Rehearsals of Revolution: Perspective on Osofisan’s Marxian Revolutionary Philosophy and Revolutionary Aestheticism in Morountodun and The Chattering and the Song

Samuel O. Chukwu-Okoronkwo^*

Department of Mass Communication, Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria

Abstract

Femi Osofisan ranks among the foremost contemporary Nigerian dramatists. He is a prolific and radical writer who addresses himself to the socio-political problems in contemporary Nigerian society. The interest to undertake a Marxian perspective on Osofisan is predicated by the Marxist influence which informs most of his works. This is an influence which places Marxism as the ideology of the proletariat … a formidable weapon in the struggle for social progress and the world’s reconstruction along new and just lines [1]. The Marxian philosophy, therefore, is a revolutionary philosophy which places the destiny of the proletariats in their own hands. Osofisan’s dramas underscore the utility of art as agency for conscientisation and social mobilisation. Through these works he evinces his belief in the power of literature/theatre to enlighten and spur the masses to take decisive actions in combating and changing a plaguing and oppressive system which does not favour them. Morountodun and The Chattering and the Song, therefore, encapsulate this belief. The paper presents them, however, as Osofisan’s rehearsals of revolution, and highlights their strengths and revolutionary aestheticism.

Keywords

Aestheticism, Art, Functionality, Marxian Philosophy, Rehearsal, Revolution

Received: March 11, 2015
Accepted: March 25, 2015
Published online: March 26, 2015

@ 2015 The Authors. Published by American Institute of Science. This Open Access article is under the CC BY-NC license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

1. Introduction

The second half of the nineteenth century was dominated by the ideas of Karl Marx, the great German theorist, and political activist who had worked in concert with his mutual friend and intellectual colleague Frederick Engels. With his ideas, systematically codified as Marxism, Marx had sought for an alternative philosophical and ideological approach to socio-economic development. In their Communist Manifesto (1848, London), which embodied their philosophical and ideological base, they had declared unequivocally that: "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it" – to transform it from the hitherto capitalist domination to a socialist and more egalitarian society. This establishes the class nature of the society. In such class based society, therefore, the centrality of conflict, he maintained, is inevitable. The Marxist conflict postulation "emphasises a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical method of analysis, a critical stance toward existing social arrangements, and a political program of revolution" [2]. Marxism, sums up Eagleton [3], therefore, "is a scientific theory of human societies and of the practice of transforming them" p.vii. It is a revolutionary philosophy which places the destiny of the proletariats in their own hands. Thus, unless they put up a concerted and formidable fight to effect a necessary change in their condition, they will continue to languish under the bondage of the capitalist oppression and tyranny.

On the background of this Marxian philosophy, therefore, and in recognition of the pressure of the class structure of society and the exigent need for decisive action, artists with the instrumentality of their works have come to align in ‘arms’ in the fight against capitalist oppression. Emeka Nwabueze [4 p.77] in affirmation has drawn attention to Osofisan’s enlistment in the struggle when he observes that with his works, he "has consistently attempted to arouse revolutionary consciousness in his readers and audience" alike; as one who is "spontaneously drawn to social injustice and its victims" [5 p.6].

The picture which Osofisan paints of his society with his works, therefore, portrays him as a dramatist with a sensitive eye for the problems of his society. So "art" says Buhkarin [6, p.205] "is as much a product of the social life". Drama as the most social of art forms, therefore, serves as a true reflection of the human society. The artist, therefore, cannot afford to be indifferent to the nature of the social realities on whose framework he creates. In other words, he cannot write without a consciousness of the prevailing chaos that besieges his environment. Thus he draws his themes from issues inherent in the society; in what Lukin [7] calls artistic-figurative representation of reality. These problems are socio-political and economic in nature. Hence it is these problems to which he has committed himself to really probe, that actually and "consistently places the aspirations of the underprivileged at his drama’s central reference point" [8 p.67].

1.1. Morountodun and The Chattering and the Song: Rehearsals of Revolution

"Theatre is not revolutionary in itself, but it is surely a rehearsal for the revolution".

[Augusto Boal]

The main focus of this segment of the study is to mirror Osofisan’s rehearsals of ‘revolutionary aesthetics’, with a view to critically examine his two classics which serve as reference points: First, Morountodun [9], which "attempts to coalesce two long-separated historical epochs into one vast drama of struggle, victory, betrayal and hope", according to The Punch [Nigeria], quoted in the blurb of the play; and second, The Chattering and the Song [10], a play which "moves the reader carefully from the injustice of the past to the projected solemnity of the present", according to Nwabueze [4 p.77].

