Efua Sutherland
Encyclopedia
Efua Theodora Sutherland (June 27, 1924--January 2, 1996) was a Ghana
ian playwright, children's author, and dramatist. Her best-known works include Foriwa (1962), Edufa (1967), and The Marriage of Anansewa (1975).
region and moved to England
to study at Homerton College of Cambridge University. After graduation, she moved back to her home Ghana and co-founded the cultural newspaper "Okyeame". Sutherland then taught at St. Monica's Training College before settling in Accra
. In 1954 she married William Sutherland, for whom she had 3 children. During this time Sutherland experimented with drama, founding the Experimental Theatre Players in 1958 which later became the Ghana Drama Studio. Her plays were often based on traditional tales, but also borrowed from Western literature
.
She founded the Ghana Drama Studio, the Ghana Society of Writers, the Ghana Experimental Theatre, and a community project called the Kodzidan (Story House). She was an influential figure in the establishment of modern Ghanaian theatre, and helped to establish the study of Africa
n performance
traditions at university level.
Efua Sutherland was born in Cape Coast
, Gold Coast
(now in Ghana). She studied at the Teacher Training College in Ghana. She then studied at Homerton College, Cambridge
and at the School of Oriental and African Studies
at the University of London
.
When she returned to Accra
, Ghana, Sutherland helped to establish the literary magazine
Okyeame. She also founded the Ghana Drama Studio as a workshop for children's literature writers. The Studio soon became a training ground for Ghanaian playwrights. It is now the Writer's Workshop in the Institute of African Studies
, University of Ghana
, Legon
. She founded the Kodzidan (Story House) in Ekumfi-Atiwa. She was also a research fellow in literature and drama at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana.
In her works, Sutherland experimented with storytelling and other dramatic forms from indigenous
Ghanaian traditions. Her plays transformed traditional African folktale
conventions into modern dramatic theatre techniques. The best known of her plays are Edufa (1967) (based on Alcestis
by Euripides
), Foriwa (1967), and The Marriage of Anansewa (1975).
In Edufa the eponymous
character seeks to escape death by manipulating his wife, Ampoma, to the death that has been predicted for him by oracle
s. In the play, Sutherland uses traditional Ghanaian beliefs in divination
and the interaction of traditional and European ceremonies in order to portray Edufa as a rich and successful modern person who is held in high esteem by his people. The play uses traditional ritual and symbolism, but the story is told in the context of Edufa's capitalistic
abandonment of his moral commitment to his wife, while his wife and the other women favour the morality of the past.
In Foriwa the eponymous character, who is the daughter of the queen mother
of Kyerefaso, and Labaran, a graduate from northern Ghana who lives a simple life, bring enlightenment to Kyerefaso, a town that has become backward and ignorant because the town's elders refuse to learn new ways. Foriwa's main theme is the alliance of old traditions and new ways. The play has a national theme to promote a new national spirit in Ghana that would encourage openness to new ideas and inter-ethnic cooperation.
The Marriage of Anansewa: A Storytelling Drama (1975) is considered Sutherland's most valuable contribution to Ghanaian drama and theater. In the play, Sutherland transmutes traditional Akan Spider tales (Anansesem) into a new dramatic structure, which she calls Anansegoro. Nyamekye (a version of Alice in Wonderland), one of her later plays, shows how she was influenced by the folk opera tradition.
Sutherland was also an author of works for children. These works included two animated rhythm plays, Vulture! Vulture! and Tahinta (1968), and two pictoral essays, Playtime in Africa (1960) and The Roadmakers (1961). Many of her short stories can be described as rhythmic prose poems. The Voice in the Forest, a book of the folklore and fairytales of Ghana, was published in 1983.
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
ian playwright, children's author, and dramatist. Her best-known works include Foriwa (1962), Edufa (1967), and The Marriage of Anansewa (1975).
Life
She was born Efua Theodora Morgue in the Cape CoastCape Coast
Cape Coast, or Cabo Corso, is the capital of the Central Region of Ghana and is also the capital city of the Fante people, or Mfantsefo. It is situated 165 km west of Accra on the Gulf of Guinea. It has a population of 82,291 . From the 16th century the city has changed hands between the...
region and moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to study at Homerton College of Cambridge University. After graduation, she moved back to her home Ghana and co-founded the cultural newspaper "Okyeame". Sutherland then taught at St. Monica's Training College before settling in Accra
Accra
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...
. In 1954 she married William Sutherland, for whom she had 3 children. During this time Sutherland experimented with drama, founding the Experimental Theatre Players in 1958 which later became the Ghana Drama Studio. Her plays were often based on traditional tales, but also borrowed from Western literature
Western literature
Western literature refers to the literature written in the languages of Europe, including the ones belonging to the Indo-European language family as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque, Hungarian, and so forth...
.
