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ABSURDIST DRAMA AND THEATRE OF COMMITMENT IN 
WOLE SOYINKA’S KING BAABU 

 
Kester Nnaemeka Dibia 

CDDSIU-SEEFOR, 
(World Bank and European Union Assisted), 

Opposite Government House, 
Anwai Road, Asaba-Delta State 

Kesterdibia02@gmail.com 

Abstract 

Existence is absurd because it is characterized by purposelessness, 
chaos, disorderliness, anguish, illogicality and hopelessness. Hence, 
Albert Camus, a French essayist and playwright captures this in his 
essay The Myth of Sisyphus where the gods condemned Sisyphus to 
rolling a stone up a hill only to have it roll down upon getting to the 
summit of the hill. The problem of this study therefore is the 
semblance of the science and technological engagement of the 
modern man as equally futile task. Hence, the paper aims to explain 
that absurdism captures this man’s futile search for some meaning,
direction, purpose or order and fullfilment. Objectives of study 
include to ascertain why this purposeful or meaningful existence that 
man craves for continues to elude him and why despondency has 
continued to dog the existence of man as mankind has consistently 
failed to achieve its aim of making provision for a logical and perfect 
existence, considering the numerous failures that characterise 
mankind’s plans, missions. The study also evaluates absurdist
theatre’s level of commitment to reformation, transformation and
change in a positive direction amidst this apparent failure of man. 
Using the content analysis approach of the qualitative research 
method; this paper examines Wole Soyinka’s absured drama-  King 
Baabu as a drama of commitment to interrogate the commitment and 
effectiveness of absurd drama. The researcher concluded that the 
absurd drama with its peculiar methodology is capable of reforming 
the society. Hence, he recommends the publication of more absured 
drama to revive the declining absurd theatre. 

Introduction 

The plays that make up the theatre of the absurd highlight the futility of 
all actions and the pointlessness of all directions. Absurdism emerged as 
a philosophical movement around the 19th and the 20th century. The term, 



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theatre of the absurd describes plays with absurdist conventions. It is a 
designation for plays written by a number of playwrights in the 1940s, 50s, 
60s, up to the recent times. Absurdism is credited to the 19th century 
Danish Philosopher, Soren Kierkagaad. Absurdism, is a belief system that 
is born out of the existentialist movement when the French philosopher 
and playwright, Albert Camus published his work, The Myth of Sisyphus; 
the Myth of Sisyphus is Camus’ foremost work on absurdism. In it, he
considers absurdity as a confrontation, an opposition, a conflict or a 
‘divorce’ between two ideals.  

The philosophy behind the absurd theatre portrays human beings as 
always making efforts to make meaning out of the existential essence of 
man. The theatre of the absurd as espoused by Albert Camus, who lived 
from 1913 to 1960, is used to describe or denote a human situation that is 
out of tune and out of harmony with reason; a situation that is completely 
found to be illogical and incongruous with logical and rational existence. 
Hence, man resorts to filling the gap with a purpose set forth by higher 
powers, often a belief in supernatural powers, often represented by God or 
the gods.  Emeka Nwabueze states that: 

The concept of absurdism maintains that human life and experiences 
evoke notions of absurdity, leaving the individual with choices 
comprising suicide, a leap of faith or recognition. Recognition is the 
only defensible option open to man in his struggles to find meaning 
in a meaningless existence. Suicide as an option, is an admission that 
life is not worth living and offers a way out to the absurdity of living 
in a meaningless, illogical universe… The leap of faith is an escape
from rationality, and is, in fact, a philosophical suicide, which should 
be rejected along with physical suicide. (132)     

Rational philosophers like Plato and Aristotle are unanimous in their 
informed opinions that situations or events must be premised on logic and 
rationality. On the other hand, absurdist theorists are of the opinion that 
mankind has not been able to make provisions for or achieve logical 
existence hence what mankind is faced with are layers of illogicality as 
emergent outcomes of numerous failures that characterise human plans 
and missions. For example, the need for comfortable means of transport 
has led scientists to invent and produce motor cars, aircrafts, the rail and 
marine transport systems. But ironically, these inventions have turned out 
to become sources of human destruction and misery. For example, if 
aircrafts and warships are not being used in conflict situations by the Air-
Force and Navy Personnel to destroy the lives and property of those 