These plays are socio-political in nature. Osofisan in these works uses materials from Yoruba history and myth to project his social vision; emphasizing on revolution as a necessity in an inequitable society. The first of this usage, based on the legend of Moremi of Ile-Ife, is the Agbekoya peasant revolt in then Western Nigeria (1969), in Morountodun. The other is the historic confrontation between the rebel, Latoye, son of Basorun Gaha, and Alafin Abiodun in Oyo Empire (1885) in The Chattering and the Song.

1.2. Morountodun

Morountodun (I have found a sweet thing) is based on the legend of Moremi of Ile-Ife. It dramatises the Agbekoya peasant uprising in the then Western Nigeria in 1969. In the play, Osofisan recreates the Moremi myth of struggle and injustice in order to meet the contemporary need of the Nigerian society; peasants struggle, therefore, is the main conflict of the play. This conflict is between a peasant community in revolt against an oppressive state authority. The peasants are fighting to surmount the forces of exploitation and injustice perpetuated on them by this ruling class. This conflict is causing a serious concern for the authority which finds it increasingly difficult to contend. Osofisan has recreated the myth of Moremi in this play to portray how such cultural heritage could be employed to serve contemporary social need.

The play opens in a rather non-formal rehearsal setting in the "Dressing area" with "a flurry of activity: actors making up, trying costumes, reading script, rehearsing gestures, miming some of the … actions in the play" (p.5). The Director then emerges to give a resume of the play, which is about the Agbekoya uprising, in which ordinary farmers rose up and confronted the state.

However, before the play really starts, Titubi, the ‘spoilt’ daughter of Alhaja Kabirat, the head of the market women, storms into the theatre with her group to disrupt it. The activities of the theatre group in portraying the predatory nature of the bourgeois class, which her mother represents, might have become a big threat. She is arrested in the process by Superintendent Salami, symbolising the repressive state apparatus, who challenges her on putting up a showdown on the peasant revolt currently raging in the area against her class instead of proving her gallantry in the theatre and seeking to destroy it. Superintendent Salami sermonises her:

… Why haven’t you offered your service to crush this peasant revolt? You know there is a battle going on now, don’t you? That the farmers and villagers around us have risen in open rebellion, and are marching down upon the city? When they arrive, who do you think will be the first target? (p.14)

He succeeds in convincing her on the need to crush the rebellion, and wins her alliance. Thus she decides to collude with the police by serving as a decoy to infiltrate the peasants’ territory to trap their seeming intractable leader in what turns out as Osofisan’s rather recreation of the ancient Yoruba mythology by invoking the myth of Moremi, as he links Titubi with the legendary Queen of Ile-Ife who risked her life to save her people from the menace of Igbo by serving also as a decoy. The ploy is to have Titubi put into prison where she will be freed by the rebelling farmers when they attack the prison to release their members who are captured by the government forces.

Titubi sets upon this ‘heroic’ mission. The rebelling farmers eventually attack the prison and free her with their captured members. She follows them to their camp, settles and interacts with them, only to discover to her disgust their plights for taking up ‘arms’ against the state. Thus her curiosity sets in:

That was when I began to ask questions … I saw myself growing up, knowing no such sufferings as these. With always so much to eat, even servants feed their dogs … Yet here, farmers cannot eat their own products, for they need the money from the market. They raise chickens, but must be content with wind in their stomach. And then, when they return weary from the market, the tax master is waiting, with his bill … It could not be just … (p.66)

Inspired by her new consciousness – an ideological metamorphosis, Titubi denounces the evil perpetuated on the farmers by her own class. She, who initially believes in the myth of Moremi also denounces and kills her (Moremi) ghost in her because such myth was at the service of the status quo as she declares:

… I had to kill the ghost of Moremi in my belly. I am not Moremi! Moremi served the state, was the state, was the spirit of the ruling class … (p.70)

So instead of betraying the farmers as planned she veers and subscribes to their cause and identifies and joins forces with them, "committing class suicide" [11 p.69]; and becomes rechristened as Morountodun, meaning I have found a sweet thing, and transfigures into a spokes-woman for the ‘oppressed’. Morountodun encapsulates the theme of social change – a case for social revolution. The government is forced to negotiate with the farmers at the end of the play. By presenting the suffering of the peasants in the camp, Osofisan raises Titubi’s new consciousness in the play and enlists her in the revolution. Through this consciousness also, he invokes our sympathy towards the farmers’ cause – the cause of the oppressed in the society.

