The Vocabulary of Political Drama: The Voice of the Playwright in The Return of Nkrumah

ABSTRACT

This is an analysis that sets out to demonstrate by example the treatment of a political subject matter in a play-text that focuses on the art vocabulary with the hope of not sacrificing the content for its form. The independent use of history, poetry, prose, metaphoric and symbolic illustrations are fundamental to several initiatives in the creation of the resultant play The Return of Nkrumah. The dissertation therefore discusses the blunt vocabulary of plays and the findings result in the creation of a play text that treats contemporary political issues of national interest. Pertinent issues regarding corruption, theft, greed and the manipulation of power are discussed and transformed into a creative work. This is because the observation is that most Ghanaian plays are skewed towards the experiment of form than of content. Unlike their other African contemporaries such as Femi Osofisan, Zakes Mda, Cont Mlanga among others, who sternly and unrelentingly critique their countries by directing their plays against economic and political incongruities, unfavorable government policies, corruption, among others, most Ghanaian plays are social dramas that comment on general social norms and vices but not necessarily aimed towards the Ghanaian government and some of its hostile policies. The research then, became significant because the experimental play, The Return of Nkrumah, whiles treating the issue of corruption, also establishes an artistic concept that exhibits a gallery of literature in the contemporary Ghanaian drama, by introducing a style of presentation where independent poems are fashioned into the dramatic structure. These poems carry the central theme of the play. Hence the study, seeks to fill in the vacuum, and to add up to the existing political dramas in the Ghanaian theatrical circle. The major research method employed is the qualitative research approach. Data have been collected from archives, interviews, observations, and published works. The resultant play, The University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh v Return of Nkrumah, reveals the pragmatic consequences of greed, bribery and corruption, theft and other political incongruities on the development of the Ghanaian nation. The focus of the play seeks to sensitize Ghanaian civil servants especially those that matter in decision-making on the harmful effects of corruption and recommend that the anticorruption campaign must first start from the grassroots. The play is intended to generate a scholarly debate amongst theatre critics on the artistic concept and among audience as a contribution towards minimizing this social problem. The study recommends that in creating a political play with didactic nuances, it is important that the plot is not too metaphorical, such that the political subject matter is lost. In addition, future researchers will need to explore further, political drama as machinery for reshaping the Ghanaian political structure.