The metaphysical and the imaginative: Asare’s play The Choice in performance.

Abstract

The manifestation of the metaphysical in artistic expressions is as old as the relationship between art and religion; drama and its theatre is no exception. In the works of most Ghanaian playwrights and dramatists, one identifies a transition from a cultural/folk lore and history into contemporary plays. This evolution becomes the vehicle for the artists’ creative process and it usually gives the work a grounding in the Ghanaian culture; the artist’s thought is then communicated in context. In an interview in 1994 in his office at the Ghana National Theatre, Yaw Asare, a Ghanaian playwright confirms that his works are inspired by Ghanaian folktales and other folk genres. In Asare’s play, The Choice, the said transition comes across in the form of the history and folklore of the people of Nkonya and Alavanyo in the Volta Region of Ghana. These genres are replete with metaphysical and supernatural characters and philosophical thoughts which he recreates in The Choice in the form of supernatural characters and more. This paper discusses the transposition of the metaphysical in The Choice, from text to the performance of the play at the E. T. Sutherland Drama Studio