Osofisan’s mediation between the characters of legendary Moremi and ‘fictional’ Titubi is in effect a recreation of myth. Here he subverts myth for a revolutionary purpose, turning the old legend upside-down and giving it a radical treatment in order to achieve a new social vision by raising the revolutionary consciousness of his characters and audience alike.  Thus through his artistic technique and social vision, Osofisan makes Titubi instrumental to this social change in order to raise the consciousness of his audience towards change. He employs myth ironically, treating it in the context of social perspective as to promote the spirit of collectivism or mass mobilisation, and ideologically re-orientate them in order to foster social revolution. Herein lies the relevance of the revolution which Osofisan advocates.

Morountodun re-enacts the socio-political and economic realities of our time. It presents "reality from … class position" [12 p.35], and emphasises an inequitable society where the masses that produce the wealth starve and are deprived only to maintain an oppressive government. Osofisan’s advocacy for collectivism in this social revolution is symbolised in Titubi’s handing over the gun to Marshal with the hope of establishing a new alliance for the betterment of the masses for which cause they are fighting. This may have been borne out of her conviction that the government cannot, "win a war against a people whose cause is just" (p.70).

At the end, Osofisan favours a compromise agreement, a round table negotiation between the revolting farmers and the government. This is an advocacy for social revolution or perhaps resolution, than total revolution – the effecting of certain changes in an inequitable system that does not favour the masses that produce the wealth of the society. In Morountodun, therefore, the theme of revolution as sine qua non in an inequitable society runs through the play.

1.3. The Chattering and the Song

The Chattering… is another of Osofisan’s recreation of history with the nineteenth century popular rebellion in Oyo Empire, to serve contemporary purpose – that of expressing his social vision. It portrays Osofisan’s rather radical approach to historical and social realities through which he underscores the urgent need for social revolution. Its plot centres on the increasing consciousness of the farmers’ movement in the society in their struggle against the oppressive machinery of the state. 

The play addresses the issue of revolutionary change and its attendant class struggle which threatens the society if the continued oppressive system remains unchecked. It deals with a revolt led by a group of enlightened radical youths challenging the forces of rot, corruption and dictatorship, ending in the offer of a model for a new society that will replace autocracy in all entireties.

The play characters revolve around different social groups; the privileged who intimidate the weak and enjoy the fruit of the system; and the masses who bear the brunt, the indignities of the corrupt capitalist system. While the former battle for more material acquisition, the later struggle to extricate themselves from the shackles of poverty, hunger, squalor and disease. In The Chattering and the Song, Osofisan portrays the decadence of the society, our sense of misplaced priorities and the machinery of oppression in a catalogued and derided manner. The play is in two parts, with a prologue and an epilogue – each bearing a caption drawn from lines in the drama. This structure is employed to further Osofisan’s ‘epic’ intent.

The play begins with a prologue which introduces the riddling game built around the Ifa motif – Iwori Otura. The riddle is presented by Yajin and Sontri. Besides the theme of betrayal, Osofisan in the prologue explores the pre-predator, class stratification tendency that characterised his society in three sets of such riddles.

The first riddle involves the frog leaping upon the fish:

Yajin:     Say I am a fish: Iwori Otura!

Sontri:    Then swim for you life:

              I leap, I leap,

              I’m coming after you … (p.2)

The second concerns the hawk swooping down on the hen: (p.2)

Yajin:      Say I am a hen: Iwori Otura!

Sontri:    Then flee for your life:

              I drop, I swoop,

              I’m coming after you …

              Iwori Otura:

The third portrays the stag preying upon the doe:

Sontri:     Goodbye to the hawk: Iwori Otura,

              Say I am a stag …

Yajin:      And I?

Sontri:     A doe!  (p.3)

Through these preying images, the oppressive nature of the bourgeoisie in their attempt to subjugate the poor masses in the society is made manifest. Through them also, Osofisan underscores the suffering of the masses, and fore-shadows the eventual revolution which would originate from collective consciousness. In part one, Osofisan repeatedly employs biological imageries to reveal the repressive attitude of the people in power.  First is from the song "Dance of the Crawling Things" (p.15). The song reveals the socio-political atmosphere of the play. The second image is that of the weaverbird whose release symbolises the liberation of the masses from bondage.