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identified as insurgents or enemies, we are having crashes and other 
related disasters. In the opinion of absurdists therefore, mankind is back 
to square one as what was invented to bring about comfort and progress 
for man and ensure a meaningful existence for him has turned out to 
become sources of danger, misery and anguish. Therefore, while 
rationalists believe that rationality and the true scale of good keep the 
world in perfect harmony, absurdists nurse strong doubts about the 
capability of man to pursue and achieve such harmony and goodness to be 
able to lead a logical existence that is completely devoid of hopelessness, 
chaos or disorderliness. Ubong Nda opines that the absurdist theatre 
emerged after the second world war as : 

… an unconditional springing up of dramatic thoughts… The
appellation “theatre of the absurd” was coined by Martin Esslin, a
drama critic from a quotation in the Myth of Sisyphus written by the 
renowned French dramatist and philosopher, Albert Camus (1913-
1960). The philosopher/dramatist asserts that the contemporary 
world has lost the comfort and security of explaining the world based 
on reason and logic. (16)  

In his play entitled King Baabu, Wole Soyinka presents a ruler known as 
Basha who, through his actions and utterances only succeeds in portraying 
himself as an absolutist ruler who is only interested in achieving his 
personal aggrandizement at the expense of the welfare and well-being of 
his people or subjects. Sociologically, absolutism denotes a political 
system or regime in which the ruler is not constrained in the exercise of 
power either by custom or rule of law. Thus, the ruler’s will in this regard,
is constantly turned into action. To achieve his ambition of advancing his 
personal aggrandizement, King Baabu stops at nothing, including violence 
against his people and selfish appropriation of national wealth to himself. 
King Baabu paints a clearer picture of his retrogressive agenda against his 
people and his intention to milk the treasury of his country dry when he 
states that “… but I think as long as he thinks I give him banking cow to 
milk, he remaining loyal. Trouble begin when he see that I intend to milk 
banking cow myself. All national cow in fact… (37). As a leader whose
government thrives on corruption, financial debauchery and violence, 
King Baabu states that: 

…King Baabu the bountiful say spend it all. Spend every last penny 
of spanking Guatuna currency, Pa Baabu going to feed all his 
children today so burst your throats as much as you want with food 
and drink but Papa Baabu going to make you all work for it later, you 
bet! (49)   



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A number of playwrights including Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, 
Nigeria’s Ola Rotimi and Wole Soyinka to mention a few, have, without
doubt drawn inspiration from the absurdist philosophy that hinges on 
observed illogicality, disharmony, hopelessness, purposelessness and 
directionlessness that characterise human existence.  Various techniques 
used by these playwrights show that the absurdist dramatist has succeeded 
in conditioning the audience to accept modern theatre techniques of 
simplification, suggestion and distortion as basic theatrical techniques. To 
achieve this, Edwin Wilson and Alvin Goldfish state that “Absurdist
playwrights present our existence including human relationships and 
human language as futile or non-sensical. To reinforce this theme, they 
use seemingly illogical dramatic techniques” (348). They go further to
contend that even the structure of absurdist plays appears to differ 
essentially from the plays of the preceding period. They posit that 
absurdist plays do not “… have either traditional climatic structure or 
episodic structure. Frequently, nothing seems to happen, the plot moves in 
a circle, concluding in the same way it began (348).  

Consequently, absurdist dramas have come to portray the world in this 
circle and confused manner with mankind adrift in a neutral universe 
where truth is lack of logic, order and certainty. Hence Femi Shaka 
observes that: 

… Psychology had shown increasingly that many of man’s most
powerful motivations are subconscious and cannot be deduced from 
purely external signs. The absurdist drama is thus part of the 
movements to redefine the world in which we live. (10)  

The theatre of commitment which also embodies absurdist drama emerged 
out of the need to put an end to the oppression and social injustices that 
Africans were subjected to by Europeans or white minority leaders 
especially in South Africa during the apartheid regime. The theatre of 
commitment points to the glaring fact that there are ample and compelling 
evidence all around us that most socio-political systems and governments, 
especially in third world countries like Nigeria, have failed to demonstrate 
enough commitment towards keeping violence and social injustices in 
their various shades and colours, exemplified by oppression, suppression, 
and so on, within decent bounds. Nigeria’s Ola Rotimi once stated that he
wrote Holding Talks, an absurdist play, to portray the lack of commitment 
of governments at all levels and the society generally, to the well-being of 
the people. Ahmed Yerima states that Rotimi had been “dismayed at a
growing propensity, a penchant of our universe today for jaw-jawing…



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there’s so much talking and less positive action these days…” (5). The
theatre of commitment is concerned with bringing about positive changes 
in the society. It is a form of theatre that seeks to cater for the needs and 
aspirations of the down-trodden in the society. It is interested in and 
committed to addressing the various forms of social injustices or 
oppression which the less privileged in the society are subjected to. It is 
essentially, an instrument of or a catalyst for social change and 
development.  

