No one who is well educated and well informed about the value and importance of theatre, will deny that theatre is indispensable to the building of nations; and their progress, and their realisation of optimum economic growth and prosperity.
This is truth which has stood the test of time since the classical era of Greece civilization. The nation of ancient Greece went through a process of nation building and development with the Greek theatre as a means of realizing the Golden Age, which characterized great knowledge enlightment, development and prosperity in all fields of human endeavor in the 5th century B.C.
This was the period ancient Greece reached the zenith of excellence in achievements in all fields of human endeavor. The Greek civilization or culture during this period of time became the sine qua non and precedent for the rest of the world to follow as far as nation building and development are concerned during that period of time.
Tayeb Sadiki, the famous Moroccan dramatist and theatre practitioner once categorically asserted about theatre in the following “If you want to build a nation start with a national theatre” By simple interpretation of this statement, one can say that theatre is the key or answer to nation building; and without it, a nation cannot be built and developed.
Building a nation or country is a great task and challenge that had faced mankind since the dawn of historic time. Man has the innate tendency and strong desire to achieve advancement to better his condition of living style since time immemorial; hence his continual quest for excellence is infinite.
In our modern world day, nations or countries are still striving to achieve the best or excellence for the benefit of peoples living in these countries. For instance, in the context of looking at countries which have achieved great advancement, development and prosperity one can easily say that the U.S has achieved great development and as a result, she is very wealthy, very powerful and prosperous. The U.S is therefore very influential in world affairs today.
One can ask the question, what are the contributory factors that have made the U.S very wealthy and powerful? The answer is simply that, theatre is one and the main factor that has made the U.S what she is today in the eyes of the world. By critical analysis, theatre alone represents two-thirds of the total revenue generation for the powerful U.S economy!
It is significant therefore to observe how the U.S. had since the attainment of independence on 4th July, 1776 form Great Britain been able to promote and develop her theatre to such a high level of supporting her economy. The theatre in the U.S is the pillar of her economy! This is fact and truth but not fiction! China is another classical example that theatre had predominated for China’s great wealth and economic power in our modern world today.
If theatre is crucial and for that matter, indispensable to nation building and development what then is theatre? By simple definition and explanation theatre involves everything that a group of people or country do every day by their attitude and determination to work very hard and live in peace and harmony with each other and commit themselves to achieve knowledge, enlightment in all fields of human endeavor to enable them to improve upon their condition and standard of living in development and prosperity.
Thus, theatre embodies the culture of a group of people. This includes the language they speak, the food they eat, their beliefs, customs, traditions, practices, their religion, their dressing or clothes they wear, their music, their dance etc. and in fact, everything that they do as style or attitude for survival and livelihood. Theatre is therefore synonymous with a people’s culture.
The theatre of a nation or country has to go through a process of nurturing, evolution, development and refinement in order to make it possible for a country to progress and experience knowledge, enlightment and development in all fields of human endeavor to attain high standard of living for the benefit of her citizens. Thus, when theatre or culture for that matter, is given serious attention with the view to raising it to a very high level, then a nation or country has the opportunity to attain a very high standard of living to benefit her people.
It is therefore significant to note that theatre or culture is not stagnant but dynamic. And so, a nation or country which is determined to experience a high level of economic growth and development must modify, refine and develop her cultural practices to a high level to guarantee her ideal achievements for a better standard of living and prosperity.
Ghana is a fast developing country in the 21st century and her present development pace can be accelerated,if her theatre is given priority attention for development to a very high level as other countries in the modern world today had done to their theatres.
Ghana must therefore take a cue and emulate the examples of countries like the U.S, China, Japan, Britain, France etc and ensure that her dreams and aspiration to achieve greatness, wealth and power to be reckoned with becomes a reality but not mere wishful imagination and expectation. Ghana will surely realize her dream of greatness and economic power if only she develops her present theatre to a very high level.
In conclusion, I am highly optimistic that Ghana is capable of developing her present theatre to a very high level because she possesses a gigantic theatre complex building; and also theatrical knowledge and expertise, that will bring about the realization of a very high level development of the Ghanaian theatre eventually, Ghanaian theatre is in dire need of serious attention now to precipitate and hasten the achievement of the ideal for Ghana, as a country.
By Michael Akenoo, Theatre Critic
