FEMINISM IN THE NIGERIAN THEATRE: A DIALOGIC ASSESSMENT OFOLA ROTIMI’S OUR HUSBAND HAS GONE MAD AGAIN AND ’TESS ONWUEME’S THE REIGN OF WAZOBIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

In the beginning, the Bible said, God created Adam; the first man and later Eve; the first woman- from the ribs of Adam. The western ideology of life is arguably hinged on this maxim. It has shaped argument for the larger part of hundreds of years and forms an allusion in the gender debate that woman was created from the rib of man. Hence, man is lord over woman. However, Science says otherwise, what myth had propagated for ages. Mircea Eliade (143), in his theory of Eternal Return, talks of the deliberate concentration of Bible Studies toward the masses as truth, what was myth. Motheise Lamsas (34), further highlighted the argument and misconception of the Biblical verses in the creation processes. However, we are here concern with the representation of its finest variant; either created from man as the facts of the Christian religion believes or argued by science through Evolution.

Women all through the ages have a particular way of representation, a mode of communication, a perception of existence that varies from the man. Some argue this on the facts of their anatomy, others point to the socialization of the gender, yet a majority of these postulations are done by men other than women, hence with time, there begin to arise women’s voices and ideas, of what such representation should look like, how they should be represented and accepted. These new questioning of righteously held dogmas gave rise to new perspective on issues and strived to counter certain aspect of the society that have not been consistently and justly adjudicated. A social glance around the world is abounds with different social strands of stereotypical conditioning of women, rationalised through cultural, traditional and religious permutations. It is a historical fact that of the two sexes, women issues dominate the evolvement curves of social discuss recently, because they are the least engaged yet philosophically concluded as unworthy of, and for critical scholarship.

Philosophy shapes societies. It is the bedrock from which identity, social constructions and interpretations emanate from, and consequently forms the bedrock of the cultural beliefs system of the society. Yet, philosophy has been inherently male in its composition and promulgation, from the earliest philosophers until the advert of deconstructionists’ outcry for a re-evaluation of this debatable natural phenomenon. At the academic level, these agitations for the inclusion of women perspectives into issues and of issues, has opened up a new field of discourse. Feminism, as an encompassing philosophy for the edification of women in the society is not a new topic of engagement, but a continuing dialogue in search for a fairer deal for women and a balance presentation of a humanist view of the sexes.