Essentially, theatre of commitment came into being through experiments 
from realism which the dramatist employed to portray his environment as 
it is. Theatre of commitment is obsessed with bringing about the required 
change in the society. Theatre of commitment is committed to catering for 
the well-being of the masses hence Festus Iyayi posits that: 

… it is the society, the type of economic and hence the political
system which we are operating in our country today that brutalises 
the individual, rapes his manhood. It is necessary that all the 
oppressed sections of our community ought to take up arms to 
overthrow the present oppressive system. The system that has already 
proved that it operates through violence… (185)  

Absurdist drama and theatre of commitment are two sides of the same 
coin. The absurdist theatre is a multiform theatre with inherent reformative 
potentials that can sensitise the people. It is committed to exposing the ills 
or iniquities of the society and the purposelessness that characterises 
man’s existence and then spurs him to action. Many absurdist dramatists 
remain committed in a wide range of plays with absurdist characteristics 
like characters caught in hopeless situations, forced to carry out repetitive 
or meaningless tasks or actions, dialogue full of clichés, play on words or 
the use of pun. The plot of many absurdist plays feature characters in 
interdependent pairs. The characters may be roughly equal or have a 
begrudging interdependence. One character may be clearly dominant or 
may torture the passive character as in Ola Rotimi’s Holding Talks where 
Man is the domineering character who tortures Barber till he dies. Man 
eventually shifts the torture to Apprentice. Generally, absurdists use these 
techniques to portray a chaotic society, a universe that is adrift and a 
degenerated mankind. According to Robert Cohen: 

… Going beyond the use of symbols and the fantasy and poetry of
other non-realists the absurdists have distinguished themselves by 
employing in their dramas, for example, clocks that clang 
incessantly, characters that eat pap in ashcan, corpses that grow by 



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the minute and personal interactions that are belligently non-credible. 
(263) 

In King Babuu, Wole Soyinka uses this master/servant absurdist
technique. The domineering character in the play is known as Maariya, 
though responsible for Basha’s predicament, lashes out at him below: 

Maariya: He’s blabbering. That special blabbering when he’s scared
shitless, don’t I just know it?.. Oh dear, I bet… I knew it. Turn
around! 

Basha:    (backs away) I don’t want to. Let me alone. 

Maariya: You’re disgusting! If you think I am going to keep washing
your soiled pants for you any time you’re scared… Go and clean up
at once. I don’t want any of your subordinates to see you as you really
are. 

Basha:    (Walking out backwards) Nothing here to clean up, but I 
wanting to visit toilet anyway. I have the runs. All other beings not 
like you who get stone for stomach. The rest of us human, have to 
run sometime or other. Something call obeying call of nature. 

Maariya: Are you still here? Next time I’ll really let the news leak
out to the soldiers how their general leaks into his pants. You think I 
am joking? 

Fatasimu! (Basha scuttles off). (9) 

As a further demonstration of her domineering character, Maariya goes 
further to threaten Basha that she will expose him to the ridicule of his 
subordinates if he fails to topple the military regime headed by General 
Potipoo! She states that “… if he doesn’t come round to my plans, that’s
one threat I won’t hesitate to use. All’s fair in love and war- that’s what
they all say, fair is foul and foul is fair… (10)  

Plots in absurdist plays are usually cyclical. Endgame, for example begins 
where the play ends- some lines at the beginning respond to some lines at 
the end and then the reader is led to safely assume that each day the same 
actions will take place.   

Theatre of commitment on the other hand, can be said to be hinged on 
radical methodological approaches of absurdism. It is a theatre that is 
concerned with enthroning positive changes in the society and radicalism 
is simply a catalyst for change, be it social, political or economic. Theatre 



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of commitment is an ideological term that is used to identify political 
radicalism hence, Saint Gbilekaa contends that: 

… radicalism in Nigeria’s dramaturgical art is a product of colonial
imperialism as well as socio-economic developments in independent 
Nigeria. It started as a protest… thus in the 1970s, beginning with the
plays of Femi Osofisan, Bode Sowande, Lole Omotosho, this protest 
changed gear from mere political satire to total ideological 
commitment on the part of the artiste. (48)      

The salient message contained in the quotation above is that dramatists or 
artistes engaged in the theatre of commitment to launch a crusade for 
change in the society must work collectively in order to transform the 
society for the good of all. 

