FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OTUOKE, PMB 126 YENAGOA, BAYELSA STATE
SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES
FIRST SEMESTER 2023/2024 ACADEMIC SESSION
ENL 809: Studies in African Drama
Course Outline
ENL 809: Studies in African Drama is a 3-unit elective course in the MA English Literature
programme in the Department of English and Communication Studies, Federal University
Otuoke, Bayelsa State. This course shall involve a study of the major works, playwrights, and
theatre traditions in contemporary written African literature. It will be an in-depth critique of
the way playwrights appreciate and respond to the major historical, social, political,
philosophical and moral issues in Africa. Emphasis will be placed on content and dramatic style.
The major purpose is to sharpen the insight and intelligence with which we read dramatic
artefacts of the time. We shall study the works of established and emerging African playwrights
as well as dramatists from alternative traditions. Authors to be studied include Elechi Amadi,
Saviour Agoro, Femi Osofisan, Ngugi wa Thiong’O, Athol Fugard, among others.
1. Re-visitation of the elements of drama and the regionalistic nature of drama in Africa
2. Understanding culture and worldview and their place in the discourse of contemporary
African drama
3. (a) What is semiotics? (b) The semiotic approach to drama and theatre
4. Aspects of visual literature in contemporary Africa as expressed in Nollywood films
5. Modern African drama from the perspective of Niger Delta playwrights and their works
6. The idea of motif with particular reference to the study of modern African Drama
7. The place of taxonomy in the study of African drama as articulated in alternatives spaces
of dramatic performance or expression such as 1. Social media theatre/dramatic skits 2.
Political drama, 3. Christian drama, Islamic drama, etc.
8. Common themes in modern African drama
Plays
1. Throes of Leadership by Julie Okoh
2. Yahoo Yahoo Boys by Nathaniel Okeke
3. The Marriage of Anasewa by Efua Sutherland
4. Fading Walls by Osakue S. Omoera
5. Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
6. Woza Albert by Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema and Barney Simon
7. The Fate of a Cockroach by Tawfiq Al Hakim
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8. The Women of Owu by Femi Osofisan
9. Selected visual texts/skits/films from YouTube by Edo Pikin, Julius Agwu, Trevor
Noah, Loyiso Gola, Eddie Kadi, Patrick Idringi (Patrick Salvado), Celeste Ntuli,
among others
Theoretical Texts
1. Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book (2nd edition) edited by Yemi
Ogunbiyi. Lagos: Tanus Books Ltd., 2014.
2. Theatre and Politics in Nigeria edited by Jide Malomo and Saint Gbilekaa. Ibadan: Book
Craft, 1996.
3. Trends in Nollywood: A Study of Selected Genres by Barclays Ayakoroma. Ibadan: Kraft
Books Ltd., 2014
4. Drama/Theatre/Performance: The New Critical Idiom by Simon Shepherd and Mick
Wallis. London: Routledge, 2004.
5. The Architecture of Drama: Plot, Character, Theme, Genre, and Style by David Letwin,
Joe Stockdale and Robin Stockdale. Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2008.
6. Topics in Modern African Drama by Saviour N.A. Agoro. Ibadan: Caltop Publications,
2001.
Course Lecturer: Prof Osakue S. Omoera, Ph.D.
