"the Nigerian government forbid the play from being staged because of its thematic focus, which incidentally, foresaw what is currently happening in the country"
Fifty-four (54) years after being denied official performance during Nigeria’s independence celebrations, ‘The forest of Ijegba’ in Abeokuta, Ogun State finally played host to theatre lovers.
The play was directed by Dr. Tunde Awosanmi of the University of Ibadan and produced by the Teju Kareem-Executive Producer of the Project WS@80 with the support of the Ogun State government.
Although, the play was written and entered for a dramatic writing contest established in commemoration of Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the Nigerian government forbid the play from being staged because of its thematic focus, which incidentally, foresaw what is currently happening in the country.
According to the director, Awosanmi “A Dance of the Forests occupies a Big Brother position in the pantheon of Wole Soyinka’s creative works, especially those of the dramatic genre, for this is just the right time to establish the fact- with all emphasis and authority- that each of the creative works in Soyinka’s oeuvre has attained the iconic status, over the years, of an oracle through which seekers of truth could divine the reality of our humanity for ages and ages to come.”
He emphasised that apart from also being an exercise in amateur psychoanalysis to explore Soyinka’s thinking patterns, perception of humanity, understanding of society, projection of crisis and conflict as well as conceptualization of resolution at age 26 when he wrote the play, it is very relevant to Nigeria’s current situation.
Awosanmi noted that Soyinka, in the play, laid the foundational structure “for what has been understood today as the phenomenon of ‘truth and reconciliation commission’ through the ‘Court of Aroni’. So, futuristically, Soyinka had, as far back as 1960 when he was barely 26, foresaw a time when the oceans of iniquity of humanity will overflow their banks to the extent that mankind will seek resolution of their self-inflicted crisis in the strategy of ‘commissioning truth and reconciliation panels’”
(Culled from, Nigerian Tribune)
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