Drama, Religion, Witchcraft and the Absurd in Brett Bailey’s Ipi Zombi?

Abstract

Religion has always been a great component in the socio-cultural and economic development considerations of Africans. Many African dramatic works attest to this. The trend denoting religion with less impact to play in the search for individual and communal freedom – physical and spiritual – is limited but present. Emerging scepticism and literature show that man, as the creator of his problems, must also be the manufacturer of the solutions. This paper examines representations of the impact of religion— Christianity and Traditional beliefs, which include witchcraft, magic and superstition as well as the deployment of absurdism, for the struggle for socio-political freedom by a group of South African youths, in Brett Bailey’s Ipi Zombi?. The findings suggest that religion and religious beliefs, if not well conceived, understood and impacted, can be stumbling blocks towards achieving religious, socio-political and economic freedom.