COURSE TITLE: THEATRE AND GENDER STUDIES

COURSE CODE: THA 326

TOPIC: HOW FEMINISM HAS INFLUENCED THE

WORLD ESPECIALLY THROUGH THEATRICAL
PRODUCTIONS AND PERFORMANCE.

GR0UP NUMBER: 5

LECTURER-IN-CHARGE: DR AMINAT ADEBAYO

 GROUP MEMBERS
1. Emmanuella Ayinkwa 170108152
2. Akhimien J. Ibhade 170108153
3. Akinwade Abidemi Elizabeth 170108101
4. Ajanlekoko Emmanuel – David 170108043
5. Somoye Oluwaseyi Crown 170108037
6. Ojo Oluwatimileyin 170108034
7. Okpor Naomi 170108160
8. Olaade Mercy 170108035
9. Gbenle Olorunoje Isaac 170108041
10. Akineye Olapeju 170108099
11. Mohammed Habibat 170108154
12. Oyinkansola Joseph 170108097
13. Kosoko Temilade 170108093
14. Augbe Patrick Uzoma 170108100
15. Edet Victor 170108158
 FEMINIST THEATRE
As long as theater has existed as a human endeavor, women have been involved
in the creation of performances. In Western society, the earliest known plays
were various types of fertility celebrations held in honor of the Greek god
Dionysus; many of these rites were almost certainly first performed by women
known as maenads. Eventually, when theater became a state-sponsored
institution, women were no longer allowed to participate in public performance.
Though this exclusion of women is unfortunately all too typical of theater
history, during the twentieth century a new style of issue oriented, female
centered theater began to emerge, led by pioneering feminist playwrights such
as Alice Childress, Tina Howe, Caryl Churchill, Lorraine Hansberry and Marsha
Norman, among others.

Feminist theatre, is theatre that provides an alternative not just to the male
gaze but also to the normative gaze by intervening in cultural assumptions
about identity, dismantling binaries, and creating equality. Feminist theater can
also be defined as theater that works to highlight women’s social and political
struggles, while in the process exposing patriarchal structures in society and the
politics of prevailing gender roles. While striving to tell women's stories and
resist the marginalization of women, feminist theatre also works to destabilize
the male gaze. The male gaze is the idea that the world is seen from the
perspective of men and that women are generally depicted as objects to be
viewed or desired. Although feminist theater has waxed and waned throughout
its history, feminist writers and performers have made a lasting mark on the
world of contemporary theater.

The earliest known female playwright did not emerge in the twentieth century
but much earlier, in the tenth century—Hroswitha of Gandersheim , a nun who
wrote six comedies in Latin during her lifetime. Other early playwrights
included Isabella Andreini, a famous star of the Italian commedia dell’arte and
Aphra Behn, one of the most popular playwrights in England during the
seventeenth century. However, though women were writing plays and
participating in various ways in the theater, true feminist theater did not
emerge as a genre until the twentieth century. The different eras of theatre are
dissevered and explained as follows:

Early Twentieth Century

Understandably, the topic that brought feminist theater to the foreground was
one of the single most significant political issues of the twentieth century for
women: gaining the vote. Suffragists used several means to work for their right
to vote, including the creation of political drama. One such play was a three-act
vehicle titled Votes for Women . This play, by the American expatriate actress
Elizabeth Robins, was presented at London’s Court Theatre in 1907. The play
was a didactic work, with the express purpose of swaying the political opinions
of the viewers. The issues Robins dealt with in the work included not only
suffrage for women but also abortion, social justice for women workers, and
relationships between women. Though now seen as somewhat simplistic, this
complex and uncompromising play set the stage for a new type of drama by
women. Other important plays in this vein are How the Vote Was Won by
Cicely Hamilton, Chainslbby Elizabeth Baker, and In the Workhousem by
Margaret Nevinson.

Once a woman’s vote was deemed a constitutional right, however, the political
fervor that marked the suffrage movements in both the United States and Great
Britain was somewhat lessened. The effects of World War I and World War II
also served to take the focus away from the issue of feminism. Although many
female playwrights wrote during the period between 1900 and 1950, feminist
drama did not fully emerge again until the 1950’s.

