Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

he founded the on Olokun theatre group which offered a dramatic experience for both
the townsfolk and the university students . The group 's physical stage was an open-air
courtyard structure similar to the traditional palace courtyard in which local.
dramatization of rituals and festivals would have been held. Rotimi establi shed another
playhouse. the Crab, at the University of Port Harcourt. Okafor asserts that the Crab
Theatre. an amphitheatre. bad "the advantage of promoting a physical and
psychological rapport between audience and performers" like those of the traditional
performances (29) . (0 Rotimi 's dedica tion to reviving indigenous drama, training
actors, and exposing the political and social problems related to postcolonialism is
significant to drama not only in Nigerian society . but also. in those countries affected
by colonization. The fact that his plays are written and performed mainl y in English
and he incorporates western dramatic art forms are ironic indica tions that such
dedication is itself a reflection of his dependence on western education and culture.
In The Gods Are Not To Blame, 11 Rotim i makes several changes to the
Sophoclean tragedy while keeping the main idea that in ignorance a man killed his
father and married his mother. These changes are significant to an analysis of the play
because they reveal Rotimi's commitment to the African world view while using the
European knowledge he hasacquired. Being educated in the western literary canon.
Rotimi was exposed to the larger body of classical Greek texts behind Sophocles'
play; that is, like Sophocles, Rotimi would have beenprivy to the Theban legend and
Oedipus myth, and Odysseus' description in Homer's The Odyssey:
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