Madmen and Specialists (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Wole Soyinka
- First Published: 1971
- Type of Plot: Morality play
- Time of Work: Unspecified
- Setting: Unspecified, but suggestive of Nigeria after the 1967-1969 Civil War
- Principal Characters: Blindman, Goyi, Cripple, Aafaa, Dr. Bero, Si Bero, Iya Agba, Iya Mate, Priest, The Old Man
- Genres: Drama, Postcolonial literature, Mythological literature, Morality play
- Subjects: Values, Africa or Africans, Religion, Good and evil, Fratricide, parricide, or filicide, Corruption, Begging or beggars, Cannibalism, Acrobatics or acrobats
- Locales: Nigeria
The Play
Part 1 of Madmen and Specialists opens with four mendicants at a roadside—Goyi, Cripple, Blindman, and Aafaa. Behind them is Dr. Bero’s home with a basement office. To the side is a “semi-open hut” in which are visible two old women, Iya Agba and Iya Mate. The level space in front of Bero’s home holds barks and herbs set out for drying. The mendicants, casualties of a recent war, wager parts of their bodies in a dice game and wonder if their former therapist, the Old Man, Dr. Bero’s father, will ever fulfill his promise of taking them on a world...
[The entire page is 4091 words long]
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