King Baabu as an Absurdist Play 

According to Oscar Brocket as quoted by Ubong Nda: 
Structurally, absurdist plays are characterised by the disjointed 
scenes that are bound together by a common theme, rather than a 
sequential arrangement where one thing leads to another… This
structural disorientation is borne out of the absurdist’s insistence that 
life is not orderly and sequential, and that the cause to effect 
arrangement ascribed to life by rationalists does not exist in reality. 
(25)  

King Baabu is typically absurdist in structure. It has a succession of scenes 
or episodes with the selfish, calculative and over-ambitious Maariya 
dominating affairs. Arising from this structural deficiency, the characters 
in King Baabu are like automatons. Like most absurdist characters, not 
much is known about the past of Basha Bash, Maariya and indeed, any of 
the other characters. Maariya attempts to disclose some information about 
the background of Basha as a former goatherd and a coupist who has been 
involved in several coup plotting and execution in the past. Beyond that, 
nothing else is known about him. This type of characterisation is the 
absurdist playwright’s way of portraying characters in absurdist plays as
robots without such luxuries as biographies, background or sequential 
existence. Basha also presents himself to his people as a kind, caring and 
generous father of all his people. He states that “…Pa Baabu going to feed
all his children today, so burst your throats as much as you want with food 
and drinks… (49. As a ruler, Baabu is anything but kind, caring and
generous as in almost the same breath, he says “… but Papa Baabu going



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to make you all work for it later, you bet” (49). This is a typical absurdist
technique of depicting man’s inability to be truly what he professes to be.  

In Africa, governance is characterised by mindless financial debauchery 
whereby government officials steal and spend money from government’s
coffers recklessly. The playwright shows that we have not been able to 
extricate ourselves from this malaise when King Baabu says “… I’m
thinking now, to be bountiful. Give me one box of spanking new Guatuna 
notes. Time I do some spraying with my own hands… hold on, my loyal
subjects, Papa Baabu going to show bountiful hand to his children” (49).
Earlier, Maariya had informed the people that the leader had nothing, 
having sold his assets and distributing the money realised as proceeds from 
the sale of his assets to all citizens. She however, admits to Basha that “…
Those are mint- fresh bank notes I ordered in your name this morning. 
Why would I forge bank notes when I can forge your signature?” (46). 

The playwright, has by this confession from Maariya, highlighted the fact 
that in our society, the leadership is neck-deep in corruption, dishonesty, 
deceit and anything but exemplary. It is an evil cycle of squander mania 
as successive governments or administrations, irrespective of their brand 
names, whether military or civilian, are always worse than previous ones 
as demonstrated by poor management of the nation’s resources. In the
opinion of the playwright, therefore, we are back to square one as Basha’s
new regime is not better than or even positively different from the previous 
ones headed by Rajinda or Potipoo whose tenures as heads of government 
at various times can best be described as a web of deceits, lies, intrigues 
and corruption.  

The playwright also employs clichés as part of absurdists’ bid to show the
mechanical and colloquial nature of language communication which 
manifests in insincerity and untruthfulness that characterise the process of 
human communication. Tikim refers to Basha as “the people’s redeemer”
(41). Rout also states that “Fellow citizens, we present… Basha the man
of the moment.  Basha the man of the masses. Basha the champion of the 
oppressed” (41). But the truth is that Basha is anything but the people’s 
redeemer. The playwright uses the praise-singing roles played by Tikim 
and Rout to underline the insincerity inherent in the praises that followers 
of leaders in Africa, especially those handling the Information Ministry or 
those tagged Chief Press Secretaries shower on their principals in their 
desperation to keep their jobs. That is why they will tell the people that 
certain health policies, for instance, which are funded through deductions 



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from workers’ salaries, are for the benefit of the masses whereas such 
policies are designed and executed purposely to enrich certain individuals 
within the corridors of power. Therefore, “Basha the people’s redeemer”
or “Basha the champion of the oppressed”, and so on, are all slogans that
have been observed only in the breach by our leaders who come to the 
people with promises of redemption and a brighter future only to end up 
redeeming their private pockets and those of their cronies and family 
members. This is why many countries in Africa, including Nigeria, are 
impoverished and are deep-neck in debt.  