1950’s
During the 1950’s, the undercurrents of social revolution were being felt at all
levels of American society, and once again women were deeply involved in the
changes taking place. One of the pioneers of feminist theater in this era was
Alice Childress, the first African American woman playwright to have a
professional production of her work staged Off-Broadway; she also won a 1956
Obie Award (the first ever won by a woman playwright) for her pioneering
work Trouble in Mind l. The main character in the play is an African American
actress named Wilmetta Mayer, who represents the political and social
aspirations of both women and African Americans in the stilted,
stereotype-ridden world of the United States in the 1950’s. In later plays, such
as Wine in the Wilderness and Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and
White, Childress continued to treat the theme of African American women
dealing with unjust social and economic conditions. Childress’s work was
extremely influential to her contemporaries, including Lorraine Hansberry.

Lorraine Hansberry wrote a small handful of plays (two of which were

incomplete when she died and were finished by her husband) before her
untimely death from cancer in 1965. The best known of these is A Raisin in the
Sun , which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best American
play of the 1958-1959 season. The play was immensely popular: It enjoyed a
two-year run on Broadway, was made into a popular film, and became a classic
of the feminist genre. Like Childress, Hansberry deals simultaneously with the
issues women face, particularly in society, and the more general issues of racial
inequity, economic injustice, and a lack of political power for oppressed
minorities. The mutual concern with justice for women and justice for all those
on the margins of society’s power structure continued to be a theme in women’s
writing, especially during the 1960’s and 1970’s, the most important period in
the history of feminist theater.

The 1960’s and 1970’s

During the 1960’s, the social protests that were in nascent form only a decade
before exploded onto the scene, prompted by many converging development,
protests against the Vietnam War and for civil rights for African Americans, the
increasing presence of women in the workplace, an emerging counterculture,
and various other trends. Out of this mix emerged the most important single
pioneer of feminist theater in the United States, Megan Terry .

Terry was an original founder of the Open Theatre of New York, one of the
most noteworthy organizations in modern stagecraft. From 1963 to 1966, the
Open Theatre conducted a series of workshops for actors and audiences,
exploring the ideas of what constituted performance and how plays might be
used in the service of social ideas. Terry’s one-act play Calm Down Mother is
considered by many to be the foundational play of modern feminist theater. In
this experimental work, three actresses called simply “Woman One,” “Woman
Two,” and “Woman Three” undergo a series of transformations, centering
around mother-daughter and mother-sister relationships. The actresses portray
famous characters such as Margaret Fuller, as well as stereotypical poor women
and even subway turnstile doors. The concept of transformation—of women
becoming “other,” dynamically changing identities and moving fluidly through
time and space—became a common theme in feminist drama. Later playwrights
from Caryl Churchill to Norman have used this device to great effect. Terry’s
other important plays include Ex-Miss Copper Queen on a Set of Pills, Keep
Tightly Closed in a Cool Dry Place, Comings and Goings (pr. 1966), Viet Rock: A
Folk War Movie, and Hothouse.
The clearest heir of Terry’s social protest writing style, Caryl Churchill, also
emerged as a professional playwright during the 1960’s but wrote her
best-known works during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Churchill wrote many radio
plays and other works for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in her
native England as early as 1958, but first reached real renown as a playwright
with the production of her play Owners in 1972 at London’s Royal Court
Theatre. She is best known for her masterwork, Top Girls , which was first
produced in 1982. In this complex drama, various female characters from
history and literature (including Isabella Bird, Lady Nijo, Dull Gret, Pope Joan,
Patient Griselda) gather for a dinner party with Marlene, a modern career
woman celebrating a promotion at work. The characters interact with each
other, completely heedless of time and reality, as the fictional and artistic
characters are treated exactly the same as Marlene herself. The characters
discuss women’s roles in their various societies over time, and Marlene deals
with her own guilt over giving her daughter away to someone else to raise in
order to move more quickly up the career ladder. Churchill pulls no punches in
holding women accountable for all their choices, good and bad, marking a
change from the “cheerleading” women’s dramas of earlier periods. As the
1980’s arrived, feminist theater was hitting its stride as a mature art form with a
distinct voice.

