Sarah Nyenke

TH 461
November 7, 2017

MIDTERM: WOLE SOYINKA

“​Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth.”

​Wole Soyinka, ​the Nigerian-Nobel Prize winning author, artist, and political activist, is

known for his personal touch on African symbolism and his exploration in “​myth, ritual, and

human freedom in light of political oppression” (Krasner pg 402). Soyinka was born on July 13,

1934, the second of six children, ​in the city of A

​ bẹokuta, ​Ogun State in Nigeria. Additionally, he

grew up in flourishing Yoruba spirituality and traditions, under Christian parentage. In the same

way, these influences help shape and define his perspective on African Literature, which led to

many of his prolific works such as: ​A Dance of the Forests, The Strong Breed, The Road, The

Bacchae of Euripides, Death and the King’s Horseman​. His work ranges from several topics; the

African Gods, the nature of ritual, of drama, of Negritude, the profound influences of

Christianity and Islam in African writing, and many more. David Krasner pays homage to

Soyinka’s work, utilizing his essay “Myth, Literature….” ​as it illustrates Africa as a cultural

entity, separate from European Literature, as well as a product of several distinct diaspora​.

Soyinka sometimes writes of modern West Africa in a satirical style, but his serious intent and

his belief in the evils inherent in the exercise of power are usually present in his work. This paper

investigates Wole Soyinka’s political and artistic work as well as his application of ritualistic and

theatrical conventions like Ritual theatre and Yoruba Tragedy.

I have mentioned that Soyinka grew up in a religious atmosphere ​syncretism​, with

influences from both cultures. He makes incredible use of Yoruba myths, superstitions, and
Sarah Nyenke
TH 461
November 7, 2017

MIDTERM: WOLE SOYINKA

beliefs in his works, ​"in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama

of existence." ​In 1960, he was awarded a Rockefeller fellowship and returned to Nigeria to study

African drama. I think he wanted to discover what could be the best way to make his voice more

affective. Honestly, I think he utilized Theatre as political art for the purpose of showing

tradition and myth as the main political forces in the postcolonial situation of Africa. Moreover,

he uses Nigerian ritual performance to masterfully bring back the traditions such as the African

gods, most notably Ogun on the stage in the most of his plays. ​This led to his own ideas about

Yoruba Ritual Theatre.

Ritual Theatre is best described in Soyinka’s own perspective. He is very specific about

the role of the audience in a live theatre performance: “the members of the audience are part of

the space of the performance and therefore metaphysically part of the conflict taking place”

(Krasner, pg. 403). The audience participation in this much deeper metaphysical sense

throughout the ‘ritual’ – which is the word Soyinka uses for the drama in performance – because

they are an integral part of the space in which the performance of the conflict takes place; and he

refers to the audience as a ‘chorus’ who give the protagonist strength in ‘the symbolic struggle

with the chthonic presences’(Krasner, pg 403). Soyinka therefore sees the use of the stage space

as affective, rather than effective, because it affects the audience in certain emotional and

metaphysical ways. Therefore the use of the stage space moves from being metaphorical to being

metaphysical. This metaphysical awareness on the part of the audience is, for Soyinka, most

clearly seen in those performances of ‘ritual’ theatre where a fundamental anxiety manifests
Sarah Nyenke
TH 461
November 7, 2017

MIDTERM: WOLE SOYINKA

itself in members of the audience over whether or not the protagonist will survive confrontation

with the forces of chaos which now exist in the arena of performance space.