Article Citation: Akinwumi Olutola Olafisayo (2019). Re-inventing Mythical Figures in History: Osofisan's Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels. DEGEL: The Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2. ISSN 0794-9316
RE-INVENTING MYTHICAL FIGURES IN HISTORY: OSOFISAN’S ESU AND THE VAGABOND MINSTRELS
By
Akinwumi Olutola Olafisayo
Abstract
The paper articulates the
re-visioning of mythical figures by the playwright to examine his postcolonial
mental picture and its historical thematic source. It expounds between myth and
history using postcolonial theory, shows that the playwright uses mythical
figures in history to address the myriads of problems confronting Africa in the
postcolonial period. Myth is deployed in his dramaturgy as tools for
conscientising and re-shaping the society. The study provides new insights into
the interpretation of Osofisan’s Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels, taking into
consideration, the playwright’s use of indigenous performance elements like
songs, music and dance as part of his revolutionary theatrical aesthetic. The
paper therefore concludes that, myth is capable of nurturing social change and
democratic development. It is demonstrated that Osofisan used traditional
materials like history, myth, ritual, festival, oral narratives, magic and
religion in pursuit of his egalitarian ideological purposes in the play. This
serves as tools for greater understanding of Osofisan’s dramaturgy for he also
employs myth to foretell the future because he sees certain repetitive trends
that are common in Africa’s political history.
Introduction
Traditional Yoruba religion has a
pantheon of deities who are called Orìshà.
Yoruba deities range between 401 and 700. They are worshipped on a regular
basis by their adherents. Some gods existed before the creation of the earth.
Some others were heroes and heroines from the past who were deified after their
death. Others are natural objects in their environment such as mountains, hills
and rivers that have influenced people’s lives and history. In the
mid-nineteenth century, Christian missionary activities started to have a major
impact on the Yoruba people and their religion. According to (Bolaji, 1962:
208) after European rule took effect at the beginning of the twentieth century,
various restrictions were placed on Yoruba religious practices. Many ancient
practices as well as some religious groups were banned. Ancient deities like
Èsù who acts as a link between the human world and the deities are affected.
Èsù is regarded among the Yoruba as the benevolent trickster, using his tricks
to teach humankind valuable lessons. He is also the patron of healers and
magicians. This god is as kind as he can be cruel. Erroneously, he is
associated with the devil in biblical account, but he is the one who protects
the home against dangers in Yoruba people’s belief. The Bible, in the Yoruba
translation, renders Èsù as Satan, but this is not a true reflection of the Èsù
in Yoruba pantheon. He governs destiny and his effigy is kept near the front
door. Èsù is recognised as a trickster god in Osofisan’s Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels.
Bolaji continues that, there are
many types of art among the Yoruba, and many objects are placed on shrines to
honour the gods and ancestors. There are beautiful sculptures made with wood
and brass. Other important art forms are masks, pottery, weaving, beadwork and
working with metal. The Yoruba belief in Orisa is meant to consolidate, not
contradict the terms of Olodumare. Devotees of traditional religion appeal to
specific manifestations of Olodumare in the form of those whose fame will last
for all the time. There is a belief of the Yoruba in Èsù as the god of
intercession and generosity, who can provide children for the barren or riches
for the poor. For example, the people who are in distress in the play offer
sacrifices to placate Èsù:
Omele: […]People
bring a lot of food and leave them on this crossroad (sic).
Sinsin: Why? What for?
Omele: As offering for Èsù. From those
searching for children, or for riches, or for a long life … So Èsù is regarded
as a kind of intermediary, between men and their wishes, between destiny and
fulfilment (10).
The role of Èsù in the play agrees
with his image in Yoruba traditional beliefs. Osofisan also explores the belief
in the efficacy of mysterious powers, effective through magic and incantations.
The play employs incantation which involves the chanting of words believed to
be potent in achieving the physically impossible. The magical power given to
the minstrels by Èsù who disguises as an old man is actually a test on them.
