Looks at the lives, challenges and contributions of African women from across the continent to making and participating in theatre in the 21st century.

Looks at the lives, challenges and contributions of African women from across the continent to making and participating in theatre in the 21st century.

Drawing on expertise from across the African continent this collection reflects the realities for women working and making theatre: how Egyptian director Dalia Basiouny has documented the "Tahrir Stories" of the Egyptian Revolution; how in Uganda women have used various theatrical devices, such as oral poetry, to seek common ground in a rural-urban inter-generational theatre project; and the use of physical theatre to examine disavowed memory in South Africa. The contributors also look at how practitioners are re-thinking performance space and modes of performance for gendered advocacy in Botswanan theatre, and how women are addressing gender-based violence and rape culture, comparing performance and street-based activism in South Africa and India. A particular strength of the volume is its interviews: with Jalila Baccar of Tunisia, by Marvin Carlson; six Ethiopian actresses are interviewed and introduced by Jane Plastow and Mahlet Solomon; and Ariane Zaytzeff explores "Making art to reinvent culture" with Odile Gakire Katese of Rwanda. The new play to be published isThe Sentence by Sefi Atta, introduced and contextualized by Christine Matzke.

Volume Editors: JANE PLASTOW & YVETTE HUTCHISON Guest Editor: CHRISTINE MATZKE Series Editors: Martin Banham, Emeritus Professor of Drama & Theatre Studies, University of Leeds; James Gibbs, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, University of the West of England; Femi Osofisan, Professor of Drama at the University of Ibadan; Jane Plastow, Professor of African Theatre, University of Leeds; Yvette Hutchison, Associate Professor,Department of Theatre & Performance Studies, University of Warwick

Foreword - Jane Plastow and Yvette Hutchison and Christine Matzke
Introduction - Sandra Richards
The work of Dalia Basiouny: an artist's account - Dalia Basiouny
Performativities as activism: addressing gender-based violence and rape culture in South Africa & beyond - Nicola Cloete
Performativities as activism: addressing gender-based violence and rape culture in South Africa & beyond - Sara Matchett
Exploring poetic voice in the Uganda Women's Intergenerational Theatre Project - Susan Nalugwa Kiguli and Jane Plastow
'After images': impressions of the 'after' by South Africa performer-choreographer Mamela Nyamza's - Alude Mahali
Jallila Baccar of Tunisia: a portrait of an artist - Marvin Carlson
In conversation: interrogating and shifting societal perceptions of women in Botswana through theatre - Lebogang Disele
Binti Leo: women in the arts in Tanzania - Vicensia Shule
Odile Gakire Katese: making art & reinventing culture with women: interview - Ariane Zaytzeff
Contemporary Ethiopian actresses - Jane Plastow and Mahlet Solomon
Introduction to Sefi Atta'sThe Sentence - Christine Matzke
Playscript:The Sentence by Sefi Atta - Sefi Atta
Book reviews