Morning
The village beauty, Sidi, is being courted by the schoolteacher, Lakunle, but she rejects his advances because he is such a ridiculous fi gure, with his dowdy European clothes and manners. Worse still, he objects to paying the traditional bride-price, but for Sidi, any woman who marries without the bride-price is implicitly admitting that she is not a virgin.
Village girls bring news that a photographer who had earlier taken pictures of Sidi has returned. By all reports, his photographs of Sidi are stunning. Filled with excitement, the villagers begin to re-enact the whole event: his arrival, the breakdown of his car, his spying on Sidi bathing in the river, his falling into the water while he tries to get close-ups. Lakunle is the one selected to play the foreigner.
At the point in the fl ashback where the hapless photographer has been apprehended by villagers and taken off to the ruler to be punished, Baroka, the current Bale, appears. Embarrassed, Lakunle tries to slink away, but Baroka insists that they play out the scene. The photographer is invited to a feast (where he gets miserably drunk and vomits profusely) and is given permission to take his pictures.
As the mime ends, Lakunle takes to his heels, pursued by the women. Baroka discloses that it is fi ve months since he took a wife. Evidently he has his eye on Sidi.
Noon
Sadiku, the Bale’s senior wife, acts as a go-between to win Sidi to be the Bale’s next wife. The terms are excellent, but Sidi is now so aware of her beauty that she feels she can aim higher than either the schoolteacher or the elderly ruler, so she declines. Lakunle warns her of the Bale’s wily nature, giving the example of his bribing the surveyor from the Public Works.
ACTIVITY
1 Suggest why Soyinka divides his play into three sections: morning, noon, and night
2 a Map the plot-line of the play, showing where fl ashbacks occur.
b Suggest what Soyinka achieves by presenting certain information through fl ashbacks rather than as part of the main action.
DID YOU KNOW?
Mime and pantomime were popular forms of drama back in the day of the Roman empire and for the Greeks. There is evidence that they have long existed as popular entertainment in Asia and Africa too. Taking scenes from everyday life, they used exaggerated gestures and facial expressions to satirise
the ridiculous.
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37 Again the action slides into a fl ashback. This time the players re-enact
the coming of the white surveyor with his foreman and workmen. Advised of the plan, Baroka hurries to the scene, bringing gifts to bribe the surveyor to redirect the railway line. If modernisation were to come to Ilujinle, Baroka’s self-indulgent lifestyle would come to an end. The scene switches to Baroka’s bedroom. Sadiku brings word of Sidi’s refusal. Baroka confi des in Sadiku that sadly he has now become impotent. We will later discover that this is not true, but cunningly he tells his ‘secret’ to the one person he knows will broadcast it widely! Night
We return to the village centre where Sadiku is celebrating Bale’s impotence in particular and the triumph of women over men in general. When Sidi arrives and is told what is going on, she comes up with a mischievous plan: she will apologise to Baroka for refusing him, and ask for a month to consider his offer. She hopes to get delight from his sexual frustration. She goes to Baroka’s quarters and enters his bedroom unbidden while he is engaged in a wrestling match.
The wily old ruler plays cat and mouse with her for a while. He cleverly plays to her female vanity by revealing his plan to put her image on a postage stamp so that all the world can admire her. Before long she is captivated by his manly demeanour and physical prowess. As she rests her head on his shoulder, a group of mummers pass by, the females pursuing a masked male.
The scene shifts back to where Sadiku and Lakunle await Sidi’s return, and the same mummers now give a brief performance satirising Baroka’s impotence. Sadiku crows with delight.
Just then, Sidi rushes in, seemingly in great distress. Lakunle assumes that Baroka has raped her. In true romantic style, he offers to marry her anyway (but not to pay the bride-price). Ironically, though, Sidi’s distress is not on account of the sexual encounter she has had with Baroka, but rather due to the fact that he tricked her so royally. She packs her clothes (Lakunle all the time thinking that she is getting ready to marry him) and then reveals that she is going to marry Baroka. She kneels for Sadiku’s blessing, the mummers switch to a festive celebration and even Lakunle joins in the singing and dancing.
ACTIVITY
3 Find out the difference between a dowry and a bride-price. Which cultures in the world require one of them? Are pre- nuptial agreements in Western culture a similar arrangement?
ACTIVITY
4 Find examples of irony in the play after Sidi returns to collect her things before returning to Baroka’s quarters.
5 In your examples, is irony produced by appearances being deceptive?
ACTIVITY
6 Comment on the signifi cance of Lakunle joining in the singing and dancing as Sidi goes to join Baroka.
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38
1.19
African cultural traditions
LEARNING OUTCOMES In this section you will: • observe the use of
pantomime, song, drumming and dance in the play
• think about the effectiveness of these devices as used by the writer
• notice that the use of both African and European dramatic conventions is in keeping with the theme of the play.