Directing Styles in the Nigerian Literary Theatre

Abstract

Performance in the theatre through the players is the last phrase of artistic communication to the audience. Consequently, the art of performance, whether social, cultural, religious, improvisational or scripted can only become a reality through the creative endeavour of the theatre director in the complex art of play directing. Through the descriptive, interview and participant-observer methods of research, this research work examines some directing styles that are clearly articulated by some of the creative and experimental theatre directors in Nigerian literary theatre. These directing styles are explored and documented so that directors in Nigeria and elsewhere can learn theatre practice from them. Even though individuality, aesthetic experience, education and so on cannot be ruled out for theatrical concepts of directorial style, we conclude that the intellectual and practical mastery of these directing styles will further help the theatre directors grasp the reality of play directing.