominent historian in motion, utilising his plays to provide insights into the
roles and significance of memory for Africans.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Music Education,
School of Creative Arts, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Arts and Culture)
in the University of Education, Winneba
NOVEMBER, 2023