MACMILLAN MODERN DRAMATISTS Maemillan Modern Dramatists Series Editors: Bruce King and Adele King

Published titles

Reed Anderson, Federico Garcia Lorca Eugene Benson, J. M. Synge Renate Benson, German Expressionist Drama Normand Berlin, Eugene O'Neill Miehael Billington, Alan Ayckbourn John Bull, New British Political Dramatists Denis Calandra, New German Dramatists Neil Carson, Arthur Miller Mauriee Charney, Joe Orton Ruby Cohn, New American Dramatists, 1960-1980 Bernard F Dukore, American Dramatists, 1918-1945 Bernard F Dukore, Harold Pinter Arthur Ganz, George Bernard Shaw James Gibbs, Wole Soyinka Franees Gray, John Arden Julian Hilton, Georg Buchner David L Hirst, Edward Bond Helene Keyssar, Feminist Theatre Bettina L Knapp, French Theatre 1918-1939 Charles Lyons, Samuel Beckett Jan MeDonald, The New Drama 1900-1914 Susan Bassnett-MeGuire, Luigi Pirandello Margery Morgan, August Strindberg Leonard C. Pronko, Eugene Labiche and Georges Feydeau Jeanette L Savona. Jean Genet Claude Sehumaeher, Alfred Jarry and Guillaume Apollinaire Laurenee Seneliek, Anton Chekhov Theodore Shank, American Alternative Theatre James Simmons, Sean O'Casey David Thomas, Henrik Ibsen Dennis Walder, Athol Fugard Thomas Whitaker, Tom Stoppard Niek Worrall, Nikolai Gogol and Ivan Turgenev Katharine Worth, Oscar Wilde MACMILLAN MODERN DRAMATISTS WOLE SOYINKA James Gibbs

M MACMILLAN © James Gibbs 1986 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in acordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1986 Published by Higher and Further Education Division MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS L TD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset by Type Generation Ltd, London EC1

Gibbs, James Wole Soyinka. - (Macmillan modem dramatists) 1. Soyinka, Wole - Criticism and interpretation I. Title 822 PR9387.9.S6Z/

ISBN 978-0-333-30528-7 ISBN 978-1-349-18209-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-18209-1 Contents

Acknowledgements vi A Note on Accents vi List of Plates vii Editors' Preface ix 1 Brief Life 1 2 Sources and Influences 18 3 The Leeds Plays 39 4 The Independence Plays 54 5 Plays of the Sixties 71 6 A Post-War Play 99 7 Plays of Exile 107 8 Plays for Nigeria of the Seventies and Eighties 128 9 A Play of Giants 150 References 162 Bibliography 166 Index 171

v Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank his family for support, advice and encouragement; his students and colleagues in Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria for ideas and information, and, finally, Wole Soyinka for creating such remarkable theatre and for permission to quote from the unpublished rehearsal script of Opera Wonyosi quoted on page 131.

A note on accents Yoruba words and names usually appearin Wole Soyinka's books without apostrophes, subscripts or superscripts. I have followed this practice in this study, retaining, as Soyinka does, the accent on Ake. Soyinka's own name is more properly spelt Soyinka; S has a sound roughly equivalent to 'Sh'. For further information on all issues of Yoruba orthography and intonation the reader is referred to R. C. Abraham's Dictionary of Modern Yoruba, published by the University of London Press.

vi List of Plates 1. The Lion and the Jewel, Royal Court Theatre, 1966. Femi Euba as Lakunle and Hannah Bright Taylor as Sidi. Photo: John Goldblatt 2. The Lion and the Jewel, Royal Court Theatre, 1966. Photo: John Haynes 3. The Trials of Brother Jero, Bristol University Drama Dept, 1974. Courtesy: The University of Bristol Theatre Collection. 4. as No. 3 5. The Strong Breed, Chancellor College, Malawi, 1976. Anthony Nazombe as Eman. Photo: James Gibbs 6. The University of Malawi's Travelling Theatre pro• duction of Chi/de lnternationale, 1979, Villah Ngwira as Titi, Evelyn Kanwijolo as her mother. Photo: James Gibbs. 7. Kongi's Harvest Wole Soyinka as Kongi. Directed by Ossie Davis for Omega / Calpenny Films 1970. 8. Wole Soyinka with actors from The Road, 1972. 9. The Road, Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London, 1965. Horace James (Professor) Dapo Adelugba (Murano) and Alton Kamala (Say Tokyo Kid). 10. The Road Goodman Theatre, Chicago 1984. Cour• tesy: The Goodman Theatre. 11. The Bacchae of Euripides. National Theatre, 1973. Martin Shaw as Dionysus and John Shrapnel as Pentheus. Courtesy: University of Bristol Theatre Collection. 12. Norman Matlock and Ben Halley in Death and the King's Horsemen, The Goodman Theatre, Chicago 1984. Courtesy: The Goodman Theatre. 13. Opera Wonyosi The University of Ife Theatre and Students 1977. The authors and publishers wish to thank copyright holders for permission to reproduce photographs. For my parents and my wife. Editors' Preface The Macmillan Modern Dramatists is an international series of introductions to major and significant nineteenth and twentieth century dramatists, movements and new forms of drama in Europe, Great Britain, America and new nations such as Nigeria and Trinidad. Besides new studies of great and influential dramatists of the past, the series includes volumes on contemporary authors, recent trends in the theatre and on many dramatists, such as writers of farce, who have created theatre 'classics' while being neglected by literary criticism. The volumes in the series devoted to individual dramatists include a biography, a survey of the plays, and detailed analysis of the most significant plays, along with discussion, where relevant, of the political, social, historical and theatrical context. The authors of the volumes, who are involved with theatre as playwrights, directors, actors, teachers, and critics, are concerned with the plays as theatre and discuss such matters as performance, character interpretation and stag• ing, along with themes and contexts. BRUCE KING ADELE KING

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