213 research outputs found
Portraits for an eagle: a festschrift in honour of Femi Osofisan
No full textTo mark the 60th birthday of Femi Osofisan, this unique collection of essays by friends and critics pays tribute to his many achievements as a director, teacher, essayist, novelist, poet, critic and one of the foremost playwrights from Africa. The essays provide an important insight into the man,his work and his valuable contributions to theatre and literature in Africa.
Femi Osofisan has taught, directed and had his plays performed in several countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Jamaica, Lesotho, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom and the USA. Author of more than fifty plays, two books for junior readers, four works of fiction, four collections of poetry anf four volumes of essays, Osofisan also has popular columns in a number of Nigerian newspapers. Currently the President of the Nigerian Centre of International PEN and a Patron of the Pan-African Writers' Association, he has been the President of the Association of Nigerian Authors. Osofisan is currently a Professor of Drama at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Portraits For An Eagle is a definitive tribute to a man of the theatre. Contributors include fellow writers, distinguished academics and critics like Biodun Jeyifo, James Gibbs, Olu Obafemi, Barbara Goff and Martin Banham
ReTAGS Speaker Series | Act 2 | Prof. Femi Osofisan
No full textAct 2 of the ReTAGS Speaker Series.This Speaker Series took the form of a Q&A with Prof. Femi Osofisan about his latest African tragic adaptation, MÉDÁYÉ: A Rehearsal (a re-reading for the African stage of Euripides' Medea). The adaptation was streamed online (for a limited time with permission from the author) as a play-reading. Performed by Faniswa Yisa, Olalekan Balogun, Morapeleng Molekoa, Motlatji Mjamba, Sivenkosi Gubangxa, Lesego Chauke, Thapelo Hlongwane and Elikem Kunutsor.Presented online (Zoom meeting) on Monday 16 August 2021 at 15:00 SAST. Chaired by Prof. Mark Fleishman.------------------------------------------Prof. Femi Osofisan is a critic, poet, novelist, essayist, lecturer, editor, publisher, culture activist, the most prolific, most performed and the most enthusiastically received playwright in Nigeria. He is known for his critique of societal problems and his use of African traditional performances and surrealism in some of his novels. Among the literary awards and commendations he has won are 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 the country.</div
The Mytho-Historical Base of the Drama of Jean Giraudoux and Femi Osofisan: Electre and Morountodun
No full textOur concern here is rather to argue that although Jean Giraudoux and Femi Osofisan are great borrowers of mytho-historical materials, their methods and motifs cannot be said to be the same. In this paper, we shall undertake a comparative study of Jean Giraudoux's Electre and Femi Osofisan's Morountodun, which we consider as being among the best representatives of their drama with mytho-historical foundation.We conclude that while Giraudoux strives to remain faithful to the myths he borrows, Osofisan deliberately distorts his borrowed myths. Again, while Giraudoux, influenced by his humanist ideology, uses the myths to preach unity, love and peace among mankind, Osofisan, a Marxist by conviction, uses myths to advance his revolutionary goals.
(Humanities Review Journal: 2003 3(1): 29-36
Portraits for an eagle: a festschrift in honour of Femi Osofisan
No full textTo mark the 60th birthday of Femi Osofisan, this unique collection of essays by friends and critics pays tribute to his many achievements as a director, teacher, essayist, novelist, poet, critic and one of the foremost playwrights from Africa. The essays provide an important insight into the man,his work and his valuable contributions to theatre and literature in Africa.
Femi Osofisan has taught, directed and had his plays performed in several countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Jamaica, Lesotho, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom and the USA. Author of more than fifty plays, two books for junior readers, four works of fiction, four collections of poetry anf four volumes of essays, Osofisan also has popular columns in a number of Nigerian newspapers. Currently the President of the Nigerian Centre of International PEN and a Patron of the Pan-African Writers' Association, he has been the President of the Association of Nigerian Authors. Osofisan is currently a Professor of Drama at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Portraits For An Eagle is a definitive tribute to a man of the theatre. Contributors include fellow writers, distinguished academics and critics like Biodun Jeyifo, James Gibbs, Olu Obafemi, Barbara Goff and Martin Banham
Once Upon Four Robbers: the magic of subversion (introduction)
No full textOnce Upon Four Robbers is the first in the series of dramas that Osofisan refers to as
the ‘magic boon’ plays. Written between 1976 and 1978, the play was premiered at
the Arts Theatre, University of Ibadan in March 1979. The other play in the series is
Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels.
