Contributors examine how international theatre festivals have been organised and how they have affected the evolution of sustainable theatre. During the last fifty years, large sums of money, huge resources of labour and vast amounts of creative energy have been invested in international theatre festivals in Africa. Under banners such as 'Reclaiming the African Past' and 'African Renaissance', the festival participants have used the performing arts to address a variety of topical issues and to confront images embedded by a century of patronising colonial expositions. The themes indicate the desire to take history by the forelock, challenge perceptions and transform communities. Volume Editor: JAMES GIBBS 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

Yemoja, according to Yoruba myth, is the goddess of the river. This re-working of the legend in dramatic form is a celebration of the river goddess and traditional Yoruba cosmology. The author tells the story in a language influenced by Yoruba symbolism and metaphor, inclusive of chants and speeches in the Yoruba language. He seeks to enhance knowledge and appreciation about the Yoruba cultural tradition, exploring the links between past and modern identities. The rendition emphasises the social preoccupations and human traits and emotions of the goddess according to her story: kindness, anger, jealousy, envy, trust and betrayal.

A Nigerian re-working of Shakespeare's Othello, this is an ambitious effort in the tradition of much contemporary Nigerian drama and spirit of cultural exchange to translate the timeless and classic work into the language, cultural reality and settingof the Igbo people. Yerima's play responds to the humanistic values, social and religious sensibilities of the original, reinventing them to speak for different people of a different age. From these perspectives, the play raises questions about the freedom of the individual in society, the nature of collective existence, and whether folly and greatness, jealousy, suspicion, tradition and love can co-exist.