1980’s
By the 1980’s, feminist theater was well established as a distinctive genre of
drama, with its own venues, performers, and notable playwrights. Some of the
most significant works of feminist drama emerged during this era. Leading the
way was Marsha Norman, an American playwright who first garnered attention
with her 1977 work Getting Out , about a young woman being released from
prison, where she has spent eight years on charges of robbery, kidnapping, and
murder. The play follows the central character through her first day of freedom
and examines the obstacles that face her in her struggle to be a successful,
independent woman. The subject matter is tough and uncompromising, once
again including the familiar theme of mother-daughter conflict and the damage
wrought by the failure of mother love. Norman also uses some of the
transformational techniques pioneered by Terry. The main character, Arlene,
has an alter ego, Arlie, a separate character who represents the hard exterior
Arlene has traditionally presented to the world. Arlene and Arlie interact with
each other, as Arlene tries to fight off the lure of easy money through crime and
violence.
Although Getting Out was well received, Norman is best known for her most
important play, entitled ’night, Mother , which premiered in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, at the American Repertory Theatre in 1982 and in New York
City in 1983. The play won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Pulitzer
Prize in Drama in 1983. Highly controversial, ’night, Mother tells the story of
Jessie Cates, a woman with epilepsy who is divorced, has a delinquent son, and
lives with her mother, Thelma. The action takes place in real time on one
Saturday night when Jessie suddenly announces to her mother that she is going
to commit suicide. Jessie and Thelma argue about the suicide for the next two
hours, with Jessie explaining why she feels she is justified in taking her life and
Thelma trying to talk her out of it. Finally, Jessie completes the suicide at the
play’s end. The play was hailed as a masterwork by many critics and was a
popular audience favorite, but many feminist critics were offended by the final
suicide and complained that the play demeaned women’s lives. The fact that
Norman felt free to write such a brutally honest and highly negative play
demonstrates the level of maturity that feminist theater had achieved in the
seventy years since the earliest suffragist dramas, which were universally
positive about women and their choices. With increasing economic, cultural,
political, and social power, women were freer by this time to depict female lives
in a more balanced fashion, rather than putting on a positive visage in the face
of oppression.
Another popular and noteworthy writer of the 1980’s was Beth Henley, whose
comedy Crimes of the Heart (pr. 1979) opened on Broadway in 1981. The play
went on to win the 1981 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, as well as the 1980-1981 New
York Drama Critics Circle Award. A feature film was made of the play, and it
continues to be popular in regional theater revivals. Though obviously a great
deal more lighthearted than Norman’s work, Crimes of the Heart deals with
the three Magrath sisters. The youngest sister has shot her husband and is
about to go on trial for attempted murder, the oldest sister is mourning the
death of her pet horse, and the middle sibling is back home from Hollywood
where she tried to start a singing career. As the sisters interact, they discuss
their dead mother, who hanged the family cat and herself in the basement.
Conflicts about family roles, men, and the nature of sisterhood arise, and all are
treated in high comic fashion. Again, critics were divided about whether this
play showcased positive or negative images of women, a debate that marked its
maturity.

A final example of the high point reached by feminist theater in the 1980’s
is My Sister in This House , by Wendy Kesselman . The play premiered in New
York in 1981 and was awarded the 1980 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the
1980 Playbill Award. The play is based on the same 1933 murder case that
inspired Jean Genet’s famous play Les Bonnes. The play re-imagines the events
from the standpoint of the young women who serve as maids in a middle-class
household. Controversial issues of class tyranny, lesbianism, and women’s roles
in violence are examined in this play, which ends with a violent confrontation
and a grisly description of the murder scene from actual court records.
Kesselman’s play was viewed as enormously vital because it not only retold a
familiar story from a different perspective but also dealt with other contentious
issues in a matter-of-fact manner that was new at the time, especially for
American feminist theater.

