Performing on the cyberspace: The Mupun Njingkook experiment

Abstract

In a networked society where the internet is an enabler, the theatre also takes in certain changes and continues to reshape itself in line with the dominant idea of the time. This paper examines the experiment conducted using Njingkook which is a Mupun storytelling performance. It argues on the frame that the experiment of capturing traditional Mupun stories as content using the video format, and uploading them on the YouTube platform is an avenue to create global audience for the Mupun people. Using the theory of the Networked Society (NS) by Georg Simmel, the paper contends that the world is a networked space and there is a newfound arena in the theatre known as “cyberspace.” The researcher observed that the content uploaded is still online and visible to all people across the globe and the number of views keeps increasing both on the content as well as the subscribers of the channel. The YouTube page created for the research has about 99 subscribers representing the dedicated viewers, with the indigenous language of performance with English subtitle. The cyberspace will enhance the scientific and cross-cultural analysis of African performance, with the Njingkook experiment as a beacon, because it is online, researchers with interest outside the community can observe and make a scholarly analysis of the performance.