The play-within-the-play is the central incident in part two. The play, presumably written by Sontri, is to be performed on Sontri and Yajin’s wedding eve for the entertainment of guests. It is a re-enactment of the historic confrontation between the rebel, Latoye, son of the executed notorious warrior, Bashorun Gaha, and Alafin Abiodun in Oyo in 1885. This historic rebellion was quelled by the heinous repressive power of the state. This play-within-the-play is actually a recreation of the above history, but from the side of the victim rather than the so-called victors. Osofisan therefore turns the event upside down to make a case for social revolution for the overthrow of tyrant rulers.

In the play, Latoye (played by Leje) succeeds in breaking the nerve-centre of Abiodun’s [played by Sontri] tyranny: the myth of a god-abated subjugation of one human being by another. Latoye must have wondered for how long the society would continue to contend with such heinous experience, and in confrontation with Abiodun, he declares:

Latoye: Enough! … For centuries you have shielded yourselves with the gods. Slowly, you painted them in your colour, dressed them in your own cloak of terror, injustice and bloodlust … (p.45)

This is the point of Osofisan’s departure: the reversal in the roles of Latoye and Abiodun. Here, he sides with the oppressed by having Latoye liberate his class from oppressive rule; while Abiodun on the other hand, turns the villain having used his position to oppress and exploit the masses. This is captured in Latoye’s address to the guards [symbolising the masses] in the course of the play-within-the-play, on their subjugation by the hegemonic class, and thus raises a clarion call for revolution.

Latoye: … Look around you. Look into your past, look into your future. What do you see? Always the same unending tale of oppression. Of poverty, hunger, squalor and disease! Why? Ah, you and you people, you are the soil on which the Alafin’s tree is nourished, tended until it is overladen with fruit! And yet, when you stretch out your hands, there are no fruits for you! Why? Only your limbs are gaunt with work and want, only your faces are wrinkled and hallow with sweating and not getting! Alafin and his men are fed and flourishing, but they continue to steal your lands. They are rich, their salaries swell from the burden of your taxes! Their stores are bursting, your children beg on the streets. I am begging you, please, fly out of your narrow nests. Come follow me, raise a song to freedom! NOW! (p.42)

Through Latoye’s effective incantatory speech, Osofisan raises the socio-political consciousness of the masses through which their mobilisation towards revolution is established and sealed. Thus in this new awareness on the part of the masses lies the core of the play’s moral realism. In this play also, Osofisan has created in Alafin Abiodun an epitome of an abominable tyrant whose obliteration with his hegemonic class demands but vehement dispatch. Latoye has therefore captured the enormity of Abiodun’s tyranny in an apt resume:

Latoye: … In your reign Abiodun, the elephant eats, and nothing remains for the antelope! The buffalo drinks, and there is draught in the land! (p.45)

So in response to Osofisan’s advocacy for dispatch in dispensing with these oppressors whom Abiodun represents, Aresa [played by Mokan] quickly rose to the challenge, by bringing down his sword on the Alafin’s head. Hence bluntly, he decrees: "There is only one remedy, Abiodun! Death!" (p.46). Aresa’s exterminatory bent here underscores Osofisan’s total revolutionary vision. His reconstruction of history, therefore, is basically to further and reinforce this social vision.

In the epilogue, the inception of another conjugal affair is symbolically portrayed in which Leje conscientises Funlola on the need for the revolution and wins her over to the farmers’ movement. Here, Osofisan introduces another riddling game in which the new lovers in contrast to Yajin – Sontri pair prey-predator image, present the image of building – of remaking the world: 

Leje:        I the shuttle and you the weft …

Funlola:    Dancing together,

               In the loom of the state: Iwori Otura …

Leje:        We’ll weave new patterns out of our world … (p.55)

The duo’s position here is in consonance with Osofisan’s vision that it is only through concerted effort that the society can be changed. Finally, Osofisan re-emphasises this vision as he invites all and sundry (by merging the actors and audience) to join the farmers’ movement for the improvement of the society. This once more accentuates the fact the integrated unity of thought, action and will to fight is sine qua non for success towards the revolution which Osofisan advocates. The farmers’ anthem also is symbolic. It is a new anthem which heralds a peaceful socio-political system – a product of mass awareness, mobilisation and revolution. It re-affirms and re-enforces Osofisan’s revolutionary optimism.

