Sensory Theatre and Disability: Developing Inclusive Performance Practices for Nigerian Theatre Contexts

This dissertation develops an original framework for inclusive and sensory-accessible performance practice within Nigerian theatre, addressing the critical gap in both theoretical and practical engagement with disability and access in Nigerian performing arts. Disability arts and inclusive theatre have generated substantial scholarly and policy attention in Global North contexts, yet Nigerian performance scholarship and practice have been largely silent on questions of physical, sensory, and cognitive access, reflecting both the broader marginalisation of disability discourse in Nigerian public life and specific institutional gaps in the performing arts sector. The research employs a participatory action research methodology, co-designing and evaluating sensory theatre performances and accessibility frameworks with disability community organisations, theatre companies, and disabled artists across Lagos, Abuja, and Enugu over a two-year period. The dissertation constructs an original theoretical framework of contextual inclusive aesthetics, which accounts for the specific material, cultural, and institutional conditions of disability performance in Nigeria rather than transplanting Global North disability theatre models. The research makes original empirical and theoretical contributions, documenting the first systematic study of disability and theatre access in Nigeria and producing an evidence-based framework for inclusive performance practice adaptable to diverse Nigerian institutional contexts. Keywords: sensory theatre, disability arts, inclusive performance, Nigerian theatre, contextual inclusive aesthetics.