The Praxis of Theatre for Development in Curbing Social Menace in Urban Slum in Lagos State
Adeyemi, Olusola Smith
Dept of Creative Arts School of Postgraduate Studies University of Lagos, Akoka Nigeria
Keywords: Drama, Development, Hooliganism, Gangsterism, Social development, Street trading, Theatre for development urbanslum.
Abstract
Theatre for Development (TfD) is a special kind of Theatre practice that creates a platform for members of a specific community to respond to, and actively participate in issues relating to their social development through an engaging process of play and acting. The sole essence of this form of theatre is to sensitize, radicalize and conscientize the people towards the improvement of their social conditions; it offers the people of the community the opportunity to actively reflect together by using the stage as a meeting point to “explore new ways of living and to express new visions of the future”. Through Homestead and Observation- Participatory research methodologies, this paper explores how TfD can be employed to curb social problem in Odiolowo, a Lagos suburb. The aim and objectives of the paper are to analyze the people’s problems and through collective action with the people, find solutions to them. The paper argues that the youth of the community are disenchanted because of government neglect in terms of providing social amenities. In conclusion, it is clear that TfD helps the people to collectively engage in pragmatic steps towards solving their problems.