The theatre of Mohammed Ben-Abdallah frames of ritual, faction and postcoloniality

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.