The play addresses the need for social and political transformation in modern
Nigerian society where there is much obsession with materialism as exemplified
in four of the five minstrels. The use of Èsù in the play conforms to the
traditional folklore image of the deity as instrument of moral instruction to
human suffering. In Èsù and the Vagabond
Minstrels, Osofisan creates the compassionate character with a
revolutionary spirit in the Old Man. The Old Man is the playwright’s alter-ego,
preaching benevolence and reacting against greed. He chooses his characters and
situations among contemporary human beings as well as from gods, dead ancestors
and mythological heroes. The mythical characters include Èsù, Ògún, Orúnmílà,
Yèyé Òsun, Obàtálá and Obaluaye. The playwright, again, demystifies the gods in
the play to show that the society does not need to go far to seek explanation
for the unfortunate conditions in life. Everything depends on each person’s
responsibility and not destined by God. Thus, people, are admonished to take
their fate in their own hands.
Sinsin: (After a while). A song and a dance! Do
you think it will work?
Omele: We’ll
soon find out, won’t we?
Epo Oyinbo: Hm,
Èsù, god of mischief! I don’t trust him! Or his priest!
Jigi: But
he’s also a god of justice, remember? And a friend to Orúnmílà…
Omele: You’re
right. Èsù is not destiny, only the way to it. He is like a loom in the market
of fate. But we each hold the shuttle, free to swing it the way we like.
Sinsin: Anyway
I’ve eaten the charm, and I am ready to sing!Strange how my belly no longer
feels the pang of hunger!(34-5)
Old Man who is
the representation of Èsù uses poetry to create grandeur as a special effect in
the play. The gods make use of human beings as a storytelling medium to pass
universal lesson to humankind:
Male Leper: (As Orúnmílà now, steps forward):
My son, this is no time for
speeches.
And I shall
spare you one.
Èsù Laaroye,
lord of the crossroads,
Trickster, he
set you a test, to see[…](91-2)
The play is set
at the crossroad which has a great significance in the Yoruba worldview,
according to (Jo, 2006: 2). The crossroads are the melting-pot of sacrifices.
It is the home of Èsù. The crossroads are also believed to be the abode of
witches, wizards, spirits, trolls, fairies and gnomes. The Yoruba believe in
the existence of different forms of spirits, who, though invisible to human
beings, play important roles in their religious lives. This world view allows
for considerations of hills, rivers, trees, animals and the earth, as the homes
of gods, goddesses and temples of spirits. Crossroads, therefore, represents a
dilemma or a quandary of existence that every human being has to confront each
passing day as its illustrated here:
Same
situation. A few moments after the last scene. The musicians are apparently
sleeping, as a man, middle-aged, enters, carrying a basket of fruits. The man
looks round carefully, does not see the musicians apparently, and then goes to
put down his load at the center of the crossroads. He kneels to pray. The
musicians stir and stand up at the sound of his voice. Mistaking them for armed
robbers, however, the praying man leaps up, his hands in the air. (37)
It’s obvious that the man praying at
the crossroads was confused when the men appear to him that is why he thinks
the minstrels are armed robbers. This is to note the significance of the
dilemma as far as crossroads are concerned.
Also, apart from the crossroads
being a dilemma to people, there is a belief attached to the place to solve
every problem as we can see here:
Woman: (Through her
sobs). Onile Orita! Esu, god of the crossroads! I have been bearing this
burden now for nine years! Nine years with this stone inside me! It won’t let
me stand, it won’t let me sit! I can’t even lie down, it’s all pain, pain,
pain! What have I done? Which god have i offended? Priests, herbalists,
doctors, I’ve seen them all! I’ve undergone, oh, how many operations! Various
men have opened me up! All kinds of fingers have probed inside me! Why? Why
don’t you let me die and forget it all! Orisa, why not kill me!...(42)
The woman is having a sincere
pathetic situation in spite of the dilemma involved which the minstrels help
her out just telling her to dance to their songs and she gave birth.
Èsù, the trickster god of revolt,
Òsun, goddess of fertility, and Obaluaye, the god of smallpox, are given
significant roles in this play. Orúnmílà, Obaluaye, Yeye Òsun and Èsù, are ever
present in the complex Ifá divination process. They sit in judgement over the
five vagabond musicians. Obaluaye represents Sonponno who is associated with
smallpox. Ògún manifests in the fiery temper of Epo Oyinbo, as he easily
resorts to violence, Yeye Òsun represents the female leper while Orúnmílà
represents the male leper. Orúnmílà is in unity with his messenger, Èsù, who
tests the starving vagabond musicians by giving them the magic power to cure
disabilities. This is after Orúnmílà and Yeye Òsun have tested the only
musician (Omele) again in form of a leprous couple and still find him
compassionate.
