Power Through Performance

Abstract

The Lion and the Jewel (1959) is one of the gems in Wole Soyinka’s oeuvre, which shines brightly with wit, humour, and sarcasm as Soyinka treats the themes like gender issues and conflict between tradition and modernity in the postcolonial context. The play draws its strength from performance through song, dance, mime, and play-within-play that bind the collective consciousness of the natives. It is central to the Yoruba tribe and it is an integral part of their culture. Different experiences in their lives like pain, trauma, joy, and happiness are manifested through performance. Soyinka uses this performance as a vehicle to resist, to protest, and to disapprove of the major issues and challenges that infest the post-independence Nigerian society, like the rigid patriarchal framework, marginalisation of women, and exploitation of the natives by the White man. This chapter focuses on how performance is employed and utilised by Soyinka to optimally reflect upon the binaries – powerful/powerless, dominant/inferior, male/female, and how these oppositions negotiate within the framework of performance, especially in the Yoruba theatre in the postcolonial context.