Before I analyse Seremba’s play through the lens of Postcolonialism in Canada, I would like to explore what theatrical theories in the context of dramaturgy actually means. Glen Odom, in his World Theories of Theatre, clearly defines a contrast between the East and the West in terms of power and culture. While the West disregarded art coming from Asia and Africa for centuries, these continents were most often “forced to adopt parts” (Odom, 104) of Western cultures, resulting in theatre and dramatic performances from the East to be “associated with both resistance to Europe and potentially with anti-modern ideas that are keeping the formerly colonised nation from advancing” (Odom, 104).

Naturally, theatre that originates from formerly colonised countries thus incorporate a mix of cultures – some that are endemic to their culture, and others that have been forced upon them by the coloniser. A key explanation that Odom gives that will help us in this discovery of African-Canadian drama is that “as these cultures mix and blend – sometimes harmoniously and often through conflict – new cultures are created” (104). What, in this case, can different types of theatrical and cultural hybridity entail? 

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There are several fascinating answers that Odom writes in response to this question. In South Africa, playwrights such as Lewis Nkosi used theatre “as a form of cultural and political resistance to apartheid” (Odom, 110). In Kenya, Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s used theatre as a way to allow communities to develop “their confidence and ability to express themselves” (Odom, 110). 

We can now begin to reflect on what it means for Seremba to have written a theatrical piece highlighting the torments of colonisation in Uganda, and his exile to Canada.

In what way is he using theatre here? We have chosen to focus on the aspect of using theatre as a way of expressing cultural and political resistance to modern violence and inequality towards the BIPOC community in Toronto.