At last, Èsù re-assesses the minstrels’
choices and punishes the four greedy minstrels. Èsù however rewards Omele by
restoring him to good health and adorns him with cowrie beads.
Male Leper: (as Orúnmílà steps forward) […]Èsù Laaroye, Lord of the crossroad,
Trickster, he set you a test, to see whether between compassion and greed, you
would know the road to take; Between hollow material wealth, so ephemeral, and
the unseen riches of tenderness, you alone passed the test…so we said, let’s
test him again, just to be sure, and we came down ourselves. Me and Yeye Òsun
disguised in the frightful skin of Obaluaye, as lepers. But again you did not
let us down! Again, you let your humanity yield to unusual compassion. Salute
[…](32-33)
In the play, there is conflict of
choices between Omele and the other minstrels. Omele tries to impose his choice
on his friends. The inappropriateness strongly develops when Omele uses the
magical power of music and song given to him by Èsù to cure the afflicted
patients without obtaining personal worldly help from them while the other
musicians heal the sick people in order to be rewarded materially. Here,
neither Omele nor any of the other minstrels is able to enforce a choice upon
the other. This conflict sustains the rhythm, suspense and other entertaining
elements in the play. That is, Omele did not attach reward to his patients
before healing them which can be seen in pages 73-79.
Brecht Bertolt contends that
“theatre should appeal not to the spectator’s feelings but to his reason”
(Brecht, 1964: 52). While still providing entertainment, it should be strongly
didactic and capable of provoking social change. Brecht subverts “theatrical
antecedents as imitation or impersonation and replaces them with epic theatre,
Osofisan links the political functions of traditional folk performance with
modern theatrical forms in order to fashion out a new dramaturgy aimed at
socio-political reforms in modern Africa” (Adeyemi, 2006: 154). Osofisan
emphasises the union of Orúnmílà and Èsù as gods of justice as both gods play key
roles in the play. Èsù embodies the principle of justice and represents the
steady challenge to authority in Nigeria’s present situation. Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels depicts
Yoruba belief which is transmitted through ritual drama. For the Yoruba, the
notions of space and time are linked and are demonstrated through the
co-existence of the past, present and future generations.
Re-inventing
Mythical Figures in History: Osofisan’s Esu
and the Vagabond Minstrels
Esu and the
Vagabond Minstrels is about the trials of five minstrels by Èsù, through
his priest. Èsù is the Yoruba deity of the crossroads. He offers this group of
jobless, homeless and poor minstrels a chance at quick wealth, if they help
other people in need. Only one responds to the need with personal risk and
without thinking of possible returns on this investment. Omele, who uses the
magic advantage selflessly, selects a poor pregnant woman and a leprous couple.
He contacts the disease from the leprous couple, but he is found truly worthy
to be called a human being. Èsù punishes the four greedy musicians (Sinsin, Epo
Oyinbo, Redio and Jigi) and rewards only the musician who demonstrates
compassion and heals without amassing material wealth from his patients. He is
cured of the disease and also decorated with cowrie beads. In the play,
expectedly, good is rewarded and evil is punished. The audience is happy to see
Omele restored to good health while the other greedy musicians are punished.
The four performers see the magical gift as an investment. While Sinsin, Epo
Oyinbo, Redio and Jigi decide to use the gift for pecuniary purposes, Omele
uses his own for humanitarian purposes.
Osofisan fuses the elements of
music, song and dance with dialogue in the play. Songs are used to break the
flow of performance, to comment on the current action and to distance the
audience from the action on stage. Through the songs, the playwright tries to
conscientise the masses: that they must rise and exercise their rights to
denounce corrupt post-independence leadership.
Old Man: Esu does not see into the hearts of me, Only their
actions. Are you ready to help those among you, who are in distress? To bring
redress to the wronged? And justice to the exploited? Pp. 32-33.
This is because there is power in
collectivity and with that, the masses will able to protest against bad
leadership. This can be seen in pages 40-41, 45-46, 51-53, 58-59, 67, 73-75,
77-80, healing takes place once they sing together. He sees music and songs as
essential ingredients of his drama, since they capture his political mission
which is the dislodgement of an oppressive and unjust political system. “Songs
also react to events and characters on stage as the playwright would like his
audience to respond” (Awodiya, 1995: 242-3). It is also to remind the
spectators that they are in a theatre watching an enactment of reality instead
of reality itself. For instance, the song ‘I sing to end your pain’ reacts to
the events and characters on stage as the wounded man is being nursed of his
bullet wound. The healing through singing and dancing is central to the action
in the play (Osofisan, 2003: 34).
