‘OYO Lo Wa’: When a People Reject a Defiant Playwright

Abstract

Most postcolonial States are arguably dysfunctional. Thus, playwrights in such States like Nigeria often find themselves at a junction the people inform them, in the language of the street that, ‘OYO lo wa,’ you are ‘On Your Own’, whenever they engage the decadence in the polity in their works. This response-position of the people reminds one of works like Playing Dangerously…, a work that foregrounds the precariousness of being a committed playwright in a postcolonial frontier of terror as Osofisan (2010) puts it. The masses, for the fear of their survival, often abandon the playwrights to the brutality of the State hegemonies. So, how does a writer respond to the terror of betrayal by the people he/she seeks to mobilize for socio-cultural revolution? And, when the masses see him/her as a subversive writer, where does he/she draw the strength to remain defiant in his/her pursuit of socio-political justice and economic inclusivity for all? As a playwright, one who has decided to be rebellious against the hegemonies, these are the issues I try to address in this paper using the theory of dialectical-texts-consciousness. I try to argue that one must transcend ‘it-Self’ to continue to remain a nonconforming writer against postcolonial hegemonies.