Though feminist theater reached new heights in the 1980’s, the political and
social conditions that led to its rise were constantly shifting and changing. As
feminism itself matured and women gained more power in all arenas of public
life, many writers argued that issue-oriented drama was no longer needed.
Additionally, the changing economics of theater production made it more and
more difficult to produce dramatic plays that did not have universal appeal to
assure wide audiences. As the 1990’s approached, an economic downturn
exacerbated the problem, and feminist theater began to slip into a period of
decline.

The 1990’s
As the 1990’s dawned, the general feeling among many theatrical professionals
was that feminist theater was passé, a relic of a bygone era that seemed
unnecessary given women’s accomplishments in all areas of public life.
However, a few playwrights continued to write plays about women’s issues, and
many of these plays won major awards and found popular success. One writer
who flourished during the 1990’s, Wendy Wasserstein, actually made her debut
in the 1970’s. Wasserstein first came to public attention with her 1977
play Uncommon Women and Others, an all-woman ensemble piece about
students at Mount Holyoke College in the 1960’s. The play was considered
lightweight but found great popularity as a staple of college drama productions.
In 1989 Wasserstein gained more critical acclaim with The Heidi Chronicles,
another ensemble piece about a strong Jewish character facing the various
trials of life. Most consider her masterwork her 1992 play, The Sisters
Rosensweig, yet another ensemble piece about the lives of Jewish women from
New York. The play concerns three sisters from Brooklyn who meet in London
to celebrate the fifty-fourth birthday of the oldest sister, Sara. The play won the
Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play of the 1992-1993 season. Although still
concerned primarily with women’s lives, the play is typical of the more
mainstream, less didactic fare that became popular during the 1990’s.

Another play that garnered attention during the 1990’s was a 1998 play by Eve
Ensler, The Vagina Monologues . The play became somewhat controversial
when its extremely frank and explicit discussion of female sexuality and sexual
anatomy caused some cultural critics to complain that it was senselessly
exploitative. The play consists of a series of monologues, spoken by various
characters, about vaginas and the various sexual situations in which women
and girls find themselves. Rape, incest, masturbation, and other sensitive
subjects are treated at length. During the play’s run in New York, several
famous television actresses, as well as former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s wife,
Donna Hanover, were cast in the play, which was seen as a stunt by many
serious drama critics. Many other critics found the play pointless and
unnecessary. Nevertheless, the play continued to hold out the banner of
feminist theater at a time when it was otherwise in serious decline.

The Twenty-first Century

As drama continues to develop during the modern era, the future of feminist
theater is unclear. From its earliest beginnings in the suffrage era, women’s
drama has addressed the social injustices faced by women who were not
allowed full participation in political, economic, or cultural life. As women
overcame many of these obstacles during the twentieth century, the need for a
distinct class of feminist theater has become less pressing. Some see the genre
as hopelessly degraded, while others feel that a resurgence of women-centered
drama is possible. In any case, the history of feminist theater demonstrates that
women have created an exciting and powerful art form that reflects the vitality
of women’s changing lives and their constantly evolving roles in the modern
world.

Gender Reform Feminisms

The feminisms of the 1960s and 1970s were the beginning of the second wave of
feminism. They are liberal feminism, marxist and socialist feminisms, and
development feminism. Their roots were, respectively, 18th and 19th century
liberal political philosophy that developed the idea of individual rights, Marx's
19th century critique of capitalism and his concept of class consciousness, and
20th century anti-colonial politics and ideas of national development. Gender
reform feminisms put women into these perspectives.

Liberal Feminism
Theoretically, liberal feminism claims that gender differences are not based in
biology, and therefore that women and men are not all that different -- their
common humanity supersedes their procreative differentiation. If women and
men are not different, then they should not be treated differently under the law.
Women should have the same rights as men and the same educational and
work opportunities. The goal of liberal feminism in the United States was
embodies in the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was
never ratified. (It said, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex.") Politically,
liberal feminists formed somewhat bureaucratic organizations, which invited
men members. Their activist focus has been concerned with visible sources of
gender discrimination, such as gendered job markets and inequitable wage
scales, and with getting women into positions of authority in the professions,
government, and cultural institutions. Liberal feminist politics took important
weapons of the civil rights movement -- anti- discrimination legislation and
affirmative action -- and used them to fight gender inequality, especially in the
job market.