Music and song in the above instance
magically ease the pain of the affected person. It is also the means through
which the audience is involved and partakes in the action on stage. It comments
on the action on stage, expressing opinion on the event that surrounds the
wounded patient. The song “Khaki and Agbada” comments on the unstable political
environments in which economic and social activities cannot flourish. The
belief in Èsù is challenged in the song ‘Èsù does not exist’. The song is quite
explicit in its questioning of traditional beliefs (Osofisan, 2003: 72).
Another influential cultural element
in Osofisan’s plays is the festival. As a Yoruba from Ijebu, the playwright was
exposed to the yearly “Agemo festival at Ijebu-Ode” (Atom, 2011). When the play
opens, it introduces a community in a festive mood. Festival helps to entrench
our belief in myth and history. Festival is also a staging technique used to
create a communal atmosphere which is a sense of a nation with commonly shared
dreams, aspirations, triumphs and failures. The festive stage is filled with
both young and old. Osofisan uses an unknown character called a voice to notify the audience about the
state of their community. The ‘voice’ represents the voices of the oppressed
who are afraid of criticising the government publicly, but express their
thought in a way that they will not be queried by their leaders. Drama in this
case provides an appropriate platform for festivals. Also, other members of the
community fall into this category because they cast aside the problem they face
at present only to focus on celebration which may be disrupted by the
government in exercising of its absolute powers. This community is Nigeria and
the community members are Nigerians who celebrate in the midst of trouble and
oppression. They are, it appears, celebrating their problems. The Chief in the
play is like a town leader, a village head, a family head, or an elderly man in
the society, who is genuinely interested in rescuing the masses from the
oppression of the government. This can be seen fron the beginning of the play:
Lights come up on a festive scene. A community in obvious celebration.
The community in the author’s mind is a National Youth Service Corps camp, but
note that, in production, this could be substituted for- an end-of-year
school’s gathering, a village assembly at the close of harvest, a tourist’s
holiday camp, a workers’ commune, a military barracks, a gathering of beggars
and/or criminals in their usual havens after a heavy haul, or prison inmates or
seminaries on an “open” day – any community will do, and the appropriate
vocabulary adjustments should then be made. Community leaders sit on a slightly
raised platform, while the rest are on mats, stools, etc. Each holds a calabash
cup, while younger men and women, bearing large gourds, go around serving.
Noise of conversation, chanting, quarrelling, bantering, etc. Some musicians
can be picked up here and there among the crowd, although they are not all
necessarily playing. Soon the community leader – whom we shall name Chief for
convenience – calls for silence. (12)
The trial scene is central to
Osofisan’s message in the play. The scene presents the conflict between the
personal and the collective in human aspirations. For instance, the first
encounter with the rich man who has lost his sexual potency shows the lust for
wealth and profit. By portraying such characters, Osofisan ridicules the desire
for material acquisition by post-independence African leaders. For example,
Jigi, who has been given power by Èsù, ridicules people who glorify rogues and
thieves of common wealth. Redio, another minstrel, is empowered by Èsù, but he
is one of those who collude with politicians to bring the nation’s economy to
ruin. Omele represents the spirit of concern, of compassion and hope in
humankind. He is the man of tomorrow, the embodiment of hope. Osofisan sees
togetherness and communal experience as quite desirable for the people,
especially the masses who are the victims of political oppression, economic
exploitation and social injustice. The masses are urged to cooperate through
collective struggle in order to achieve genuine liberation. It is seen as the
willingness to sacrifice and accommodate the individual differences of
opinions, views and beliefs in the overall interest of the group. The
collective action of the minstrels in their singing is what makes the magical
power efficacious in healing their clients.
Each character is an embodiment of
values, whether negative or positive which gives the sense of postcolonial
thoughts. For example, Epo Oyinbo is a non-human noun and the name is just like
an alias. He refers to kerosene. His anger is like a raging fire of kerosene.
