(4): A Sketchy Appraisal of Femi Osofisan’s Women of Owu
Muhammad
Muhsin Ibrahim
Department of English and Literary Studies,
Bayero University, Kano
The Author’s Biographical Notes
Born in 1946 in Erunwon village in Ogun state,
Nigeria, Femi Osofisan is a prolific critic, poet, novelist, and playwright whose work mainly attacks political corruption and injustice. He was educated
at the universities of Ibadan, Dakar, and Paris. A professor of Drama since
1985 at the University of Ibadan, where he has spent most of his adult career,
Osofisan was General Manager and Chief Executive of the National Theatre
Lagos. He has won prizes from the Association of Nigerian
Authors (ANA) for both drama (1980) and poetry (1989), and in 2004 he was
awarded the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), the highest
academic prize in Nigeria.
An Introduction
As contained in the play’s blurb, it is an African
re-reading (i.e. adapted version) of Euripides’ classic, The Trojan Women.
It was first commissioned by the Chipping Norton Theatre, United Kingdom. Going
by more notes by some reviewers on it, the play was well received and extolled
for its quality – materially and academically, if I may say – and the
performance, too, was applauded.
The Issue of Originality in African Drama
Being the text is an adaptation of a European play, it
is pertinent, however briefly, to talk about the concept of originality in African
drama. Losambe and Sarinjeive (2001:146) point out that the issue of
originality, in an individuated fresh way, in drama, in general, is a delicate
one. Many “classical” dramas produced in Africa and elsewhere were a re-reading
of one or another European playwright. For example, Ola Rotimi’s magnum opus, The
Gods Are Not To Blame, is a typical example based on Sophocles’ Oedipus
Rex. As is the case sometimes, other dramatists like J.P. Clark, Wole
Soyinka, etc., identify the area of ritual as perhaps the richest source of the material. Soyinka has done that in The Strong Breed, which is based on the Yoruba ritual.
So, Osofisan’s Women of Owu is
nothing new or out of the tradition. The play, however,
marks a departure from the usual topics the playwright treated. First, it is one of his few adapted European dramas. Second, it is the first in which he treats the theme (of war; tragedy) other than the moral, social, econo-political ones he is known to have been treating.
marks a departure from the usual topics the playwright treated. First, it is one of his few adapted European dramas. Second, it is the first in which he treats the theme (of war; tragedy) other than the moral, social, econo-political ones he is known to have been treating.
The Concept of Tragedy
The tragedy is seen as the formal dramatic form, which
began with a performance by an ancient Greek dramatist in the person of
Thespis. Aristotle, in the most discussed sentence in Poetics, said
that tragedy by means of pity and fear brought about the purgation (catharsis)
of such emotions.
Women
of Owu has not failed in eliciting that profound catharsis. Osofisan uses a
mythical fact through retelling Greek mythology to present ideas on
war-mongering and expose the human predicament caused by another fellow human. It
further clearly deals with topics such as the difference between a just and an unjustified
war, the treatment of war victims, the principle of revenge, the fate of the
defeated and, finally, the concept of sacrifice.
The Play
The play comprises five pertained scenes. Like almost
all dramas, it has a beginning, middle and end, though a fragment of
flashbacks is used through a recount of some incidents that occurred before
others.
It
opens with an aftermath of a tragic war that ravages a city-state called Owu, with two aggrieved women sent to fetch water by the conquering Allied Forces of
Ijebu, Ife and Oyo. The forces claim to have come for a rescue mission of the
people of Owu from the bondage in the hands of their king, whom they refer to
as a despot, and for the Maye, the leader of the Allied Forces, to re-claim his
wife who was taken formerly as a captive along with others by the Owu soldiers
after sacking the army of Ife in one of their previous battles. This second
“reason” is, in fact, what causes the war.
The
two women meet Anlugbua, a deified god and the former Owu leader. After showing
his ignorance of what happened to the village, the two women accuse him, as
well as other so-called gods whose responsibility is to safeguard the village,
of laxity, carelessness and lack of concern towards their affairs.
