BY MULUGETA GUDETA
It is indeed a long time since Ethiopian theatre has been hit by an equally long period of drought although there is currently some sign that drama is not completely dead. The current staging of a new work by popular playwright Wudeneh Kifle at the Hager Fikir Theatre may be taken as a sign that theatre may be getting a new lease on life as the prolific Ethiopian script writer has proved in the past when his works were staged for many seasons and attracted massive audiences. It is not yet time to judge whether the drought period in Ethiopian dramatic works will end soon or will continue for some time until favorable conditions will be created for its revival.
For the last two and a half years, movie making and live dramatic productions or presentations have sharply declined not only here in Ethiopia but also around the world mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic that had made it difficult for people to gather at the same place to watch movies or enjoy evening at theatre houses where new dramas could be stage. The golden age of theater in Ethiopia, when dramatic productions here in Addis Ababa forced theatre houses to fill to capacity and audiences counted in their thousands judging by the long and meandering queues, seem to have gone for good.
This was evident back in the 1980s and 1990s well before movie making shifted audience attention away from the stage drama and a new industry seemed on its way to blossoming as the first Amharic-language films caught the imagination of audiences who were apparently fed up with Hollywood productions. A genuine film industry seemed to have been launched in Ethiopia judging by the enthusiasm it was welcomed and the money that was invested in the industry that had become so lucrative that it attracted actors, producers and directors from the theatres and brought them to the silver screen.
The then available trained and experienced manpower transfer from theatre houses to movie settings had led to the decline of theatre at the cost of the silver screen, an event that was mourned by some and welcomed by many. Soon however, the film industry in Ethiopia exposed its softer belly as investments first shoot up and then suddenly dried up and the number of film produced every year dropped and reached a standstill due to the unfortunate arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic that undermined the industry that was already tottering on the brink.
This did not happen only here in Ethiopia. Hollywood, Bollywood and the Chinese film industries in general saw a period of sharp decline as movies houses were closed down and ticket sales dropped from a trickle to complete drying and massive incomes from Western blockbusters stopped altogether. But the big global film industries were strong enough to waver the dry period and survive until better times came recently while the industries in developing countries went out of business unable even to pay actors for works they had done in better times.
According to sources, the first play by Ethiopian author Teklehawariat Tekelmariam was entitled “Fabula: Yeaurewoch Commedia (Fable: The Comedy of Animals) and staged it at the Terrace Hotel in the capital Addis Ababa in 1921. Aboneh Ashagre in a study entitled, “The Role of Women on the Ethiopian Stage” said that the play was not a good success.
A certain Jane Plastow, professor at the University of Leeds “The First African play: Fabula: Yawreoch Commedia and its Influence on the development of theatre in Ethiopia” says that Fabula is probably the first original African drama ever written and produced…”
In the 1930s and afterwards, many playwrights continued the journey to write Ethiopian stories in in European form of play righting. He mentioned Yoftahe Negussie and Melaku Begossew who wrote plays in the 1930’s along the same lines and were popular among students at schools in Addis Ababa where, at the end of each academic year, students staged plays whose messages focused on student life and gave lessons both to youngsters and their parents.
On the other hand, the history of the Ethiopian film industry dates back to the 1960s but its growth is in no way commensurate with its long existence. The first film was staged in Ethiopia during the reign of Emperor Menelik who was fond of introducing modern European inventions like the telephone, the first train and vehicle to his country. This happened not long after the French Lumiere Brothers invented the first motion picture in 1896. The staging of the first movie that had religious content was opposed by the clergy who regarded it as “the work of the devil”. The stone house where the movie was screened was subsequently called “seitan bet” (house of the devil) and is still standing at the crossroad between Churchill Road and Piazza in Addis Ababa.
The rapport between cinema and stage drama in Ethiopia has largely been a process of mutual exclusion or inverse relationship in the sense that when dramatic works blossomed cinematic productions tended to go into temporary or chronic decline and vice versa. To begin with, the development of theatre in Ethiopia has more than one hundred year history while the first feature film dates back to the 1960s. For many decades, theatres had dominated the cultural landscape in Ethiopian cities and towns where ambulatory drama groups were staging their dramas to rural audiences.
