Acknowledgements. Illustrations. Introduction. 1 THE COLONIAL THEATRE. The performance forms; Dance-drama; Drama; Orature; Pre-colonial literature; Feudalism and communalism. 2 CONFORMITY, CHRISTIANITY AND SUPPRESSION: THE EARLY COLONIAL THEATRE. ETHIOPIA. Amhara imperialism; The first plays; The Italian occupation and after. TANGANYIKA. Formation and colonization; The development of indigenous theatre forms; Colonial cultural forms; Drama. SOUTHERN RHODESIA. Colonization: from 1890 to 1965; The repression of indigenous culture; Promoting a new theatre; White theatre; White Rhodesian plays. 3 THEATRE IN LIBERATION STRUGGLES. TANGANYIKA. Political struggle; The role of culture. ETHIOPIA. The rise of political awareness; The reformist theatre; The new drama; The Creative Arts Centre; Actors and theatres. SOUTHERN RHODESIA. The armed struggle 1965-1980; The theatres of separate development; Escapism and exclusivity: the white theatre; Kind Whites and good Blacks: official African performance; Black drama groups and festivals; Liberation arts. A TIME OF HOPE: THE THEATRE OF INDEPENDENCE. TANZANIA. Nyerere, Nationalism and Ujamaa; Early post-independence theatre; The impetus of Arusha; The intellectual drama; Government sponsored theatre. ETHIOPIA. The end of an empire; The early revolutionary theatre; The PMAC and the theatre; Changing relations with government; Plays in the professional theatres. ZIMBABWE: The question of nation building; Towards a new culture; The ZIMFEP initiative; University drama; Amakhosi Theatre Productions and the Bulawayo Association of Drama Groups; Published drama. 5 DISILLUSION AND DEBATE: THE CONTEMPORARY THEATRES. TANZANIA. The apotheosis of the one-party state? Complacency and conformity: state arts; The University and intellectual drama; Popular performance art and cultural troupes. ETHIOPIA. A government in crisis; A new beginning? The Theatre Arts Department; The Amateur Arts Programme; State control and the professional theatres; Plays of the Eighties; Theatre under the transitional government. ZIMBABWE. A problem of credibility; State attitudes to the performing arts; Funding the theatres; The independent arts; The contemporary plays. Annex A: Informants. Bibliography. Index.