Performing Ethos: International Journal of Ethics in Theatre & Performance - Current Issue

This article re-appropriates the idea of Yan Daudu, a Hausa word for ‘men who act as women’, to actor training in Nigerian college theatre. The term does not only refer to males who play the roles of women in Hausa community but also men who have sexual relations with other men. In another sense, men who cook and perform traditional roles reserved for women in traditional Hausa community are also referred to as Yan Daudu. Within the context of this study, Yan Daudu is deployed as ‘transvestite (cross-dressing) men who perform women's roles’. This study therefore examines the crosscurrents and vortexes of first, cross-dressing and acting, to becoming the woman character, and then playing the woman character in ways that effectively blur the identity of the male actor, and create believability. In this article, we argue against the frame that the body of male actors is a palimpsest and that this is conditioned by cultural norms and beliefs. By this, we mean that the body of male actors, although an empty slate capable of diverse re/inscriptions, may be inhibited by diverse cultural taggings (body shaming) and perceived taboos as with the idea of Dan Daudu or what in general Nigerian lingo is called woman wrapper (an effeminate man). We analyse one of two yearly experimental acting workshops from the Ahmadu Bello University Studio Theatre to argue that the traditional Hausa sense of self, role-playing and relating to the epistemic other places constraints on how men (can) perform women a la acting. We contend that there is a carryover of masculine psyche in playing the woman character and that this is manifested in the actor’s movements and frame. The article finds that there is an ambivalent dis/connection between actors’ dialogue and movements in performing women and that the actors’ frame and awareness of be-ing a character – a woman – infiltrates into the performance, thereby affecting the character roles and believability. We conclude that the male actors in Nigeria must first and foremost resolve his own conflict, both bodily and psychical, before he can effectively play the female or woman character.

This article intends to explore the political act of transmitting victimhood and trauma into theatrical activism, thereby turning it into a tool to fight against the psycho-social consequences of post-9/11 terror. Kathryn Blume, a contemporary American feminist theatre activist, attains this through the use of testimonies incorporated into the plays as extended monologues of dissent. Her theatrical movement, ‘The Lysistrata Project’, and plays, most of which are verbatim testimonials, especially The Boycott (2007) and The Accidental Activist (2003), act as sites of resistance against American sociopolitical, cultural and environmental issues concerning the current global conflict after the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.

The study aims to explore emotional labour strategies and the associated outcomes among stage actors. Data were gathered over one-to-one qualitative interviews with seven theatre actors. Acting experience ranged from three to 42 years. Five emotional labour strategies emerged, i.e. (1) technical work, (2) relying on inner resources, (3) empathizing with a character, (4) transforming self and (5) relying on others. The outcomes of emotional labour extended from benign to pernicious, encompassing four themes: (1) fusion of professional–personal identities, (2) overidentification with a character, (3) constructive outcomes (emotional intelligence and superior performance onstage) and (4) conditional factors (individual characteristics and peculiarities of the play). This article raises awareness of emotional labour strategies and outcomes. Interpretation of findings viewing from an organizational psychology perspective allows to identify potential impact of organizational factors and consider practices that address mental health at work, work–life balance and personal–professional identity fusion among stage actors.

In the context of the intensification of the national movement, it becomes essential to delve into the authenticity and origins of one’s culture, whose historical path is at odds with imperial Russian and Soviet propaganda. The idea that many cultural processes of modern times have their roots in the European past is the key to a proper future, historically natural for Ukraine. The purpose of the research is to examine the development of children’s musicals during the period of Ukrainian independence, identifying the specific features of the genre that developed on the stages of Ukrainian music and drama theatres and were embodied in film adaptations. The research is based on the method of systematic analysis and comparative method. The nuances of the genesis and development of the Ukrainian children’s musical are identified through genre and style art and musicological analysis. This research examines the cultural genesis of children’s musicals during the period of independent Ukraine. It highlights these musicals as evidence of the intensification of multi-genre processes in the Ukrainian stage and artistic industry. The study concludes that children’s musicals of the last few decades represent a synthesis of ideological and aesthetic features of the national school with international elements, showcasing a unique interaction of the past with the present. Based on scientific research, the research presents a hypothesis about the Ukrainian children’s musical as a derivative of European musical and dramatic genres (e.g. rock opera) and considers the renewal of audience demand and the reorganization of the musical and acting repertoire, which are caused by the entry of a new genre into the Ukrainian arena. The practical significance of the research lies in identifying the specific features of the genre and defining the main mistakes of independent Ukrainian cinema, which will be useful for specialists in Ukrainian musical theatre in developing new examples of the genre according to the nuances of its development in Ukraine, and for scholars who will develop the field of research on Ukraine’s cultural achievements.

Review of: How Does Disability Performance Travel? Access, Art, and Internationalization, Christiane Czymoch, Kate Maguire-Rosier and Yvonne Schmidt (eds) (2024)

Abingdon: Routledge, 294 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-03213-803-9, h/bk, £108

Review of: Dancing Indigenous Worlds: Choreographies of Relation, Jacqueline Shea Murphy (2023)

Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 408 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-51791-268-7, p/bk, $35.00

ISBN 978-1-51791-268-0, e-book, $35.00

ISBN 978-1-51791-267-3, h/bk, $140.00

Review of: Theatricality of the Closet: Fashion, Performance, and Subjectivity between Victorian Britain and Meiji Japan, Michelle Liu Carriger (2023)

Chicago, IL: Northwestern University Press, 264 pp.,

ISBN 978-0-81014-590-0, h/bk, $100.00

ISBN 978-0-81014-589-4, p/bk, $38.00

ISBN 978-0-81014-591-7, e-book, $38.00