The Ethiopian theatres in its long existence has produced many talented actors, script writers and producers who have contributed to the unprecedented growth of the entertainment while shaping the consciousness of the theatre audience particularly during the post-revolution period starting in the 1970s. Poet Laureate Tsegaye G/Medhin wrote and stage some of his classic theatre works such as Hahu Besidist Wer (ABC in six Months), Hahu weyim Pepu (ABC or XYZ) in that period together with a stage adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s “mother Courage” rendered in Amharic as Enat Alem Tenu.
There were also actors like Wegayehu Negatu, who could reach the apex in the development of their artistic talents by playing major roles in the classic dramas of the time and leaving unforgettable legacies of revival and maturity of Ethiopian theatre. There were also other lesser talents on their way to maturity although their profession was cut short to the post-revolution events in the country that prohibited or outlawed the staging of critical dramas. Since independent drama groups were non-existent at that time, the actors and script writers were automatically deprived of the means of earning their bread and many of them ended up in the gutter.
The post-Derg period had created enormous hope of revival for theatre in Ethiopia and there were a few attempts to revive a once vibrant profession that was a major entertainment for so many people in the capital Addis Ababa. Despite the tough times, dramatic works made their appearance over the radio and produced mainly comic dramas that caught the ears of the eager audience. This could not grow at it should due to the fact that actors in radio dramas as well as script writers were paid meagerly for their efforts and this was enough to repel many talents from radio studios. What was a promising enterprise at the beginning of the 1990s soon hit rock bottom and many professionals were sacked from their work places due to this or that political allegation.
It was around this time that the cinema was reborn in Ethiopia, or more truly in Addis Ababa, by making use of the talent, knowledge and demand for entertainment and by combining with individuals who were willing to invest in the movies. Although the Ethiopian Film Corporation (EFC) was established during the Derg era under the then Ministry of Culture, it had not done a great deal given the talent and money at its disposal. Filmmakers; like Haile GErima and Solomon Bekele who later on proved their mettles by producing classic movies here in the country and abroad were at one time employees of the EFC that was liquidated when the EPRDF came to power.
From the above brief exposition, one can see that the theater and cinema in Ethiopia had an intricate and intertwined relationship and their fates were equally tangled as it was evident from their survival in the following decades. What is interesting about Ethiopian theatre is the fact that it has proved itself to be resilient despite the odds as there was always a light at the end of the tunnel. This was partly because Ethiopian theatre has played a revolutionary role as far as society and politics were concerned.
Theatre was established by an old dignitary by the name Mekonnen Endalkachew to motivate patriots and the general public during the Italian fascist invasion and the war of 1933-36. Ethiopian theatre at that time played a highly progressive and patriotic role in agitating the public and building a strong anti-fascist sentiment during the resistance. As the author of the above-quoted study tells us, “Mekonnen Endalkachew promoted the use of music and sketch plays to attract the audience for his motivational speeches every Sunday. The plays were improvised based on the main issue every Sundays’ gatherings.”
Ethiopian theatre has always been speaking truth to power as it was evident during the imperial era when Tsegaye’s Shakespearean works were perceived as critical remarks about the monarchy and the emperor in person. During the revolution, Tsegaye’s stage production contributed to raising the consciousness of the people while sending warning signs to the military administration that was taking power at that time. In the same period there was also Abe Gubegna’s provocative and critical drama called “politikana poletikegnoch” (Politics and Politicians) that was removed from the Hager Fikir Theater shortly after it was staged.
When Ethiopian theatre emerged from its turbulent period in the 1970s to 1990s, it was completely changed as far as actors, scripts and productions were concerned. The vary talent actors that animated the stage in those radical years had given way to a new generation of young actors who graduated from the Addis Ababa theater department. Although some of them had talent they lacked the experience and maturity of their predecessors.
As far as theme was concerned, Ethiopian theater had abandoned tougher issues that directly addressed the relationships between the people and the government and had sunk into themes related to romantic or tragic personal issues. The scripts were presented by relatively inexperienced writers who tried to reflect the lives of ordinary people in opposition to the heroic or tragic figures in the hands of the pioneering script writers like Tsegaye or Abe Gubegna or Tesfaye Gessesse.
Fast forward to the present. Nowadays, both the movies and dram productions are on the same level of decline even though the major constraint seems to have been overcome and that audiences are now free to go to the movies or theatres. There are occasional productions in both departments that are undermined by the current economic crisis that has apparently made it difficult for people to spend money on entertainment outlets although many people continue to frequent less healthy places that can hardly be called entertaining.
The Ethiopian Herald January 15/2023
