FROM RITUAL TO SCREEN: WESTERN THEATRE MAKE-UP REVOLUTIONS AND AFRICAN INDIGENOUS INNOVATION

Abstract

This paper re-examines the historical development of theatrical make-up by challenging the dominant linear narrative that frames Western innovation as the universal endpoint of cosmetic progress. Drawing on historical analysis, performance theory, and postcolonial perspectives, it traces how make-up evolved from ritual body transformation practices into a technologically sophisticated component of modern stage and screen production. Highlighting Western theatrical make-up breakthroughs such as the nineteenth-century introduction of greasepaint and the twentieth-century development of camera-ready cosmetic formulations as context-specific responses to changes in lighting, performance aesthetics, and visual recording technologies rather than as markers of global superiority. The study places these developments in dialogue with African indigenous make-up traditions, demonstrating that such systems embody equally complex forms of material knowledge rooted in ritual transformation, ecological awareness, and embodied cognition. Through comparative analysis, the paper argues that Western make-up practices historically prioritised realism, optical control, and psychological legibility, whereas African indigenous practices emphasised visibility, spiritual mediation, and communal identity formation. These differing orientations reveal not a hierarchy of progress but parallel trajectories of innovation shaped by distinct cultural ontologies of the body and performance. By reframing theatrical make-up as a trans-historical technology of identity and embodiment, the paper contributes to contemporary debates in theatre studies, performance anthropology, and cultural production. It further proposes that the future of global make-up industries particularly within rapidly expanding film sectors such as Nollywood and Ghallywood depends on integrating indigenous materials and knowledge systems with modern production technologies. Such integration offers pathways toward sustainable, culturally grounded, and economically viable cosmetic innovation beyond Eurocentric models.