"Death And The King's Horseman"

by Wole Soyinka

This is another short play by the Nobel prize winning Nigerian author Wole Soyinka. Although delivered in a witty and apparently light way, it addresses a very important issue of conflicting value systems in the colonial Africa. In this true story a British District Officer in an ancient Yoruba city in Nigeria intervenes in the local affairs believing that he is saving a life but instead he ruins several.

As Soyinka himself passionately points out, this play is not about a clash of cultures. This play asks the question what makes the European invaders of Africa believe that their morality is superior to that of the natives. Indeed, Olunde, a young Nigerian man educated in Britain helps to make the point by pointing out the bizare nature of European "morality" that allows the atrocities of World War II to occur.