Teatro Asmara: understanding Eritrean drama through the study of a national theatre

This paper looks at the history of the oldest theatre in Eritrea, Cinema or Teatro Asmara, and seeks to understand how the theatre has been seen and used by its multiple owners and users from 1918 to the present day. Eritrea has had a complex modern history, being ruled from Italy, Britain and Ethiopia before achieving independence in 1991, and each government has had an uneasy relationship with culture, seeking to varying degrees to control and manipulate what could be shown in the nation’s de facto national theatre. By exploring the organizations that have run and put on performances in the building, and looking at some of the theatre they produced it is my contention that we can understand much about the cultural aspirations, anxieties and aesthetics of the artists living and working in Eritrea over the last hundred years.