From the Bukusu fireside to the stage: the performance of the oral narrative in the shifting spaces

Abstract

This study is premised on the idea that the performing arts are dynamic and adaptive to the changing social and artistic demands. It therefore examines the artistic adaption of the oral narrative from the traditional setting in the Bukusu community to the modern conventional and converted spaces. The study utilized semiotics and performance theory to trace the evolution of the script from the traditional setting to the contemporary setting. Through observation and critical analysis of live performances, video recorded performances, and interviews: it analyzes the oral narrative as performance text focusing on the dramatic structure and how it is enhanced through character construction. The study explores the different contexts in which narratives are told in the traditional Bukusu setting within both aesthetic and social dramas. It further traces the transformation of the oral narrator over time and space and interrogates the oral narrator adaptability and the changing spaces and his/her treatment of the audience within the emerging spaces. Finally it focuses on the narrative techniques employed by both traditional and modern day narrators seeking to explain the role and centrality of the oral narrator in the traditional setting both as an entertainer and socialization agent and extending to how the modern narrator operates within unfamiliar audience in conventional spaces. The study notes that the traditional oral narrative text is latent with conflicts that are built around interests over shared resources. This conflict is further enhanced through characters whose desires, owing to their inherent behaviour puts them in constant conflict with other characters. The desire to make conflict credible and interesting demands that the forces in conflict are balanced, making the conflict worth watching. The animal characters carry along mannerisms noted in the animal world that reinforces their roles in dramatic construction. The notable changes in the narrative structure in the modern script are the elaborate introductions of human characters. These narratives have the names of characters borrowed from Kenyan communitie long introduction before the inciting action. Within the traditional setting there were conditions and an atmosphere that favoured the performance of the oral narrative. These conditions include a set time that was inbuilt within the social systems thus making it possible for most members of the community to participate in the occasion. The onus of narration was placed on the elder members of the community who were regarded with respect and could therefore easily manage their audience. The narratives have familiar images that can be interpreted by the audience since they emanated from their own environment. The performance space, whether around the bonfire or during a burial ceremony, was considered a conducive and favorable context for the performance of the oral narrative. The performers operated within a realm understood by the audience as the performance conventions of the Bukusu community. The study further notes that the modern narrator performs without the added advantage of a familiar audience. Some professional performers have mainly utilized the traditional narrative, albeit, with minimal modification to suit their purpose. They have also restructured the performance spaces in order to increase the level of intimacy in an atmosphere where modern built theatres create a lot of formality and distancing. The drama festival on its part has made use of the stage audience in order to recapture the traditional context which, when strictly applied, denies the actual audience full participation. They have however moved away from animal characters but borrowed names of the animal characters to enrich the symbolic representation of the human characters. Indeed the festival has blended new wine with the old wine in order to carry the tradition of oral narration from the fireside to the stage.