The Oxford Dictionary of Plays

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The Road

Road, The

Author: Wole Soyinka

First Performance: 1965, London

Published: 1965

Genre: Drama in 2 acts

Setting: The Professor's store by a roadside, Nigeria, 1960s

Cast: 8m, extras

The Professor is a likeable scoundrel. He was expelled for embezzlement from the church in which he was a lay reader, and now makes a living forging driving licences and selling spare parts of cars that he has caused to crash on ‘the road’ by removing traffic signs. His store, where he holds religious services, provides a meeting place for layabouts, crooks, lorry drivers, and corrupt police. Some of their stories are revealed in flashbacks, especially that of Kotonu, a lorry driver, who knocked down an egungun masquerader. Resourcefully, Kotonu loaded the body into his lorry, took the man's mask, and danced in...

[The entire page is 337 words long]

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