Socio-political realities in the stage performance of Sunday Ododo’s To Return from the Void
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Date
2023-10-22
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National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos
Abstract
eatre in its protean nature mirrors the society through its multifarious
manifestations and performances. Over time, artists have used the performative
arts to document, replicate, and criticise issues in the society. Musical
performances are one of such mediums in the hands of creative artists used in
showing the society to the society while equally entertaining them. is study
reflects on socio-political realities in the Nigerian society as presented in Sunnie
Ododo's musical drama, To Return from the Void. The study adopts the
qualitative deductive method and participant observation as instruments for
collecting data. References and inferences were drawn from the libretto and
performance directed by this author in 2014 at the Department of the
Performing Arts, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. The performance in its musicality
reveals socio-political cum economic issues such as power as tool for mass
oppression, exploitation, greed, and corruption in the multi-ethnic nation,
Nigeria; fictionally represented as the 'Denterean' country in the libretto. The
aforementioned factors have been the bane for the development of the country
over time. They are also the bases for the prevalence of poverty, ethno-religious
crises and other issues like banditry as evident in the country today. Ododo
proposes systemic overhaul of the nation through conscious adoption of
'common sense' to bring the country back from social, political and economic
void. This study concludes that opera performances and other theatrical performances are effective tools for communicating and evoking the need for
socio-political change in any society
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Citation
Ibitoye, O.J. (2023): Socio-political realities in the stage performance of Sunday Ododo’s To Return from the Void. National Theatre, Iganmu () 100-118. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/403078441_Socio-Political_Realities_in_the_Stage_Performance_of_Sunday_Ododo's_To_Return_From_the_Void