James 
L A N S 
Festivals, 
including 
Edinbui h'98 
African Quarterly 
are advanceoTor the Ubuntu Movement to burst 
into festive celebration in South Africa, 1999. 
It is to be hoped that the occasion will call forth the best spirits from previous Pan- 
African festivals, including the 'one-offs', the First World Festival of Negro Arts (Dakar, 
1996) and FESTAC (Lagos 1977), and the 'regular events' including the Pan-African 
Festival of Historical Theatre (Accra-Cape Coast) and the National Arts Festival, held 
in Grahamstown, RSA. 
Over the years, those who have been able to get to the capital of Scotland during 
August have been privileged to feed on an astonishingly varied diet at the largest arts 
festival in the world. The international contributions to the Fringe have included 
productions by enterprising African groups, and, with individuals such as Pieter Dirk 
Uys and Yulissa Amadu Maddy, they have scored remarkable successes, including 
coveted 'Fringe First' awards. 
Offerings at the 1 998 Fringe included Les porteurs d'eau {The Water Carriers), 
presented by the twelve year-old, Reunion-based Le Theatre Talipot. The company has 
put on twelve productions in the twelve years of its existence, and has toured Indian 
Ocean islands, East and South Africa, Oceania and North America. It has featured 
at the Avignon and Grahamstown Festivals, and (in May 1 998) distinguished itself at 
the International Theatre Festival KONTAKT (Poland). With support from UNESCO, V 
Agence de la Francophonie, SPEDIDAM, ODC,' and various bodies in Reunion, and 
under the direction of Philippe Pelen, the group has explored 'images and archetypes 
from the Indian Ocean... The search for this theatrical language (is) ... inspired by 
mixed-blood and oral traditions, and ...linked with the multiple faces of liquidity.' 
(Programme Note). 
The Water Carriers, put on by a cast and design crew that included participants 
JLh
heatrum Botanicum found that their African T 
audiences often knew the play very well, 
and, with the help of bridges built by 
Owour, the local relevance was, not surprisingly, 
often apparent. 
GLENDORA 
on the Arts 
Vol. 2/No. 3 
.
Le Theatre Talipot 
porteurs 
cTeau 
The Water Larners»
I 
from India, Madagascar, and the Comoros Isles in addition to those from Reunion, 
arrived in Edinburgh after winning plaudits and delighting audiences in South Africa. 
Herman Wasserman wrote: 'it is a brilliant, original, unique piece of physical theatre; 
and also perfectly relevant for a festival in post-apartheid South Africa that attempts 
to use the arts as a medium for unifying cultures.' (Die Burger). Lyn Gardner concluded 
her Guardian review of the show in Edinburgh: 'Much more than just a piece of 
exotica, it is impossible not to fall for this show's quiet, poetic charm and its infectious 
exuberant dance and song.' (She gave it four stars, i.e. she'recommended' it to theatrehungry 
ditherers in drama-sated Edinburgh.) 
While Theatre Talipot attracted audiences to its venue (Continental Shifts at St 
Bride's) the exuberant but far from quiet, Theatrum Botanicum, supported in part by 
Scottish & Newcastle Breweries, made use of Edinburgh's Botanical Gardens for the 
two productions they had worked on with the Malawi Dance Ensemble. One, 
appropriately botanical, explored the life of Carl Ingmarrson Linnaeus, who, in the 
eighteenth century, conceived a system for identifying and labelling plants, but who 
died, in fear of Divine Retribution, having forgotten his own name. And the other was 
An African Julius Caesar. Thanks to British Council backing, the company had been 
P
^ L / v e r v imaginable performance space is employed during the 
Festival - including some, such as The Underbelly - beneath the 
Central Library - which do not immediately hold out much 
promise. And performances run through most hours of the day 
and night: the 'performance day' is so long - it starts at about 9.00 
am and continues till the early hours of the morning - that theatre-
lovers can 'easily' take in. say, five shows in twenty-four 
African Quarterly 
on the Arts 
hours. 
able to work on and perform their 'knock-about, open-air stab at ancient Roman 
political drama (that) combines African cultures with grass-stains' (Donald Hutera, 
Guardian) in East and Central Africa (Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and 
Uganda). Under the direction of Toby Gough they had 'tailored the play to the culture 
of each locality (they) played. Working with different actors in each country enabled 
(them) to fuse music and dance throughout the play with authentic songs and dances 
absorbed from each country's own traditional celebrations, magic rituals, funerals and 
war ceremonies.' (Programme Note). 
