Description
Book SynopsisShows how concert parties combined an eclectic array of cultural influences, adapting characters and songs from American movies, popular British ballads, and local storytelling traditions into a spirited blend of comedy and social commentary.
Trade Review"... succeeds in conveying the exciting and fascinating character of the concert party genre, as well as showing clearly how this material can be used to rethink a number of contemporary theoretical themes and issues." --Karin Barber
Table of ContentsPreliminary Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Note on Orthography
1. Introduction
2. Reading Blackface in West Africa: Wonders Taken for Signs
3. "The Rowdy Lot Created the Usual Disturbance": Concerts and Emergent Publics, 1895-1927
4. "Ohia Ma Adwennwen," or "Use Your Gumption!": The Pragmatics of Performance, 1927- 1945
5. Improvising Popular Traveling Theatre: The Poetics of Invention
6. "This is Actually a Good Interpretation of Modern Civilization": Staging the Social Imaginary, 1946-1966
Notes
Bibliography
