This paper seek to correlate the search for self and knowledge in Okpokam Ngun with Antonin Artaud‘s articulated idea of a philosophical theatre calibrating it with Martin Heidegger‘s critique of consciousness. Artaud‘s vision of the ‗Theatre of Cruelty‘ provides an inquiry into consciousness in that he saw theatre as a way of uncovering Being. He stressed a radical return to experience in artistic practice. For him, this was also the overcoming of metaphysical thinking. While for Heidegger consciousness is not even the right word for human existence and experience of the world. He asserts that the task of philosophy is to investigate the meaning of Being. Thus suggesting an alternative methodology to the scientific model of understanding consciousness, a methodology founded in experience. Okpokam concedes to Artaud and Heidegger‘s notion by presenting in Ngun a comprehensive re-examination of the journey to self though played out in the confines of man‘s imitation of life. Ngun projects a theatre that creates a metaphysics of gesture, and expression, in order to rescue it from its servitude to psychology and human interest; all these done with some kind of real metaphysical inclination, an appeal to certain unhabitual ideas, which by their very nature cannot be limited or even formally depicted.
Key Words: Theatre, Cruelty, Consciousness, Metaphysics, Being
Ekpe, B. (2021). Theatre and the Metaphysics of Consciousness in Okpokam’s Ngun: Calibrating Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty and Heidegger’s Notion of Being. Afribary. Retrieved from https://afribary.com/works/theatre-and-the-metaphysics-of-consciousness-in-okpokam-s-ngun-calibrating-artaud-s-theatre-of-cruelty-and-heidegger-s-notion-of-being
Ekpe, Bassey "Theatre and the Metaphysics of Consciousness in Okpokam’s Ngun: Calibrating Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty and Heidegger’s Notion of Being" Afribary. Afribary, 26 Dec. 2021, https://afribary.com/works/theatre-and-the-metaphysics-of-consciousness-in-okpokam-s-ngun-calibrating-artaud-s-theatre-of-cruelty-and-heidegger-s-notion-of-being. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
Ekpe, Bassey . "Theatre and the Metaphysics of Consciousness in Okpokam’s Ngun: Calibrating Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty and Heidegger’s Notion of Being". Afribary, Afribary, 26 Dec. 2021. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. < https://afribary.com/works/theatre-and-the-metaphysics-of-consciousness-in-okpokam-s-ngun-calibrating-artaud-s-theatre-of-cruelty-and-heidegger-s-notion-of-being >.
Ekpe, Bassey . "Theatre and the Metaphysics of Consciousness in Okpokam’s Ngun: Calibrating Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty and Heidegger’s Notion of Being" Afribary (2021). Accessed April 26, 2024. https://afribary.com/works/theatre-and-the-metaphysics-of-consciousness-in-okpokam-s-ngun-calibrating-artaud-s-theatre-of-cruelty-and-heidegger-s-notion-of-being