He took Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” and moved the story into a Yoruba kingdom. He made an ancient Greek tragedy feel as if it had always belonged to Nigeria and Africa.
Ola Rotimi is one of them.
Born Emmanuel Gladstone Olawale Rotimi on April 13, 1938, in Sapele, Nigeria, Ola Rotimi studied theatre in Nigeria and abroad. He earned a BFA from Boston University and an MFA from Yale University. He mainly wrote in English, but his work was deeply influenced by Nigerian languages, traditions, proverbs, and performance styles. He spoke English, Yoruba, Ijaw, Igbo, Hausa, and Pidgin.
His early works, “To Stir the God of Iron” in 1963 and “Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again,” staged at Yale in 1966, showed what he would later become known for: mixing comedy with serious social criticism.
Then, in 1968, he staged “The Gods Are Not to Blame,” his famous retelling of Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex.” He moved the story completely into a Yoruba kingdom. The play follows Odewale, a king who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother. In the end, the terrible truth is revealed.
The play was published in 1971 and became one of the most important works in modern Nigerian theatre. Decades later, it is still performed and studied as both powerful drama and important African literature.
Rotimi did not stop with Greek tragedy. “Kurunmi,” staged in 1969 for the second Ife Festival of Arts, and “Ovonramwen Nogbaisi,” published in 1971, brought real Yoruba and Benin history to the stage. These plays explored colonialism, war, and ethnic conflict, turning events from history books into stories that audiences could see and feel.
His later works continued to examine important issues. “Holding Talks,” first produced in 1970 and published in 1979, “If: A Tragedy of the Ruled” in 1979, and “Hopes of the Living Dead,” produced in 1985 and published in 1988, all dealt with subjects such as corruption, leadership, suffering, and the effects of history on ordinary people.
Rotimi also did much more than write plays. He worked as a theatre director, actor, choreographer, designer, and teacher. He was Head of the Department of Creative Arts at the University of Port Harcourt and taught at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. He also held teaching positions in the United States and Europe.
He was often described as a complete man of theatre because he could do almost every part of the work. He also helped create performance spaces influenced by traditional African architecture instead of simply copying Western theatre spaces.
Ola Rotimi died on August 18, 2000, in Ile-Ife, at the age of 62.
He was a remarkable writer and theatre artist who showed that a Yoruba kingdom could carry the same tragic power as ancient Greece.
Who else did we let slip through the cracks?
#TheSheddingLight
