Análisis Exploratorio de Datos Espaciales del Índice de Potencial de

rights. In some other communities, women are to be “seen not heard”. They are only good for the men and the larger society as “baby-making factories, housewives and house helps” hence they are kept in their homes without education. The implication is that in such communities, where women are denied access to formal education, they become complacent and never get to worry about their plight, believing just as it is the case in Julie Okoh‟s Edewede that “oppressive cultural practices, including circumcision, are part of our tradition…” (3). Even though in most cases it is very clear that such so-called cultural practices are naturally retrogressive and oppressive and therefore, add no value to their lives.

Women in some parts of Nigeria, especially in the rural areas of the country are still in bondage because of obsolete and oppressive culture-oriented practices. It is therefore, imperative that women liberationists should concentrate on tackling and eradicating these practices. This should be one of the items on their agenda.

The theatre has its roots in social, political and intellectual revolutions. It reflects to a certain degree, the confusions of our times but it has also struggled to clarify and to illuminate, to document and explore human destiny in a complex and uneasy universe (242).

In the literary sense, commitment means devotion to a cause, philosophy or doctrine, the willingness to work hard and give your energy and time to a cause or an activity. Tony A.P.

Cowie, gives a more detailed explanation of commitment when he states that it is:

… a devotion to a cause, a continuing obligation … the state of intellectual and emotional adherence to some political, social or religious theory or action or practice… state of being dedicated or devoted to something … the conscious linking of works of literature and art. (197)

When related to the theatre, the theatre of commitment is the kind of play or drama that attempts to spur people to action, the kind of action that ushers in social change for a better society. The theatre of commitment is therefore, a veritable tool for positive transformation of the society.

In his attempt to draw a positive correlation between the theatre of commitment and community or popular theatre which is also a variant of theatre that is committed to change, Gbilekaa states that:

… popular theatre is a theatre of conscientisation. It aims at awakening the consciousness of the rural folks to understand the societal configurations as well as to have faith in themselves as vectors of change. In Africa, countries like Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, Cameroun and Nigeria are involved in popular theatre projects. As a poly-functional theatre, community or popular theatre is a theatre of pedagogy, liberation and revolution… (iv)

Ahmed Yerima quotes Ronald Harwood as having emphasised that “the theatre became the medium through which life‟s tensions were mercilessly exposed” (47). In the same breath, Yerima also quotes Athol Fugard as having stated that “… the theatre is a weapon for fighting social injustice” (58). In the words of Ngugi wa Thiong „O and Micere Githat Mugo “… Good theatre is that which is on the side of the people, that which without masking mistakes and

weaknesses, gives people courage and urges them to higher resolves in their struggles for total liberation” (vi-vii).

The essence of commitment in the theatre is simply for effective communication for without it the playwright will be ineffective and would have failed to make any impact in the society. This is why theatre of commitment can also be referred to as social criticism. Hence Nigerianfeminist discourse provides strong indicators that feminist playwrights utilise thesecommitment potentials of both the literary drama and popular theatre for radicalising the subjugated position of women in Nigeria. Even though the Nigerian feminist agenda is yet to be fully accomplished, feminist theatre through commitment has achieved better protection for women. According to Canice Nwosu,“…A new dawn has come to herald the wind of change. Oppression and subjugation begat revolt and violence. Therefore, the theatre must create the requisite awareness needed for a change…” (Theatre Experience, 45)

In her contribution, Mabel Evwierhoma cites Ngugi wa Thiong‟O as having stated that:

Literature cannot escape from the power structure that shapes our everyday life.

Here a writer has no choice. Whether or not he is aware of it, his works reflect one or more aspects of the intense… political struggle in the society. What he can choose is one or the other side… the side of the people or the side of those social forces… that try to keep the people down. What he or she cannot do is to remain neutral. Every writer is a writer in politics. (56)

This Nigerian playwright goes further to explain that the salient point to take away from Ngugi wa Thiong‟O‟s assertion include the fact that:

Politics would always concern the people as well as influence their actions and vice versa as long as literature remains pivotal to a people‟s existence. It could also be adduced from opening statement that Ngugi recommends people‟s politics-that of the mass of the society made up of women and men and so is genderless. This is a politics of all and for all, where no man or woman is shut out. What this means is that the writer in politics could settle for a human balance in the portrayal of the involvement in politics… without underplaying one group to the detriment of the other. (57)

Nigerianplaywrights are known to have used the theatre to condemn social ills such as oppression, marginalisation, drug abuse, human trafficking, kidnapping, corruptionand the failure of the Nigerian government in virtually all sectors, leading to what sociologists refer to as ritualised deprivation. In this breath, therefore, the theatre is without doubt, an essential instrument for social reconstruction. It will, therefore, be correct to assert that the theatre of commitment is inextricably linked to Nigerian feminism for both are concerned with making positive changes in the society for the good of the oppressed and subjugated members of the society.

CHAPTER THREE

NIGERIAN FEMINIST AGENDA AND THE DYNAMISM OF FEMINIST REVOLUTION IN NWABUEZE’S THE DRAGON’S FUNERAL, ROTIMI’S OUR HUSBAND HAS GONE MAD AGAIN ANDCLARK’S THE WIVES’ REVOLT