The Use of Nonverbal Theatrical Techniques in Soyinka s Plays

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2 The Use of Nonverbal Theatrical Techniques in Soyinka s Plays G. Vasistha Bhargavi Research Scholar, S.V University, Tirupati, A.P. The drama of Wole Soyinka is the creative mixing of Yoruba rituals, dramatic techniques, music and dance with the foreign language, English. The rites, rituals, gestures, music and dance are some of the nonverbal techniques Soyinka employs in order to achieve his dramatic effect. The language is full of wit and graphic insult. Language is not the only thing Soyinka relies on for effective theatre but also on so many techniques. This is an attempt to discuss these techniques in some important plays of Wole Soyinka. The Road is Soyinka s writing on the nation s wall. He draws a society that is on the road to death and dissolution, a society for which there seems no hope. Perhaps, like Professor, who speaks of death as the moment of our rehabilitation, this society will have to die before it learns the truth. (Roscoe, p. 281). The Road is Soyinka s most mature work. He displays in this play his usual ability to create living characters, which unlike the rest are more diverse and more deeply explored. In this play songs present life s progress towards death that reduces everything into nothing. It is a skillfully handled play with fine use of songs. The very first song reveals the quest of man for the essence of death, which alone will explain the meaning of life. It also brings out the truth that loss of belief and conviction has produced a society in a state of transition. The Road begins and ends on several occasion is punctuated by the rhythmic presence of masque for the dead. The driver s dirge is sung on the occasion of death, provide a thematic chorus. It comments on the central idea of death and disobedience towards God. All these songs are sung in Yoruba, which underlines their traditional value and customary strength and the theme of modern straining away from the traditional values. The song also speaks about the life of man in earth and shows way to heaven. Another dirge song is about the story of Kokolori s death. Professor s attempt to restore his self-confidence by listening to his favorite praise-song is another feature which highlights the play. A symbolic play in a greater extend, Wole Soyinka s play The Strong Breed, is all about the rituals and superstitious believes prevailing in the African society. Wole Soyinka is perhaps the most misunderstood, exceedingly controversial figure in the Nigerian public and literary life. The theme of the need of the societies to sacrifice one of their own to bring about purgation of the societies is dealt in this play. Throughout the narrative, an atmosphere of foreboding prevails. At the onset, Sunma, urges Eman, who is a stranger to her village, to leave the place before evening. The reason for her restlessness is revealed to both Eman and the readers very gradually. The village has an annual New Year purification rite in which the wrong doings of the villagers are heaped on carrier - a stranger- so that the community may be redeemed of its sins and have rejuvenation in all sense. There is an inherent idea that the society will be spiritually strengthened as an aftermath of these sacrifices. The play moves on with Eman s decision to be the carrier. Initially he is not aware of its implications. Eman s family bearing the title the Strong Breed, undertakes the task of bearing the evil of the village in a vessel across the river annually. The play also deals with the outcaste characters like the girl and the abandoned Ifada. The words which Sunma uses to address Ifada, horrible insect. The rigid caste system carving 733

3 the roots of the once colonized continent is evident in this work. Chinua Achebe s short story Marriage is a Private Affair, deals with the caste-bound constraints of Africa. This even provokes us to think, was it for this that the British left the continent. It even invokes us to think us about the deplorable conditions of the North Indian states. It is the question of our right to live. Death and the King s Horseman is based on the episode which Uili Beier had suggested. It dwells upon the interrupted ritual suicide of the King s Horseman at Oyo in The characterization and stagecraft of the play contribute to a moving and coherent examination of the colonial encounter in which the arrogant, supercilious and well-armed British confronted a social structure and a metaphysical system they did not begin to understand, did not even try to appreciate. However, Soyinka is only partly concerned to make the British appear insensitive and ridiculous, a major concern is to present the Yoruba world and world-view on the stage-and in this he is also successful. The Authors Note draws attention to the metaphysical dimension of the play, and this element clearly presents in the contrasted representatives of religion and irreligion, Christians and Muslims are there, as well as Simon Plikings who has no respect for any religion, and Orisha worshippers. In the course of the play Elesin approaches the gulf of transition and, though he stumbles, he suggests something of the passage in image and dance. Here it is important to mention what Soyinka opined about British: England is a cesspit. England is the breeding ground of fundamentalist Muslims. Its social logic is to allow all religions to preach openly. But this is illogic, because none of the other religions preach apocalyptic violence. And yet England allows it. Remember, that country was the breeding ground for communism, too. Karl Marx did all his work in libraries there (The Guardian). Coming to the The Lion and the Jewel stands at the confluence of two traditions The Yoruba masque and the European satirical musical. It is an early masterpiece, capable of unleashing tremendous power on the stage of provoking and entertaining of speaking to those familiar with either the Yoruba or the European tradition, and of challenging them to respond to a new theatrical experience. The play is a significant work for many reasons. In spirit and structure it is typical of African theatre which, like ancient Indian theatre, weaves music, dance and drama into a rich tapestry in contrast to the main life of Western theater which so often divorces music and dance from drama. Soyinka himself has highlighted this point. Madmen and Specialists, written shortly after Soyinka was released from prison, reflects not only his personal mood at the time, but the horrors of the Nigerian civil war of The ferocity of the fighting between Biafrans and other Nigerians was unprecedented in scale and intensity; and much of the nation was still in shock. Soyinka uses a variety of techniques borrowed from "absurdist" theater. These departures from realism are meant not to create a flight from reality, but to convey the terrors of reality in a more intense way than traditional realism could do. The result is a sometimes obscure but intense and moving work of scathing satire and protest. The raised hut of Iya Agba and Iya Mate is the site of a sort of commentary on the action taking place below. Mendicants are beggars, in this case beggars faking a variety of ailments to prey on the sympathies of the public. They function something like the chorus in a Greek tragedy, commenting on the action. It is not always clear whether they are insane or simply expressing themselves satirically. "St. Virus' Dance" is a traditional name for epilepsy. Traditionally it is 734

