The last week in August brings joy and excitement to all theatre lovers as Ghanaian actor, media personality, entertainer, and communications professional George Quaye directs one of the most loved and controversial African plays, “Death and the King’s Horseman,” authored by Nigeria’s Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.

On August 23, 24, 30 and 31, the stage production will commence at 4pm and 8pm each day. Tickets are going for GHC200 (standard) and GHC300 (VIP). To purchase a ticket, one can visit www.imagebureaugh.com, dial *714*46#, or call 0551313134.

The National Theatre, Image Bureau, and April Communications are collaborating to bring to Ghanaians “Death and the King’s Horseman,” with sponsorship from Stanbic Bank, The Luckiest, Bills Savings & Loans, and MTN, with support from Nii Plants Car Rentals, Joy Fm and The Ghana Tourism Authority.

This play is based on events which took place in Oyo, ancient Yoruba city of Nigeria, in 1946. That year, the lives of Elesin (Olori Elesin), his son, and the Colonial District Officer inter- twined with the disastrous results set out in the play. The changes I have made are in matters of detail, sequence and of course characterization.

The action has also been set back two or three years to while the war was still on, for minor reasons of dramaturgy. The factual account still exists in the archives of the British Colonial Administration. It has already inspired a fine play in Yoruba (Oba Waja) by Duro Ladipo. It has also misbegotten a film by some German television company.

Ghanaian actor, Tandoh-Adote, will play the role of Elesin Oba, the tragic hero. Speaking on PrimeTime with George Quaye on Joy Prime, Tandoh-Adote described Death and the King’s Horseman as the toughest production he has ever prepared for, requiring immense dedication and effort. He promised audiences a powerful and moving performance.

Editor’s Introduction

Death and the King’s Horseman is a complicated play, and some familiarity with both the Yoruba

people and their religion is necessary to understand even the most basic plot points in the play.

The Yoruba are one of the three largest ethnic groups of Nigeria, concentrated in the southwestern part of that country. Most Yoruba men are farmers, growing yams, corn (maize), and millet as staples and plantains, peanuts, beans, and peas. Cocoa is a major cash crop. Others are traders or craftsmen.

Women do little farm work but control much of the market system—their status depends more on their own position in the marketplace than on their husbands’ status. Historically, the Yoruba founded and ruled numerous kingdoms of various sizes. Each kingdom had its own capital city or town and was ruled by a hereditary king, or oba.

Yoruba Cosmology

The Yoruba have an elaborate hierarchy of divine beings, each with special duties and functions. They believe in a supreme but remote spirit, Olodumare, also known as Olorun, the lord of heaven and the creator. Some four hundred lesser gods and spirits, known individually and collectively as Orisa, are recognized. An Orisa is a person who lived on earth when it was first created and from whom present-day people are descended.

They were brought forth by Olodumare to serve as ministers and functionaries in the government of the universe. Although the Supreme Being is transcendent, he is not removed from humanity; he is interested in the lives of people. He is accessible, and can be called on at any time, but he controls the world from a distance.

The foundation of this religion is interaction between human beings and the Orisa. Each Orisa is associated with particular ideas, objects, or natural phenomena. The Orisas appear at religious celebrations through a possession trance of Orisa believers. When one is possessed by an Orisa, one speaks and behaves as though one were that Orisa.

The image to the right is of the cosmos as the Yoruba understand it. There are two halves of one whole sphere: Aye, this physical world, and Orun, the Otherworld. The Otherworld is

the home of the Orisa and of the Sprits, including the spirits of one’s ancestors. This world is populated by the Living, who are divided into Those Who Know [the Truth] and Those Who Do Not Know. The barrier between these worlds is Death. But this barrier is not impenetrable; the Orisa possess those who wear their masks, and one’s ancestors can be called upon to manifest themselves in this world as well.

Esu is the messenger of Olodumare, taking sacrifices to him and bringing his commands to humans, acting under his orders and punishing the wicked for him. But Esu is also important in and of himself. He has a number of manifestations, can change his form when he wishes, and has two hundred names, signifying how diverse an Orisa he is. In some of his manifestations he is benevolent and a protector of humans, but he is mainly considered to be malicious, causing confusion and promoting malice.

The Yoruba believe him to be the cause of almost every evil tendency and practice in humans. He is capricious, and elusive, yet the Yoruba still offer him sacrifices, mainly to avoid or escape his wickedness, callousness and evil plans. He is generally described as buruku (bad, malevolent).

The Yoruba often consider their pantheon not as just four hundred gods, but four hundred and one, with Esu being the divinity on top of the four hundred. He is also called Elegba or Elegbara. Ifa is the oracle divinity of Yorubaland. He is the deputy of Olodumare in matters of wisdom, prognostication and foreknowledge. People consult him on all occasions for advice, prophecy, guidance, and solutions to problems. The rituals associated with divining the future are also known as Ifa.

Soyinka is also presenting the complications that arrived with the Scramble for Africa and its aftermath. With the expansion of European colonization in the early twentieth century, the traditional religions of the Yoruba were seriously changed. The colonial powers curtailed or banned many religious practices, including the practice of Ifa. They also forbid polygamy and the common practice of marrying a dead male relative's widow and adopting his children.

The Yoruba were no longer able to bury their dead in or near their own dwellings, because the Europeans insisted on the use of communal graveyards. This change complicated the connection between the Yoruba and their ancestors.