He is very violent in the play because he is always seen pulling his dagger out
to stab people. His past as a bad person has not left him. His hot temper
reminds us of Ògún Onírè who is easily prone to violence. Epo Oyinbo heals
because he is expecting a huge financial reward. His name in another sense
connotes crude oil, which happens to be a source of corruption in postcolonial
Nigeria and an attraction to the Western world in the contemporary era. It is
the main source of Nigeria’s petro-dollar revenue, but it is also the pillar of
continuous domination of the country’s economy by the whites, thus, making the
country a perpetual colony. His violent act of bringing out a knife at every
misunderstanding can be compared with the destruction of the environment.
Another character is Sinsin which
sounds like “chinchin.” It implies someone who is chasing after something sweet
and pleasant, an epicurean. Redio sounds like “radio” which is a means of
passing across messages to people or to communicate effectively through the
air. The spelling here is in Yoruba. The people refer to radio as “èro asòròmágbésì” – a box that speaks
without waiting for reply. A monologic box. Jigi in Yoruba is a mirror. It is
used to reflect how people look. Her greedy and selfish disposition mirrors the
major problem with governance. Politicians and soldiers can see their vices in
her. Omele is a character that stands out. Omele is a tiny drum that plays a
crucial role in Yoruba orchestra. One cannot mistake the sound of omele for any other type of drum. In
this play, Omele always encourages other characters to be patient. He also
demystifies Èsù as a god for he asks his friends to eat the food meant for the
gods at the crossroads. His belief is that the act is not a sacrilege. Omele is
a rebel of a sort as he maintains his non-conformist position among the
minstrels. All these characters represent behavioural possibilities in the
contemporary Nigerian society. These can be seen from pages19-21, 24-25, 52-53,
83, 89.
The minstrels are quick to criticise
the government, but fail in their own duties as artists who should enlighten
the masses. Their journey to the crossroad symbolises the struggle of the
citizens, male and female, for political power. They also represent the candidates
running for political offices. The crossroad is a symbol of the various offices
and Èsù stands for the law as mediator. In a political system, the people
possess the real political power because they have the right to vote for their
chosen candidate, backed by the law. Èsù, representing the people and the law,
empower the minstrels to help and serve the people. They are not expected to
turn the power into personal property to serve their own ends.
The minstrels end up like the
corrupt politicians, betraying the essence of the power that they are given.
Just like greedy politicians, they render services only to their advantage.
However, the healed man, woman and strangers also depict traits of dishonesty,
insincerity and inconsistency, as they deny ever being attended to by the
minstrels when they were in need. Only Omele who is upright uses the healing
power selflessly and resists selfish desires. The rest of the minstrels,
representing corrupt politicians, are however, punished by Èsù, Orúnmílà and Òsun
who stand for the people and the law.
The plot of Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels places high value on open-ended
structures and offers questions rather than prescriptions. At the end, Osofisan
poses a riddle that can only be answered outside the fictive realm of the play.
He challenges the audience’s ability to choose between the past which, in the
words of Awodiya, “perpetuated the oppressive structures of the state and the
present that interrogates received wisdom embedded in history, religion, myth and
tradition” (Awodiya, 1995: 225). The conflict in the play actually prepares
ground for these options given at the end through the Old man that appears as
Orunmila from pages 90-96.
Conflict arises when the intentions
of two forces are in such direct opposition that the objective of one can be
achieved only at the expense of the other.The dramatic conflict in the play is
strongly developed when Omele uses the magical power of music and song granted
him by Èsù to cure the afflicted persons without receiving or requesting
personal material benefit from his patients, while the antagonists, the other
musicians, heal sick people with the sole aim of getting material rewards from
them. Neither Omele nor any of the other characters is able to impose his will
upon the other.
Osofisan’s play is designed to
reawaken a collective consciousness and to break the enduring shackles of
colonialism in favour of a liberated, humane and egalitarian society.
Compassion is used in the play to reflect sympathetically the sufferings of
others. It is also emphasised in the actions of characters when they exhibit
humanist tendencies especially the character of Omele. The playwright
admonishes individuals to be kind and compassionate towards others in order to
build a virile, united and progressive society which is displayed at the end of
the play from pages 88-96. He challenges people to shun materialism and help
the under-privileged. The anguish of the poor makes him conclude that the
salvation of the oppressed lies in inevitable confrontation with the ruling
class. He condemns Nigeria’s ruling class for using the opportunity afforded it
by positions in government to mismanage the economic resources of the country;
this is addressed at the beginning of the play, pages 13-16. Members of this
class are more loyal to the imperial centres of Europe than to their own people
at home.
