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Accepted Paper:
Storytelling, culture, complexity and the Mursi Play
Richard Axelby
(SOAS University of London)
Ben Young
(South Omo Theatre Company)
This paper looks at the partnerships and forms of creative collaboration that contributed to the performance of Tiranya ko Koisani – a play performed at the National Theatre in Addis Ababa that was written and acted by Mursi people who, six months previously, had no prior knowledge of theatre.
Paper long abstract:
Tiranya ko Koisani – a play performed at the National Theatre in Addis Ababa in June 2022 – is a story of love and war in the far south of Ethiopia. The play was the first to be written and acted by Mursi people who, six months previously, had no prior knowledge of theatre. This paper will follow the journey to the National Theatre of the South Omo Theatre Company – a partnership including Mursi agro-pastoralists turned playwrights and actors, Ethiopian theatre directors, British anthropologists and a filmmaker. Starting with the search for funding, it highlights missteps, backward steps, obstacles along the way, and routes not taken. The paper goes on to consider possibilities for creative collaboration in development and participatory knowledge sharing. What stories are told, who gets to tell them, which stories and storytellers are left out, and at what point do we identify a happy ending? Particular attention is paid to the different forms of brokerage, translation and exchange required to communicate the needs of marginalized populations to policy makers in centres of power.
The paper will be accompanied by short clips showing the making of the play.