Whales Ogunyemi

Wale Ogunyemi MON (born August 12, 1939 in Igbajo , West Nigeria , † December 18, 2001 ) was an important figure in the Nigerian theater scene. He played charismatic roles in film and television, was a theater writer and an important interpreter of the history, myths and customs of the Yoruba .

Life

Ogunyemi graduated from middle school at a government school, after which he was, among other things, a secretary at the Baptist mission in Ibadan until 1964 . At the same time he was occasionally an amateur actor for the television company of Western Nigeria . He had already begun writing plays in the early 1960s, initially in Yoruba.

In 1967 Ogunyemi became an acting student at the University of Ibadan and took a one-year course in theater studies. At the same time he was employed as a research assistant and translator at the University's Institute of African Studies . Ogunyemi stayed at this institute throughout his professional life and became increasingly concerned with the Yoroba culture. An important moment in his life was his acquaintance with the writer and theater director Wole Soyinka , who later won the Nobel Prize for Literature .

Ogunyemi became a founding member of Syoyinka's Orisun Theater . He played both comic and serious roles until his death, most recently in Soyinka's satire King Baabu . Since the mid-1960s he wrote plays for television and later for the stage. His plays are related and have the order and logic of traditional Yoruba society. Examples are the pieces The Ijaye War (1970) and Kiriji (1971), which deal with the wars of the 19th century between the Yoruba and point to the problematic conditions in Nigeria in the 20th and 21st centuries.

In 1977 his piece Langbodo was performed on the occasion of the Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture ( FESTAC ) in Lagos .

Works

• Business Headache , 1966.
• The Scheme , 1967.
• Born with Fire on his Head , 1967 in: Ulli Beier : Three Nigerian Plays .
• Are Akogun , 1969. An adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth .
• Obuluaye , 1972.
• The Divorce , 1977.
• Eniyan : A Morality Play. Ibadan University Press, Ibadan 1987, ISBN 978-121-144-X .
• Queen Amina of Zazzau , University Press PLC, Ibadan 1999, ISBN 978-030-567-X .

Awards

• 1982: Majeobaje of Okuku , Osun State
• 1982: Member Order of the Niger
• 1988: Association of Nigerian Authors Drama Award