Contemporary Nigerian Female Playwrights

This study examines the content and form of plays written by Nigerian female playwrights, in order to assess their contribution to women’s struggle and determine how far their drama contradicts or ratifies the existing image of women in literature. The women whose plays are studied in this work include the pioneers – Sofola and Onwueme – and the emerging ones – Stella Oyedepo, Onyeka Onyekuba, Tracie Utoh-Ezeajugh, Irene Salami-Agunloye and Chinyere Okafor. Through a study of selected plays of each of the seven female playwrights, the work gives an analysis of the thematic preoccupations, ideological orientations, dramatic technique and style of both the pioneer and the emerging female playwrights in Nigeria. The work provides a comprehensive study of Nigerian female playwrights and therefore offers a forum for the discussion of women’s plays in Nigeria. It equally makes possible a comparative analysis of the content and form of these women’s drama as well as clarifies such issues as ‘feminist aesthetics’ and ‘feminist theatre’ in Nigeria.