In these plays, therefore, Osofisan has consistently recreated materials from Yoruba history and myth to make critical commentary on the problems in contemporary Nigerian society. Obadiegwu [13 p.131] has attributed this to "a systematic demystification of myths that encourage exploitations of the masses of the society". Obadiegwu’s view might not be unconnected with Osofisan’s statement in an interview with Enekwe [14] in 1980 where he affirmed, "I borrow ancient forms to unmask them".

The above may explain why Osofisan has presented the Latoye - Abiodun incident in The Chattering and the Song from the side of the "victims" rather than "the side of the so-called victors, the kings and the Lords as is usually the case [my emphasis]", according to Olaogun [15 p.46]. Also in Morountodun, he has Titubi repudiate Moremi, to which Umukoro [16] ascribed to him [Osofisan] as "saying that Moremi is a piece of ruling class ideology, a mystification used by the ruling class to keep the people in subjugation" (p.34). What the above points to is Osofisan’s revolutionary optimism. His approach to these original materials, therefore, hinges on their alternative refocusing in order to effect a social revolution in a system that does not in the least favour the masses. Hence revolution as in most of his works is the soul of Morountodun and The Chattering and the Song. This revolution is embedded in his concern to portray the necessity for the evolution of collective consciousness among the oppressed in order to emancipate themselves from the shackles of socio-political oppression.

Additionally, it is this concern to portray the necessity for the evolution of collective consciousness among the oppressed that inevitably conditions his character drawing. Hence in both plays he has created proletarian heroes – a character drawing which presents the masses as propelling their own history by taking their destiny in their own hands through their collective efforts to liberate themselves from the bondage of oppression. It is this consciousness, therefore, that pervades these plays, as well as propels their characters.

2. Dramatic Techniques and Machinery of Aesthetics

The strength in the realization of Osofisan’s vision in Morountodun and The Chattering and the Song relies more in his effective use of profound dramatic techniques and machinery of aesthetics. These techniques remained prevalent throughout the plays and enormously contributed in reinforcing their messages. The exploration of these techniques and machinery of aesthetics will be the main concern in this section. In this regard, Morountodun – "a technically adventurous play", will be the first consideration.

2.1. Morountodun

The first technique to be considered here is Osofisan’s introduction of the narrative technique. This may have been inspired by a Brechtian epic influence, whose method according to Olaogun [15] was to make his plays narrative rather than dramatic.

The Director and Mama Kayode share in the role of narrator in the play. It is the Director that guides the actions of the play and mediates between the actors and the audience; thus breaking the actor-audience alienation effect, and enhancing their proximity. Osofisan does not only arouse the curiosity of his audience through this device, but drives home also the conscientisation objective of the play. Mama Kayode on the other hand, in a traditional story-telling device, narrates most of the actions in the flashback through role-play.

The play-within-the-play is another technique through which Osofisan has perfectly blended the old and the new world by linking the present with the past as Titubi reminisces on Moremi’s exploits in the Moremi scene. Closely related to the above is his use of role-play. This is a device in which Etherton [17 p.29] says actors "assume other roles beyond their basic characters". This is portrayed in scenes featuring Director’s oscillation between his role as an actor and narrator, Superintendent Salami and Alhaja Kabirat, (p.58), and Mama Kayode and Molade, (pp.62-3), and in the series of scenes of flashbacks that run through the play. With these, Osofisan does not only portray the different positions of the parties in the conflict, but also raises the awareness of the audience on the nature of the oppression and suffering to which the farmers are subjected.

Flashback is another effective dramatic technique which Osofisan has employed in the play. Through the alternating flashback between Deputy Superintendent Salami’s Office and the peasants’ camp scenes, he has skilfully elucidated the grievous social condition of the peasants, and their unrelenting determination to resist and overthrow their exploitation and oppression from the ruling class. With this device, Osofisan reinforces his linking the past and the present, thus enhancing the play’s continuity.

Osofisan also introduced the use of various art forms such as music, dance and song in the play. These are elements with which he has integrated the play’s structure and form, and enhanced its continuity. Besides, music, dance and song, are also identified by Onyekuba [18 p.9] as being used "to heighten the mood and preserve the traditional setting or locale of the play". Apart from the play’s historical reality, Morountodun is a portrayal of Osofisan’s fictionalised experience, an instrument of his social vision.