In Kenya, Eratus Owour was incorporated into the production as story-teller and 
Sooth Sayer, and, with the Malawian dancers/actors, he travelled to Scotland. 
Theatrum Botanicum found that their African audiences often knew the play very well, 
and, with the help of bridges built by Owour, the local relevance was, not surprisingly, 
often apparent. Writing about the performances in Edinburgh's Botanical Gardens for 
The Guardian, Max Szalwinska described the production as 'a rumble in the jungle 
not to be missed' -and awarded it four precious stars. 
Other African offerings among the hundreds and hundreds that constitute the 
Fringe of the Festival included Waiters, veteran dramatist Stephen Chinfuyise play in 
Vol 2/No. 3 GLENDORA
which 'Three restaurant partners-brown, white and black-try to forget their racial 
differences and make an honest profit. Described as 'Ground-breaking' by Zimbabwe 
Independent, Wa/terswas very favourably reviewed for the World Service of the BBC. 
The production shares a venue - the Observer Assembly - with nearly two dozen other 
shows, including Citizen by Andrew Whaley, who is already credited with a Fringe 
First. His play is described as follows: 'A young woman puts male delusions of freedom 
under the lash in this savagely funny examination of lewd manhood and Zimbabwe's 
flea-bitten democracy.' Also from Zimbabwe came Over the Edge Africa Dream 
Theatre who presented an original programme of one-man plays 'Angel Beast,' 'Easy 
Come, Easy Go,' 'The Man in the Cupboard,' 'Rumours in the Wind,' and 'Diary of 
a Madman'. 
Other events of interest to readers of this journal included Afridonia's children's 
show: An African Family Village which was put on at the Bonnington Resource Centre. 
Organised by a 'group of African Scots,' the show included 'dancing, drumming, 
singing, and playing the bagpipes.' Claire Smith advised: 'Take the kids along, join 
in, have fun, and treat yourself to wonderful African food afterwards. For sheer 
hospitality, Afridonia score a full five points.' {Guardian, 1 7 August 1 998). 
Every imaginable performance space is employed during the Festival - including 
some, such as The Underbelly-beneath the Central Library-which do not immediately 
hold out much promise. And performances run through most hours of the day and night: 
the 'performance day' is so long - it starts at about 9.00 am and continues till the early 
hours of the morning - that theatre-lovers can 'easily' take in, say, five shows in twentyfour 
hours. One other item from Edinburgh '98 merits a word: the production by the 
Veritas Ensemble given in what seemed to be a sepulchre ('C too, St Colombo's by the 
Castle, Johnson Terrace') that could take about 20 members of the paying public at a 
squeeze. The company's choice was Christopher Fry's A Phoenix too Frequent, a 'trag icomedy 
about the cyclical nature of love' played out by a newly widowed woman, her 
maid and a soldier. As soon as it started one was reminded of Ken Saro-Wiwa's farce, 
Madam no go Quench Again. The blurb of four Farcical Plays in which that play was 
published, mysteriously describes the work as a 'treatment of the classical story of the 
phoenix.' Not at all, it is a thorough-going West African Pidgin English version of Fry's 
drama, or at least of the Tale of the Widow of Ephesus on which Fry drew! At what 
point, one wonders, did Saro-Wiwa encounter Fry or the Widow and decide that one 
or other should be rendered in accents new? His version is, incidentally, so thoroughgoing 
that even the stage-direction are in Pidgin! The opening set description reads: 
'Na for inside room wey dis concert dey hapin, 'and the text concludes with a play on 
Latin usage that Saro-Wiwa was probably forced to relish alone much of the time: 'E 
don finis.' 
GLENDORA 
African Quarterly 
on the Arts 
Vol 2/No 3