In most cases, the dialogue in absurdist plays is purposely elliptical. Very 
often, the issues that characters in absurdist plays should address are 
replaced by ellipses or dashes as exemplified by the following dialogue: 

Baabu: I know longest time I must not only kill this woman but 
disembowel her with a rusty bayonet…  

Maariya: First listen to the beautiful music coming from down there 
… 

Crowd: If this is King Baabu… Baabu! Baabu! Father of the nation
… 

Basha: (Screaming) I not fathering anybody here. I not Papa Baabu 
and I not Baabu the Bountiful. Stop them Tikim… (4) 

Much of the dialogue in absurdist plays is characterised by this kind of 
evasiveness and inability to make a connection.  Distinctively, absurdist 
language is characterised by meaningless clichés, play on words and use 
of meaningless expressions. The following dialogue between Basha and 
Kpoki is typical of absurdist language: 

Basha: Gentlemen, gentlemen, officers and gentlemen, the 
government escaping a very narrow escape.  

Kpoki: From what? 

Basha: From treachery and butchery, from stratagems and mayhems, 
from catastrophe and apostrophe. We would all have met butchery in 
our beds or else butchery would have met us on the road. We were 
for the high jump from Potipoo downwards… (33)  

As in the above examples, meaningless clichés or play on words are 
usually used in absurdist theatre to portray the limits of language while 
‘questioning or parodying the determinism of science and the knowability
of truth’. 



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King Baabu as a Drama of Commitment  

King Baabu just like other absurdist plays dramatises the absurdity and 
crisis that characterise human existence. Wole Soyinka may have come to 
the realisation that what he and other absurdist playwrights have been 
taught about social order, cohesion, fair play and warnings about planning 
for the next hour and posterity or rather, the popular maxim of “saving for
the rainy day” may have been illusions or delusions when compared with
the realities of the human situation.  No doubt, they, just like the rest of 
us, have heard about fair play, equity and social justice only to be 
confronted with a preponderance of oppression, suppression, human rights 
abuses and pervasion or miscarriage of justice, most times encouraged by 
the insensitivity of the upper or ruling class. Commenting on the myriad 
of socio-economic problems plaguing the nation, Nnamdi Azikiwe of 
blessed memory declared that “… faulty social organisation was mainly
responsible for crime, prostitution and all other vices… our society must
be treated like an individual to prevent it from becoming a victim of 
pathological factors…” (121) 

The theme of man’s dishonest nature is underscored in King Baabu when 
Basha invites representatives of the civilian populace to lunch in his 
residence. They are Rout, Dope and Rent. Basha (King Baabu) states that: 

Your Emnes! And Highness! And Comrade Rout- please come back, 
come back. It looks as if our dear wife has prepared special lunch to 
welcome you as personal guests of Chief of Army Staff. She thinking 
surely you deserve better than army cooking. Please, follow my 
orderly, he will take you to our guest dining room. Wish I coming 
with you but this emergency… my C-in-C waiting for me. (21)   

However, in actual fact, this invitation to lunch as “personal” guests of the
Chief of Army Staff is a camouflage for a coup being hatched up all 
because of man’s greed and inordinate quest for wealth and position. This
therefore, strongly indicates that trust, sincerity and honesty have since 
eroded the nation as part of the crises of human existence while fear and 
pessimism have been entrenched. Soyinka also highlights the social 
problems of corruption and greed when Maariya attempts to beguile the 
people by painting her husband, Basha, as an egalitarian and benevolent 
leader. She states that: 

… The new leader has nothing left because he has given away all he
has. To you, the people, Operation Fill the Stomach has already 
begun to yield full harvest. Look at those twenty fat cows tethered to 



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the trees. They are all for you. Eat and drink till day break. There is 
food for everyone… There is pito and palm wine, burukutu and kain-
kain for everyone… And you’ll have three days on which to recover
because he has declared a three-day national holiday… Those huge
vats over there are rice and beans and chicken and pork for everyone. 
That other side is for Muslims-no pork will be served there. And 
vegetables for vegetarians on that side. No meat or fish. We have laid 
out enough eggs to…Yes, plenty for the stomach but  also something 
for the pockets…This is what he owns in this world and he has sworn
to take none of it to the other world. This is a leader who is truly 
baabu but who is the Most bountiful of living spirits. (Empties boxes 
of notes over the heads of the crowd. A mad scramble for the cash). 
(46) 