2.2. The Chattering and the Song

The play-within-the-play is the first technique to be considered here. This technique is used in the play to recreate history in order to conscientise the masses on the necessity for a frontal attack on all forms of oppression. This explains the radical and subversive approach which Osofisan has employed in the Latoye – Abiodun historic confrontation in the play.

Apart from the play-within-the-play technique, Osofisan has also employed an admixture of Bertolt Brecht’s ‘epic’ model and the traditional African story-telling technique in the play to convey his social revolutionary message. This technique which is built around the Ifa divination motif – Iwori Otura, introduces the prey-predator class stratification tendency that characterises our society. This underscores the oppression to which the masses are subjected, and fore-shadows the eventual revolution that would result from a collective consciousness; hence emphasising Osofisan’s optimism for the cause of the underprivileged.

Symbolism is another effective technique which Osofisan has employed in The Chattering and the Song to still reinforce his revolutionary vision. In the epilogue, the inception of another conjugal affair is symbolically portrayed as Leje conscientises Funlola on the socio-political situation that seriously requires a change. This symbol is manifest in another riddling game which contrasts with the prey-predator image of Yajin-Sontri pair. What is evident here is the image of building – of remaking the world. Also, the earlier release of the weaverbird by Funlola symbolises the liberation of the masses. The symbol of the weaverbird as employed in the epilogue, therefore, embodies the message of the play – the necessity for a collective effort in bringing about the desired change in the society.

Closely related to the above is Osofisan’s final merging of the actors with the audience. He does not want the audience to be mere onlookers, rather active participants. This is quite symbolic of mass mobilisation - an invitation to all and sundry to join hands for the improvement of the entire society.

Also worthy of mention is Osofisan’s employment of "communicational technique of equifinality", according to Emeka Nwabueze [4]. This is a device of achieving the same effect through various means. In part one, he uses song, mime and dance – total theatre ensemble – to achieve the same equifinal result of mass awareness, mobilisation and revolution. In employing the technique, his motifs, symbols, images, and characterisation originate from different political and social situations but are carefully steered to a final action which is crystallised in the birth of a new and just state as exemplified in the movement of harvesting.

In The Chattering and the Song as in Morountodun, Osofisan’s use of role play technique is significant. He makes his characters change roles often in the course of the plays mostly before the audience. This is to avoid the masking of reality; and to reinforce the ‘rehearsal of revolution’ essence. In other words, it attests to the fact that despite the plays’ historical reality, that they are but representations of Osofisan’s fictionalised experience in the service of revolutionary vision.

3. Conclusion

Morountodun and The Chattering and the Song, indeed, are two technically adventurous plays. In the plays, Osofisan first arrests his audience’s attention by presenting social and political issues clothed in harmless symbolic dialogue, and then awakens their revolutionary zeal through sophisticated dramatic techniques. In all, what we observe of Osofisan is his adherence to the Marxian revolutionary philosophy which he has portrayed in both plays. What he has therefore done with the mythical and historic materials he has appropriated from his Yoruba background is to subversively employ them. This he does by consciously reconstructing them to serve his present need and vision of interpreting contemporary social realities in Nigeria.

In the light of the above, it may sound ludicrously ironical, therefore, that Osofisan would not subscribe to such label as a revolutionary writer as he personally affirms in an interview with Ossie Enekwe as published in The Greenfield Review [14]: "I won’t call myself a revolutionary writer" (p.76); yet he has in all contradiction, consistently attempted to arouse revolutionary consciousness both in his readers and audience alike. Osofisan’s rather paradoxical declaration, however, might not be unconnected with Etherton’s conviction also that "no theatre can, actually make the revolution" (17 p.321); and "perhaps", as Boal [19 p.122] would say, the fact that, "the theatre is not revolutionary in itself … [only] surely a rehearsal for the revolution". This suggests surely, however, that the theatre is quite an empowering medium in rehearsing the envisioned revolution; but the true revolution, as Boal would maintain, lies with the people, for whom "the theatre (certainly) is a weapon, and it is the people (themselves) who should wield it". In the final analysis, therefore, the fact still remains that the Marxian revolutionary philosophy has impacted greatly on Osofisan’s works, especially those in the context of this analysis. However, the colossal question his position above still begs remains the question of who the true revolutionary writer really is.

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