Erelu,
one of the women and an ex-wife of the former king of Owu, recounts her ordeal
in the second scene. She and other distressed women lengthily lament their
experiences and sing dirges. Then another deified goddess, Lawumi, who is
Anlugbua’s mother, comes onstage. She and Erulu first discuss how the
village is ruined; Anlugbua later joins them. The two parties (gods and
humans) point accusing fingers at one another. The gods maintain that Owus err against
a “higher” god, Sango (the Yoruba god of thunder), and hence they (the gods –
Anglugbua and Lawumi) forewarn them of the war. The peoples’ arrogance and
defiance become their hamartia.
Gesinde,
an officer and a herald of the Allied Forces, is sent by the generals to the
women to tell them to prepare, as they would be shared among the senior
military officers. The daughters of the royal house are the first; Orisaye is
particularly chosen by Kusa, a top officer, while one other is murdered. She
(Orisaye) tries to resist, further saying that she will smite the prospective
husband if taken to him. Many take her as mad and think that she can do no
harm to him, especially since he is revered and regarded as a warrior by
all and sundry.
In
the midst of this, all eyes turn to Erulu; the women and particularly
Adumaadan, her daughter-in-law, blame her for all the destruction of the city
and the hardship they are in. Dejumo, the slain prince, her son, is destined,
as cautioned by the gods, the oracles, since birth, as an ominous baby to bring
misfortune to the city if not killed. Dejumo was not killed in infancy but
lived to destroy his village for the sake of his hateful marriage with
Iyunloye, the wife of Maye, the leader of Ijebu. It is in trying to take
revenge after that the war is waged on Owu, which lasted for seven years, and, as a result, the whole village is torn to shreds and rubbles; the
king killed, his people massacred, and their women shared like war spoils and
assigned to servitude under the Allied Forces. Even the life of the last heir
to the throne of Owu is not spared.
Iyunloye, looked at by all as
the secondary cause of the war is severely accused and condemned. She is
called all names. When the Maye expresses his desire to take her back, Erulu
cautions him to be wary of her deception, or best, not to take her in his
entourage. Before he makes up his mind, a story reaches them that their town is
being attacked. So they abruptly leave.
The
summoning of the god, Anlugbua, by Erulu results in her death, an honourable
death to save the future from eternal damnation. It is, again, an act like
hara-kiri as she cannot withstand the predicament. This seems to be the ultimate
resolution reached in the play, which is somewhat uncommon in a tragic drama.
The misery of the people does not end with her “honourable” death; the death simply uplifts her stature and shrinks that of the gods.
As in
the original play by Euripides, the reader is “lost in a forest of ambiguities”
(Sewall, 1959; 83). If the gods are as useless as shown, then what is the
essence of them being revered by the people? What is the fate of the women? Is
Iyunloye taken by the Maye, left or killed?
Conclusion
The play is, more than obvious, about war, and the
character ascribed to gods in it states that the making and the end of the war is
like any other decision, solely man’s responsibility. Divine powers indeed
exist as part of the mystery of the universe, but the only one of them that
man claims to know is his Chance, which, unfortunately, is unreliable and elusive.
The final conclusion reached is: trust no god, blame no god, and look only at
yourself.
References
Losambe, L.
& Srinjeive, D. (2001). Pre-Colonial and Post-Colonial Drama and Theatre
in Africa. Eritrea: Africa World Press.
Osofisan, F. (2006). Women of Owu. Ibaban:
University Press PLC.
Sewall, R.B (1959). The Vision of Tragedy. New
Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Vellacott, P.
(1975). Ironic Drama; A Study of Euripides’ Method and Meaning.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Recommended
Reading
(for handy notes
and a summary of the play)
J.O.J Nwachukwu-Agbada, et al. (2011). Exam Focus;
Literature-in-English, 2011-2015 for WAEC (WASSCE) and NECO (SSCE). Ibadan:
University Press PLC.
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