By Emmanuel Nwibo
On November 25 and 26, 2025, the final year students of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, will perform Ola Rotimi’s Hopes of the Living Dead and If: A Tragedy of the Ruled, directed by Emmanuella Obayi and Kizito Ezeugwu, respectively, under the supervision of Associate Professor Greg Mbajiorgu (Head of Department), Ezinne Ezepue, and Kasarachi Okpe. The plays, recommended by Mbajiorgu for Advanced Play Production and Directing, will test all that the students have learnt in their academic years at the university. This year’s final year production is special because, for the first time, two of Ola Rotimi’s plays will be performed. The final year class is excited about this choice because Ola Rotimi is unique in multiple ways. He is rated one of Nigeria’s finest and most detribalised playwrights. Mbajiorgu asserts, “This will be in honour of a legendary Nigerian playwright.”
Olawale Gladstone Emmanuel Rotimi, popularly known as Ola Rotimi, was a Nigerian theatre artist and scholar born in 1938 in Sapele, Nigeria. He wrote a dozen plays, including The Gods Are Not to Blame (1971), Kurunmi (1971), Ovonramwen Nogbaisi (1974), Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again (1974), If: A Tragedy of the Ruled (1983), and Hopes of the Living Dead (1988).Ola Rotimi founded ori olokun theatre in 1967 at the institute of African studies, University of Ife (now OAU), long before the Department of Theatre Arts was established in Ife. Most of his plays attempt to accommodate the varied tribes in Nigeria. The two selected plays – Hopes of the Living Dead and If: A Tragedy of the Ruled, are laced with multi-cultural elements. Although Hopes of the Living Dead employs the classical choral hymns of Harcourt Whyte, which are all in the Igbo language, the drama presents characters from Nigeria’s major ethnic groups. Ola Rotimi, in every sense, can be described as the true Nigerian playwright and scholar. He mentored several theatre artists and scholars, not just in the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), where his theatre career started, but also in the University of Port Harcourt, where he founded the Theatre Arts Department. It was under his supervision that the famous Crab-Theatre of UNIPORT was built. He is also one of the few theatre scholar-practitioners who have succeeded in embarking on a nationwide campus tour with what could be considered his masterpiece, Hopes of the Living Dead.
Associate Professor Greg Mbajiorgu, whose father (Chief M.S.N Mbajiorgu Iduu Odum n’Ihiala) was the Pioneer Bursar of the University counts himself lucky as one of the few staff children at the university who had the privilege of getting an early mentorship under the late Professor Ola Rotimi. This perhaps may have influenced his recommending these masterpieces for the Advanced Play Production and Directing practical examination. Mbajiorgu elucidates that “beyond Ola Rotimi’s social artivism he remains, for me, one of the few Nigerian theatre artists who is a playwright, actor, director and choreographer. There is every reason why the department should celebrate him.”
Counted amongst Ola Rotimi’s most politically charged works, Hopes of the Living Dead and If: A Tragedy of the Ruled continue to resonate across Nigeria. Hopes of the Living Dead is set in colonial Nigeria. The play is an adaptation of the true story of the Uzoakoli lepers and the historical Lepers’ Rebellion (1928-1932). In the play, the Port-Harcourt Lepers of Ward G and H defy societal rejection and medical neglect to become a symbol of hope and transformation. The group, led by Harcourt Whyte, organises and carries out a nonviolent protest against the colonial medical authority. Their demands for dignity and better treatment led to the establishment of a self-sustaining leprosy hospital.
According to the director, Emmanuella Obayi, “the story has a huge significance not only in the historical sense, but it carries some social importance because it reflects the current plights of Nigerians who are neglected by authorities. To this point, the play proves metaphorical. But it also highlights the need for good medical healthcare in Nigeria, where the masses as well as the elites can be comfortable.” Obayi and her team invites to their production the public, including policymakers, health practitioners, social change advocates and even those who are clueless about leprosy or any infectious health condition. “This performance is significant to this day and time because the play pictures the realities of contemporary Nigeria in many ways – culturally, politically, and socially,” Obayi adds.
If: A Tragedy of the Ruled, on the other hand, set in a fictional African country, unfolds over a weekend, following tenants who rally against a corrupt landlord. The characters themselves become entangled in the very systems they seek to dismantle. The play follows Marxist ideas. Inspired by anti-imperialist figures like Che Guevara, an Argentine Marxist revolutionary who advocated for world revolution, the characters in the play rally the oppressed masses against a corrupt ruling elite, promising liberation and dignity. As stated by the director, Kizito Ezeugwu, “the play will inspire change in the minds of the audience.”
Revisiting Ola Rotimi’s legacy and advocacy not only celebrates him as a playwright but enables an engagement with a visionary whose works continue to shape the conscience of Nigerian theatre. From UNN’s vibrant stages to national tours that echo his revolutionary voice, directors and performers alike approach his texts with reverence and ambition, striving not just to meet expectations but to surpass them. The directors of this year’s Advanced Play Production & Directing promise that, “the production will be an awe-filled spectacle and a great performance that will exceed expectations.”
The practical will be invigilated by an external examiner, Professor Alex Asigbo a protégé of Ola Rotimi and former SONTA president and Professor of Theatre Arts, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The plays will expectedly be greeted by dignitaries and special guests of honour, including the Vice Chancellor of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Simon Uchenna Ortuanya, other principal officers of the university, and important members of the public. You are invited to this compelling fusion of historical depth, political insight, and youthful expression, which reaffirms the role of theatre as both a cultural mirror and a tool for critical education for the Nigerian youths.
The performances are scheduled to hold on November 25 and 26 at the Arts Theatre, University of Nigeria, Nsukka:
