An Exploration into the Satiric Significance of Abuse in Selected Nigerian Drama

Abstract

A general survey of the contemporary Nigerian theatre and drama reveals that several contemporary Nigerian dramatists have harnessed the art of abuse—invectives— as a device for conveying meanings in their works and achieving their satiric goals. These dramatists create characters that engage abuse to articulate the thematic concerns of their drama, accentuate the conflicts in them, and establish the socio-cultural and political setting of their drama. Although extant works on satiric plays have focused on the use of language, and other satiric devices such as grotesque, irony, burlesque, innuendo, sarcasm, among others (Adeoti 1994; Adenigbo & Alugbin 2020; Mireku-Gyimah 2013; Nyamekye & Debrah 2016), sufficient scholarly attention has not been given to the art of abuse as a trope in Nigerian drama. The article explores the artistic significance of abuse and its forms in selected works of two contemporary Nigerian dramatists: Femi Osofisan’s Altine’s Wrath (2002) and Ola Rotimi’s Who is a Patriot? (2006). These two plays are selected because they manifest ample deployment of the art of abuse and engage various sociopolitical issues. Hence, the article discusses how the art of abuse in these plays projects and addresses such sociopolitical realities as oppression, exploitation, resistance, self-interest versus national interest, and capitalism, among others. The article engages the principles of superiority theory of humour as espoused by Henri Bergson (2003) for textual analysis. It contends and concludes that abuse, as an inherent part of social and human interactions, has been an effective tool in satirising ills in individuals and society at large.

exploration of phonological jokes in Maryam Apaokagi's selected comedy skits

“…Being a phenomenon that is present in very many cultures, humour has been studied in so many cultural contexts, and its cultural peculiarities are revealed in these different situations. Within the Nigerian context, humour has been studied in situation comedies (Bamgbose & Ehondor 2021;Sunday & Bamgbose 2021), stand-up comedies (Filani 2017;Soneye 2019), computer-mediated communication (Inya 2016), comedy skits (Adesoye 2018), literature (Alabi 2021) and even music (Bamgbose 2019). Its features, functions and strategies have also been explored in detail by several scholars.…”

“…The study rightly concluded that humour does not exist to amuse only; rather, it usually serves other salient functions of addressing national and socio-cultural issues. Alabi (2021) examined the use of invectives as a simultaneously satirical and humorous device employed in Femi Osofisan and Ola Rotimi's drama. Although this study only focused on Nigerian drama, it tallied greatly with several other studies that entertainment is not merely fun; rather, it functions to correct some wrongs in the society where it is set.…”

“…Although this study only focused on Nigerian drama, it tallied greatly with several other studies that entertainment is not merely fun; rather, it functions to correct some wrongs in the society where it is set. Specifically, Alabi (2021) revealed that these invectives are a constant feature of human interactions and function effectively in satirising the abnormalities in people and societies. Several plays from other Nigerian playwrights qualify to be studied in this research but were not; thus, the question arises about whether the sampled plays are representative enough.…”