No abstract

Drama performs various roles in the society. One of such roles is the re-presentation of past events. These past events are historical antecedents which a given society is meant to be abreast of in order to cut a proper walking path for the future, either to avoid pitfalls of the past or uphold a certain standard. Likening drama to a mirror, this paper discussed the reflective nature of drama in the Nigerian society. Through the use of the literary method, Chukwuma Anyanwu’s dramatic texts, Stunted Growth, The Battle, Another Weekend, Gone! and Broken Image, were analysed to ascertain how well the playwright was able to project the Nigerian society through these works. It was discovered that the plays were well crafted by the author and that they mirrored the Nigerian milieu. It was therefore concluded that members of the society, especially the political class, should learn from these plays and build a society that is devoid of intimidation, corruption, oppression of the masses and the mass media, in order for democracy to thrive.

Theatre, the earliest form of entertainment and enlightenment in Nigeria, is becoming a ghost of itself as a result of its inability to take on the colouration of the times. Some scholars are of the view that there should be a revival of the theatre by establishing more theatre while it remains bonded to its functional root, the live stage, because of its uniqueness. This study examined the likelihood of this renaissance and its survival in the face of the deluge of other media of entertainment in a digitally advanced era and environment. The study relied on the Media Displacement Theory, MDT, which explains a paradigm shift in an individual's use of new media by discarding the preceding one. Using in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions, FGD, the study revealed that live theatre-going culture has become unpopular with the Nigerian audience as a result of digital technology and sundry circumstances in recent times, which include insecurity and the COVID-19 outbreak that negates public gathering. The paper advanced that Nigerian theatre cannot afford to remain glued to its roots in a technologically digitalised environment or society, but has to evolve.

The Niger Delta has been a cauldron of restiveness and violent conflicts. Most of these conflicts result from the failure of the multinational corporations operating in the region to adequately discharge their Corporate Social Responsibility to the people. It is against this backdrop that this paper examines the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility as the panacea for the restiveness and conflict in the region as we as the crucial role the mass media have to play in assisting the corporate organisations to effectively discharge their obligations to the people. It is propounded here that failure to disseminate relevant information in this regard has led to mistrust and misunderstanding which eventually culminate in restiveness and conflict. The role of the media is therefore equally examined. The paper discovers that the media are constrained in the performance of this role. These constraints are presented and ways of tackling them are proffered.