John Ruganda

John Ruganda (30 May 1941 to 8 December 2007) was Uganda's best-known playwright. Ruganda was also a professor at University of North, South Africa, University of Nairobi, and Makerere University.[1]

Ruganda's plays "reflect the reality of the East African sociopolitical situation after independence."[2] He helped outline East African theater.[3] The Burdens (1972) and The Floods (1980) are regularly studied in literature classes.[4]

Writing

Plays

  • The Burdens, Kampala, Uganda, National Theatre, January 1970
  • Black Mamba, Kampala, 1972
  • The Good Woman of Setzuan, by Bertolt Brecht, translated into Swahili by Ruganda, Nairobi, Nairobi University Players, November 1978
  • The Floods, Nairobi, French Cultural Centre, 1 March 1979
  • Music without Tears, Nairobi, Nairobi University Players, February 1982
  • Echoes of Silence, Nairobi, 1985

Television

  • The Secret of the Season, screenplay by Ruganda, Voice of Kenya, March 1973
  • The Floods, screenplay by Ruganda, Voice of Kenya, April 1973
  • The Illegitimate, screenplay by Ruganda, Voice of Kenya, August 1982

References

  1. African Books Collective. "John Ruganda". Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  2. Imbuga, Francis. "John Ruganda". Gale Database: Dictionary of Literary Biography. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  3. Ssenkaaba, Stephen (18 Dec 2007). "Ruganda: The passing of a literary giant". New Vision Online. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  4. East African Educational Publishers Ltd. "John Ruganda Passes On". Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2011.

More books

  • Horn, "Uhuru to Amin: T he Golden Decade of Theatre in Uganda," Literary Half-Yearly, 19, no. 1 (1978): 22-49.
  • Peter Nazareth, "Africa under Neocolonialism: New East African Writing". Busara, 6, no. 1 (1974): 19-32.
  • Mineke Schipper. Theatre and Society in Africa (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1982).