Published Plays by Zulu Sofola
(Evans Brothers (Nigeria Publishers) Ltd, 1986
This plays explores the familiar African scenes of love and revel, romance and adventure under the irresistible force of the tropical moonlight, and the age old desire of old men to rejuvenate their lives through marriage to teenage girls
(University Press PLC, 1979,1991)
Set in a Nigerian Village during the days of the first republic. Okebuno travels to his home town from Lagos to canvass for support for the upcoming elections. He discovers that things are not as easy, and the pressure from the opposition mounts on him..
(University Press Plc, 1991)
A group of academicians are visiting Shao to conduct some research. However, their eccentric behavior, especially that of Professor Aduyinka has scared the villagers, so the academicians have been banished from Shao soil and relegated to live on the hill top. The demands of the gods of Shao threaten the continuity of the research. An unexpected twist emerges at the end of this drama
(Evans Brothers Limited, 1972, 1991)
Wedlock of the Gods is a tragedy which finds its rooted in the ritual of death and mourning. The Traditional solemnity of the ritual is distorted however for, rather than engaging in the normal funeral rites and rituals which should have cleansed her and send the spirit of the deceased to the world of the gods, the widow expresses a sense of liberation from unwanted marriage, while the moth of the deceased performs rites meant to destroy her son’s widow as an act of vengeance for supposedly killing her son.
(Heinemann Educational Books, 1974, 1991)
Peace Week is the week when the King is transformed into a god and enters a shrine to carry to problems of his citizens to their god. According to tradition, the King must be pure and undefiled. The oracle and the goddess of the kingdom must confirm that all is well before the King enters the shrine. But all is not well. Nneobi, the King’s mother, has committed a crime so that the King Emene may not be enthroned. The elders and other officials warn the King of the need for a public confession of the crime and the purification of the throne. But he sees the advice of the elders as a plot to destroy him. His rejection of their advice leads to a tragedy.
(Evans Brothers Limited, 1988)
The Wizard of Law is about an old lawyer who has met reverses and tries at a festive period to impress his wife by purchasing nine metres of lace material on credit at a time that he was penniless. The cloth-seller, Rafiu, takes advantage of this opportunity to inflate the price of the cloth in order to make a larger gain. The lawyer not having the money to pay gets in more trouble. He desperately looks for a court case to through which to get the money to fund his cloth purchase.
Akpan, Rafiu’s goat keeper, gets in trouble with Rafiu and needs the lawyer’s help. Akpan finally outwits the the lawyer who was trying to outwit Rafiu.
Other Plays
- The Celebration of Life
- The Deer and the Hunter’s Pearl
- The Disturbed Peace of Christmas (Published)
- Eclipso and the Fantasia
- Ivory Tower
- Lost Dreams
- The Love of Life
- The Operators
- The Showers
- Queen Omu- Ako of Oligbo