The language adopted in the play is
simple with very interesting dialogue. The scene in which the starving
musicians in the play discuss the possibility of the new government is
captivating. The short scene uses economy of words to show the musicians’
feelings about the government, especially its transient nature, wickedness and
debasement in pages 20-21, 23, 24-25, 27-29, 47-49, 51-53, 55, 5-58, 60-61,
64-67, 70-73, 75, 79-80, 83-84, 87-89. Osofisan uses words for their musical
and rhythmic effects. He also uses the English language in a realistic manner
that reflects the postcolonial experience of the Nigerian nation. The opening
of the play depicts political instability with frequent change of baton between
the military and the civilian regimes pages 12-13.The beauty of Osofisan’s
language in realistic moments of dramatic action when characters reveal
themselves is noteworthy. Jigi, for example, is very practical. She speaks in a
realistic dialogue that reveals her greedy thoughts about acquiring wealth and
riches. The dialogue below is quite revealing (Osofisan, 2003: 66). Osofisan is
able to reach a larger audience and keep his message simple through this manner
of language use in the text. He recognises that the English language could be
made to blend with the local environment to produce a literary work that is
appealing and satisfying to the audience. He localises English Language by
using proverbs, metaphors, riddles and storytelling, which starts the play and
runs all through, taken from Yoruba cultural experience. This shows the
playwright as an advocate of accessible diction. On the whole, Osofisan makes
sense of the past in his projection of the future so that mistakes of the past
will not be repeated by both the governance and the governed.
Conclusion
Osofisan does not write against any
god but only contends that Africans should solve their material problems which
are not of any divine making but the handiwork of men. That is, there is no
need for divine intervention to resolve solely human and material problems, for
we can easily control them all on our own. Concrete action needs to be taken
with less reliance on spirituality to make humanity better. Osofisan employs
the device of oral literature and the traditional performance mode in the play.
He does this to create a common acting form which people can easily understand.
Also, he uses oral literature as a platform for criticism against unquestioned
following of Euro-American culture in contemporary Nigeria. The playwright
develops characters based on the politicians who were in power during the
civilian regime that ruled in Nigeria between 1979 and 1983. The politicians
were notorious for the high level of corruption and forfeiture of the mandate
they were elected to defend. The play captures the panic that ensued in the
country after the military coup d’état of December 1983. Osofisan employs the
devices of indigenous performance mode in this play in order to create a
popular theatre form which the masses can easily identify. The desire for a new
social order in which the masses are supposed to be free from the existing
oppression and domination of the rulers is carefully articulated. There is unemployment
and underdevelopment in Nigeria. The vagabond minstrels are unemployed. After
the military seize power, the minstrels take to the streets travelling from
town to town in search of fortune. The issue of bad governance and failure in
leadership is properly highlighted while the minstrels parade various towns in
search of food. Their experience captures that of other citizens in the new
dispensation.
Osofisan uses the play to reflect
upon some critical issues in the politics of postcolonial Nigeria. They include:
corrupt political systems, failed leadership, incessant intervention in
government from the military, and a decadent social system. These are the
various challenges facing Nigeria since it attained independence from colonial
rule in 1960. For instance, the institutionalisation of coercion as an
instrument of governance under brutality rule in Nigeria has, perhaps, provided
sufficient nurturing environment for terrorism which is currently unsettling
Nigeria’s security system. Esu and the
Vagabond Minstrels shows how Nigeria suffers various setbacks and
disillusionment in the process of self-governance. While various nationalists
have struggled to secure independence and ensure self-governance, the
successive postcolonial governments have not lived up to the expected
responsibilities and dreams of these selfless nationalists. They failed to
deliver the promise of good governance, smooth administration, transparency in
government and so on. The minstrels are instrument for enlightenment and
gathering support of the masses. It is not surprising that the new military
government seizes their instruments, assets and bans them for their insincerity
and dishonesty in playing their roles. This is ironical as what the military
bans them for, they are also guilty of.
References
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Travelling Theatre,” in ed. Yemi, Ogunbiyi, Drama
and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book (Lagos: Nigeria Magazine,
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Adeyemi, Sola. ed. Portraits
for an Eagle: Essays in Honour of Femi Osofisan. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African
Studies Series, 2006.
Atom,“Heritage:
Oro Cult and Agemo,” www.ijebuifeculture.
blogspot. Accessed: Thursday 29, September 2011.
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the Realistic” in Brecht on Theatre: The
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