She founded the Ghana Drama Studio, the Ghana Society of Writers, the Ghana Experimental Theatre, and a community project called the Kodzidan (Story House). She was an influential figure in the establishment of modern Ghanaian theatre, and helped to establish the study of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
traditions at university level.
Efua Sutherland was born in Cape Coast
Cape Coast
Cape Coast, or Cabo Corso, is the capital of the Central Region of Ghana and is also the capital city of the Fante people, or Mfantsefo. It is situated 165 km west of Accra on the Gulf of Guinea. It has a population of 82,291 . From the 16th century the city has changed hands between the...
, Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
(now in Ghana). She studied at the Teacher Training College in Ghana. She then studied at Homerton College, Cambridge
Homerton College, Cambridge
Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England.With around 1,200 students, Homerton has more students than any other Cambridge college, although less than half of these live in the college. The college has a long and complex history dating back to the...
and at the School of Oriental and African Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
.
When she returned to Accra
Accra
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...
, Ghana, Sutherland helped to establish the literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
Okyeame. She also founded the Ghana Drama Studio as a workshop for children's literature writers. The Studio soon became a training ground for Ghanaian playwrights. It is now the Writer's Workshop in the Institute of African Studies
Institute of African Studies
The Institute of African Studies on the campus of the University of Ghana at Legon is an interdisciplinary research institute in the humanities and social sciences. It was established by President Kwame Nkrumah in 1962 to encourage African studies....
, University of Ghana
University of Ghana
The University of Ghana is the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian universities and tertiary institutions. It is one of the best universities in Africa and by far the most prestigious in West Africa...
, Legon
Legon
Legon, a suburb of the Ghanaian capital city Accra, is situated about twelve kilometres north-east of the city center. Legon is home to the main campus of the University of Ghana. The word "Legon" is derived from the indigenous Ga language of the people of Greater Accra; NI-LEY GON therefore "Hill...
. She founded the Kodzidan (Story House) in Ekumfi-Atiwa. She was also a research fellow in literature and drama at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana.
In her works, Sutherland experimented with storytelling and other dramatic forms from indigenous
Indigenous peoples of Africa
The indigenous people of Africa are those people of Africa whose way of life, attachment or claims to particular lands, and social and political standing in relation to other more dominant groups have resulted in their substantial marginalisation within modern African states The indigenous people...
Ghanaian traditions. Her plays transformed traditional African folktale
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
conventions into modern dramatic theatre techniques. The best known of her plays are Edufa (1967) (based on Alcestis
Alcestis
Alcestis is a princess in Greek mythology, known for her love of her husband. Her story was popularised in Euripides's tragedy Alcestis. She was the daughter of Pelias, king of Iolcus, and either Anaxibia or Phylomache....
by Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
), Foriwa (1967), and The Marriage of Anansewa (1975).
In Edufa the eponymous
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
character seeks to escape death by manipulating his wife, Ampoma, to the death that has been predicted for him by oracle
Oracle
In Classical Antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination....
s. In the play, Sutherland uses traditional Ghanaian beliefs in divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
and the interaction of traditional and European ceremonies in order to portray Edufa as a rich and successful modern person who is held in high esteem by his people. The play uses traditional ritual and symbolism, but the story is told in the context of Edufa's capitalistic
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
abandonment of his moral commitment to his wife, while his wife and the other women favour the morality of the past.
In Foriwa the eponymous character, who is the daughter of the queen mother
Queen mother
Queen Mother is a title or position reserved for a widowed queen consort whose son or daughter from that marriage is the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since at least 1577...
of Kyerefaso, and Labaran, a graduate from northern Ghana who lives a simple life, bring enlightenment to Kyerefaso, a town that has become backward and ignorant because the town's elders refuse to learn new ways. Foriwa's main theme is the alliance of old traditions and new ways. The play has a national theme to promote a new national spirit in Ghana that would encourage openness to new ideas and inter-ethnic cooperation.
The Marriage of Anansewa: A Storytelling Drama (1975) is considered Sutherland's most valuable contribution to Ghanaian drama and theater. In the play, Sutherland transmutes traditional Akan Spider tales (Anansesem) into a new dramatic structure, which she calls Anansegoro. Nyamekye (a version of Alice in Wonderland), one of her later plays, shows how she was influenced by the folk opera tradition.
Sutherland was also an author of works for children. These works included two animated rhythm plays, Vulture! Vulture! and Tahinta (1968), and two pictoral essays, Playtime in Africa (1960) and The Roadmakers (1961). Many of her short stories can be described as rhythmic prose poems. The Voice in the Forest, a book of the folklore and fairytales of Ghana, was published in 1983.
Further reading
- Salm & Falola (2002). Culture and Customs of Ghana. Greenwood Press ISBN 0-313-32050-0
External links
- http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/efuasut.htm