Marxist and Socialist Feminisms

Marx's analysis of the social structure of capitalism was suppo- sed to apply to
people of any social characteristics. If you owned the means of production, you
were a member of the capi- talist class; if you sold your labor for a wage, you
were a member of the proletariat. That would be true of women as well, except
that until the end of the 19th century, married women in capitalist countries
were not allowed to own property in their own name; their profits from any
businesses they ran and their wages belonged to their husband. Although Marx
recognized that workers and capitalists had wives who worked in the home and
took care of the children, he had no place for housewives in his analysis of
capitalism.
Radical Feminism
Radical feminism had its start in small, leaderless, women-only
consciousness-raising groups, where the topics of intense discussion came out
of women's daily lives -- housework, serving men's emotional and sexual needs,
menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause. From these discussions came
a theory of gender inequality that went beyond discrimination, to oppression,
and a gender politics of resistance to the dominant gender order. Radical
feminism's theoretical watchword is patriarchy, or men's pervasive oppression
and exploitation of women, which can be found wherever women and men are
in contact with each other, in private as well as in public. Radical feminism
argues that patriarchy is very hard to eradicate because its root -- the belief that
women are different and inferior -- is deeply embedded in most men's
consciousness.

Lesbian Feminism
Lesbian feminism takes the radical feminist pessimistic view of men to its
logical conclusion. If heterosexual relationships are intrinsically exploitative
because of men's social, physical, and
sexualpoweroverwomen,whybotherwithmenatall? Women are more loving,
nurturant, sharing, and understanding. Men like having women friends to talk
about their problems with, but women can only unburden to other women.
"Why not go all the way?" asked lesbian feminism. Stop sleeping with the
"enemy," and turn to other women for sexual love as well as for intellectual
companionship and emotional support.

FEMINIST THEATRE IN AFRICA (NIGERIA)

When Feminism got to Africa, they started calling it
1.) Feminism
2.) Humanism
3.) Motherism
4.) Sexism
5.) Battle of sexes

All these have the same meaning and balls down to comprising a number of
social, cultural, political movements, theories and moral philosophies
concerned with gender inequities and equal rights for women. The main aim of
feminism therefore is not only to challenge as bell hooks suggests, but to
dismantle the seeming insidious patriarchal institution. In all the various
feminist ideologies we are familiar with, this goal is expressed subtly or with
acerbity. Feminism, like Burkean methodology, has refused to separate art from
life or literature from politics. Instead, by analyzing the sexual images and
stereotypes in literature, by relating history and biography to literature, by
examining the relation of literary structure to content, or by analyzing
rhetorical strategies of the feminist movement itself, feminist criticism has
always attempted to integrate art and life. (Burke, 9)
The undergird behind Burke‟ s theory of literary form is the idea that a
rhetorical or persuasive motive inspires the symbolic art which is literature. In
his words, “Literature is purposeful response, a strategy for responding to some
human situation. It is always purposely designed to meet this situation”:
Critical and imaginative works are answers to questions posed by the situations
in which they arose. They are not merely answers, they are strategic answers,
stylized answers. ... So I should propose an initial working distinction between
“strategies” and “situations” whereby we think of poetry (I here use the term to
include any work of critical or imaginative cast) as the adopting of various
strategies for the encompassing of situations.

The three near tendencies established in the supremacy virtues in Africa are
listed below:
1.) Womb-men
a. Motherism-C.O Acholomy
b. Womenism- Alex Walke
2.) We-men
3.) Woe-men

Feminism in Nigeria even though not fully rooted to the ground because of the
traditional and
cultural values and beliefs is slowly becoming known, with the help of different
feminist writers
like Zulu Sofola, Tess Onwueme, Stella Dia Oyedepo, Osita Ezenwanebe etc.
Feminism took off
from the Western world and it has since then spread its wings to other part of
the world.
As we all known, the woman is an integral part of the part, and the theatre as a
house connotes a family. Therefore, the woman as actor, dance, choreographer,
director, dramatist, etc is intrinsically integral to the theatre. Talents have no
gender neither do brains. The average Nigerian woman is multi-talented and
can only showcase this if only well nurtured and trained in diverse activities.
The physical strength of a man is equivalent to the psychological strength of a
woman, thus, a woman is equivalent to the man. Learning never ends, and
learning is studying. The researcher would love to go on and on with this study
in the appraisal of the dynamic creativity of the Nigeria female dramatist.