However, this picture painted of Basha by Maariya sharply contrasts with 
an earlier one painted by Basha of himself as a greedy and corrupt leader 
who is determined to bleed the nation dry. He states that “Moriya, husband
and whole family can all go to hell. Wait till Basha start digging into that 
bottomless pot of crude with these very hands right down to the elbow and 
up the stinking armpits…” (7). Then on page 37 Basha goes further to
paint himself as a corrupt, insensitive and greedy leader when he states 
that “… But I think as long as he think I give him banking cow to milk, he
remaining loyal. Trouble begin when he see that I intend to milk banking 
cow myself. All national cow in fact…”  

Nigeria and indeed so many other African countries have at one time or 
the other experienced dictatorship. Dictatorial regimes are characterised 
by their uncanny tendencies to oppress and suppress popular opinions, 
especially the opinions coming from those that such dictatorial regimes 
have tagged “the opposition”. Dictators do not accommodate criticisms
and suggestions no matter how constructive they may be. Basha exhibits 
these characteristics especially during a meeting with bank managers. 

During the meeting, Basha makes attempts to compel the bank managers 
through their spokesman, who is also the managing director of Sankofo 
Heritage Bank of Guatu to sign an open cheque. This is revealed in the 
following dialogue: 

Spokesman: But this is the same cheque that ex-Brigadier General, 
Chief Tikim has been trying to get us to sign.  

Baabu: Yes. Is own cheque book for your bank, not so? You saying 
you have no confidence in your own cheque book? 



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Spokesman: Your majesty, this is still an open cheque?  

Baabu: What your trouble? I think you hear me say from now on we 
all running open government? Everything must be done in the open, 
that is why we holding this enquiry in full view of public so no one 
complaining anybody making bad business behind back of public. 
You sign open cheque.  

Spokesman: But we have to account to our shareholders and 
investors… (55) 

In his reaction, Baabu screams “too much grammar I am hearing this
morning and is all taking place on empty stomach” (55). He goes a step
further to direct his henchman, Bhieu to “shove this fool into open pit”
(55).  

The impatience and intolerance that Basha exhibits during the meeting are 
characteristic of dictators who often times are too impatient to 
accommodate contrary views, no matter how rational such views may be.  

Conclusion 

The study reveals that the absurdist playwright has made great efforts to 
expose the despondency that characterises human existence and situation. 
The play has successfully shown that mankind has failed woefully to make 
provision for a logical and perfect existence, considering numerous 
failures that characterise mankind’s plans, missions, inventions and 
evolutions which are originally aimed at improving the lot of man.  King 
Baabu can therefore, simply be said to have successfully artistically 
instigated doubts on the feasibility of sound reasoning and logicality.  

Through content analysis of the play, the researcher is able to reveal that 
part of the absurdity of man and his follies are traceable to his hypocritical 
attitude, pompous nature and insensitivity of the leadership class to the 
plight of the less privileged. The study has therefore, succeeded in 
bringing to us the playwright’s use of absurdist drama as a committed
theatre to critically examine rationalism. According to Ubong Nda, “the
level of pessimism unleashed on humanity by this school of thought in the 
bid to write off rational thought is too dangerous for human development. 
The strength of the absurdist pessimism is such that is capable of creating 
a despondent humanity. A mankind that no more strives, hopes and plans 
for tomorrow…” (29)  



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The researcher concludes that absurd theatre has high lvel of commitment; 
thus, the absurdist playwright should use his drama as a tool for 
reformation, transformation and positive change that will usher in a better 
society. Then the image of the theatre as a seriously inclined medium of 
change rather than an entertainment medium would have been enhanced. 

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Essays. New York: Ransom House, 1955:88-91. 
Hodgson, John. The Uses of Drama. London: Eyre Methuen Publishers, 1972. 
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Nda Ubong. “Ola Rotimi’s Holding Talks, An Absurdist’s Question Mark on 

Rational Discourse in Ola Rotimi’s Drama and Theatre, Issues and
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Nwabueze, Emeka. Studies in Dramatic Literature. Enugu: ABIC Books, 
2011. 

Robert, Cohen. Teatre-Brief Version. USA: Moyfield Publishers, 1980. 
Rotimi, Ola, Holding Talks. Ibadan: University Press, 1979.  
Saint Gbilekaa. Theatre and Political Change in Nigeria since Independence 

in Theatre and Politics in Nigeria. Ibadan: Calton Publications, 1993. 
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