FOOTBALL AND THEATRE CULTURES: A RE-MAKING OF A THEATRE AUDIENCE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The position that football occupies in global discourse calls for a re-reading of its impact in other fields of endeavor. In the theatrical parlance, the performativity aspect of football has re-invented fresh narratives that underscore this research paper. Of particular interest is how the football culture especially its innovative aspect in ‘audience’ participation and an extended globalization of post-audience interest sustain its ‘audience’. This work is hinged on the symbolic interactionist theory which is a process of interaction of actions as postulated by George Herbert Mead. The theory states that objects don’t have meaning until they interact with social actors. The paper makes a case of asserting that, theatre just like football enjoys an uncommon commonness both in the performance aspect and in audience perceptions and participations. By drawing from the culture of football, the paper takes a look at how theatre as a performance medium enhances audience sustainability and performance interest. The paper also takes a look at the aesthetic qualities that football and theatre enjoy in line with spectacle, costume, directorial approach, scenery and management. The paper concludes that Theatre and Football bear a lot of similarities in terms of the activities that surround them. From costume to character development, from performance area to managerial skills, all these play side by side and further establishes the two professions as easy bedfellows. The paper recommends theatre practitioners to borrow a lift from football culture and advance theatre performance and audience interest through ways that attracts potential audiences.