4 believed that some people can curse others by looking at them with an "evil eye." The dehumanizing effects of the war are reflected in their gruesome gambling game. Ostriches were traditionally said to hide their heads in the sand. To "bite the dust" is an old expression for "to die." "As" is the mysterious deity of the new ferocious faith which has swept over the nation. This is why the beggars call themselves "Creatures of As." The Swamp Dwellers written by the internationally famous Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka is a play relating to the extended family problems. It also deals with tribal beliefs, fate, urban life and religion. "It is a commentary on life because we believe that the grass is greener on the other side which is not always the situation", In the play the young son, Igwezu questions the present values and leaves for the city where he finds greed, corruption, materialism and the lack of humanity and also meets with a great deal of misfortune. He decides to return home and on his arrival he realizes he is much poorer than when he ler because the floods and rains have damages his farm and house. In the same breath a blind beggar from North Nigeria, because of a natural disaster visits Igwezu's village but soon finds that he encounters the same type of situation he felt in the north. Then there is Kadiye, the pope of the area who is very corrupt and lives in affluence while the masses live in deep poverty. The play gives us a message that: Life is not a happy medium. We are the ones who have to forge ahead the balance of life. We have to mirror up to life and live in harmony with nature. There are no complete situations in the world. The details of the society which the playwright submitted for the attention of the audience, the confusions and contradictions, the extravagances of style, were greeted with delighted recognition. Soyinka said that his play, Kongi s Harvest, was inspired entirely by a sentence which he once heard an African leader pronounce, I want him back alive, if possible. (Gibbs, p.79) Kongi s Harvest also grew out of Soyinka s concern with human rights and political liberties, out of his perception of political developments on the continent of Africa and out of his anxiety to root his theatre in the idioms of African festival performances. By showing us Kongi s regime Soyinka saves hundreds of words. The Oba s poetic, musical, richly dressed retinue vivacious despite Danlola s captivity, places before the audience an image of The old order in durance vile. (p.89) The Bacchae is Wole Soyinka s translation in both language and spirit, a great classic of ancient Greek theater. He does so with a poet's ear for the cadences and rhythms of chorus and solo verse as well as a commanding dramatic use of the central social and religious myth. In his hands The Bacchae becomes a communal feast, a tumultuous celebration of life, and a robust ritual of the human and social psyche. The Bacchae is the rites of an extravagant banquet, a monstrous feast, Soyinka writes. "Man reaffirms his indebtedness to earth, dedicates himself to the demands of continuity, and invokes the energies of productivity. Reabsorbed within the communal psyche he provokes the resources of nature; in turn he is replenished for the cyclic rain in his fragile individual potency." The blending of two master playwrights Euripides and Soyinka makes for an unforgettable experience. Thus in every play the writer shows his indebt relation to the humanity and universality for the African theatre. Soyinka s utter dissolution to the society and especially the politicians of the time is vividly shown in his plays. His restless strive for the universal human rights always praised by his audience. 735

5 Works Cited: Gibbs, James. Wole Soyinka, London: Macmillan, Gibbs, James. Ed. Critical Perspectives on Wole Soyinka, London: Heinemann, Collected Plays 1, Oxford: OUP Collected Plays, Vol.2, Oxford: OUP Six Plays, London: Methuen, The Bacchae of Euripides in Collected Plays, Vol.1, Oxford: OUP Essays, Autobiographical And Other Important Publications Myth, Literature and African world, London: Cambridge University Press, The Man Died: Prison Notes of Wole Soyinka, Harper, Ake: The Years of Childhood, Random House, Before the blackout (Ibadan, n.d.), (Preface, cited in James Gibbs, Study Aid to Kongi s Harvest) London: Rex Collings,

CHAPTER III RESEARCH OBJECT AND METHODS. techniques of collecting data and procedures of analyzing the data as well.

CHAPTER III RESEARCH OBJECT AND METHODS This chapter deals with the discussion of research object, research method, techniques of collecting data and procedures of analyzing the data as well. 3.1 Research