The central motif of the magic boon plays is borrowed or adapted from the world of
folklore. A group of persons in anguish or dilemma suddenly obtains a magical power
from a mysterious agent. The power is capable of changing their circumstances as
long as they adhere strictly to expressed injunctions.
Osofisan confesses to be fascinated by the possibilities that magic presents in
dramatising societal issues that may otherwise prove difficult to discuss, ‘especially
when you are criticising the government.’ The dramatist planned ten magic boon
plays but only two have been written, or produced so far.
Four Robbers is popular with students because of the topicality of the theme of armed
robbery and the ability to be produced on a bare stage, without a cumbersome setting.
The play is also adaptable; and though the prescribed setting is market place,
producers have sometimes changed that setting to a bank, a beach or casino.
Four Robbers is set in a market square, which is a symbolic location in Yoruba
worldview. Osofisan wrote the play to contribute to the debate on public execution of
armed robbers in Nigeria. The play examines the moral and legal definitions of
‘robbery’ in the wider sense, and the implications of the Armed Robbery and
Firearms Decree 47 of 1970 on the public psyche
MÉDÁYÉ: A Rehearsal | Play-reading
No full textMÉDÁYÉ: A Rehearsal is a re-reading for the African stage of Euripides' Medea by Prof. Femi Osofisan. This is a new play by Osofisan, currently in its development phase of scripting. The script is still undergoing changes and alterations, so this play-reading should be viewed as part of the script writing development phase, and not a final product. The first readings were performed around Ibadan, Nigeria earlier in 2021. This play-reading was initially streamed online for a limited period in connection with Act 2 of the ReTAGS Speaker Series (presented online (Zoom meeting) on Monday 16 August 2021 at 15:00 SAST.)Performed by Faniswa Yisa, Olalekan Balogun, Morapeleng Molekoa, Motlatji Mjamba, Sivenkosi Gubangxa, Lesego Chauke, Thapelo Hlongwane and Elikem Kunutsor. Directed by Mark Fleishman and edited by Themba Stewart.</div
Ritualization as pragmatic deployment of revolutionary consciousness in the drama of Femi Osofisan
No full textEarly works of dramatic criticism seeking to draw parallels between ritual and drama in Africa concentrated on examining the dramatic characteristics of ritual to see how drama evolved from ritual. However, a closer application of the theories of Girard, Schechner, Smith, Hubert Mauss and Turner reveal new perspectives on the interaction between the related phenomena of drama and ritual. Precisely, in the works of Femi Osofisan, the drama of the revolution seeking social change meets with the mimetic in ritual which is seeking to re-establish cosmic order. The researcher in this paper sets out to investigate Femi Osofisan's blend of ritual and myth with revolutionary aesthetics and themes in two plays, Once Upon Four Robbers and Esu and the vagabond Minstrels. In the work, it is revealed that the playwright shows the materialistic push for wealth as a rough, immoral fight that forbids altruism and leads to desperation in seeking wealth. It comes to the fore that wealth when pursued this way remains elusive. He then seeks for a change in the socio-economic arrangement that makes people to unleash their efforts in a mindless, self-centered pursuit of material gain to the detriment of all. The way Femi Osofisan addresses this contemporary theme with a blend of Marxian aesthetics with myth and ritual is the focus of this paper
Femi Osofisan tackles graft and corruption: A reading of his socially committed plays
No full textGraft and corruption have become endemic and insidious in the Nigerian society that governance and leadership have continued to lack integrity and legitimacy. Femi Osofisan, a dedicated and committed apostle of change and social justice, has skilfully utilized the platform of drama to expose and ridicule the prevalence, pervasiveness and debilitating effects of graft and corruption as social vices in Nigeria. Following the tradition of African Drama’s commitment to social issues, Osofisan berates all the tiers of government and the public office holders for the country’s economic woes and the general poverty level of Nigerians. The concern of this paper is, therefore, an intense sociological exploration of Osofisan’s plays that satirize and lampoon the seemingly legalized practice of bribery and corruption in Nigeria. A contextual and theoretical framework is provided for the paper to enable readers to have a clear conceptual understanding of the discourse. The paper also balances the pejorative and optimistic views of Osofisan on a decadent society. It concludes with his encomiums on those who have remained resolute and unwavering and his prognosis that the society will become better when such distinguished men and women are emulated and celebrated
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