Feminist theatre, is theatre that provides an alternative not just to the male
gaze but also to the normative gaze by intervening in cultural assumptions
about identity, dismantling binaries, and creating equality.

Feminist theatre emerged during the 1970s. While striving to tell women's
stories and resist the marginalization of women, feminist theatre also works to
destabilize the male gaze. The male gaze is the idea that the world is seen from
the perspective of men and that women are generally depicted as objects to be
viewed or desired.
In order to overthrow that male perspective, feminist theatre has challenged
both the content and form of theatrical plays.

In terms of content, feminist theatre, has focused on the following:

* examining sex and gender roles, often reversing or mocking them
* telling stories of often ignored but influential historical figures
* telling the unjust stories of women who have been oppressed
* critiquing systems of power that keep women oppressed
In terms of form, feminist theatre challenges all aspects of the production
process, from plot structures to casting and rehearsal processes. A few features
of feminist theatre include the following:
* inclusive -- feminist theatre attempts to allow many different intersectional
voices to speak, in the stories that are told and throughout the rehearsal process
* collaborative -- it rejects hierarchical authority; theatre directors attempt to
empower their actors by asking for their input and allowing them to make
staging choices
* alternative narrative structures -- it tends to reject linear narrative, often
opting for open-ended, circular or episodic plots
* women-centered -- it places female characters at the center of the action,
often in ensemble casts rather than casts where there is one single clear
protagonist

Notable feminist productions/performances

In times past, the realm of playwriting in Nigerian theatre was seriously and
meritoriously ruled and wholly influenced by male writers. In recent times,
there are several female writers and dramatists who have risen to the level of
prominence which their male counterparts had exclusively enjoyed in the past.
Some of these writers include Julie Okoh, Chimamanda Adichie, Irene Salami,
Buchi Emechata, Chimah Utoh, Stella Oyedepo, amongst others. This papert
focuses on two female dramatists in Nigeria: Zulu Sofola, and Tess Onwueme
who have outstanding works that can be certified evergreen. The paper
examines their influences to the wake of female dramatists in the Nigerian
playwriting realm. It portrays female dramatists in Nigeria as “writers of
distinction.” It discusses the thematic preoccupation in relation to their works,
especially how their works exult the strength, intelligence and creative mind of
the Nigerian woman. Knowledge acquired is no waste to the human faculty;
rather, it is a plus to the co-existence of the human race. The entire body of this
paper thrives on exposure, opportunity, creativity, and the acknowledgement of
remarkable craft by women whose epochal efforts in the theater genre were
once disregarded due to their sex, often as a result of social construction of
gender. This research stands to remind the masses, especially the male folk, of
the outstanding works of the female dramatists in Nigeria. None can dispute
the fact that these female dramatists have made outstanding contribution to the
growth of the Nigeria theatre.

Many female dramatists have contributed greatly to the development of

Nigerian theatre, and a highlight of this contribution is integral to this discourse.
The influence of these female dramatists being analyzed, looking into some of
their works. The thematic pre-occupations of these female dramatists are
therefore outlined. The discourse shall flow in three phases: the early, the later
and the contemporary periods.

The early period of playwrightting in Nigeria was dominated by Wole Soyinka,

J.P. Clark, and Ola Rotimi. Zulu Sofola only emerged a little later. Almost every
play of these three forerunners celebrates the power and glory of men. These
highly drawn heroes range from Kurunmi in Kurunmi and Odewale in The Gods
Are not to be Blame authored by Ola Rotimi; Olunde in Death and the King’s
Horseman by Wole Soyinka; Ozidi in Ozidi by J.P. Clark. However, the female
characters placed alongside these heroes are weak, choiceless, invisible,
unreliable etc, as drawn in the perceptive of traditions. Mosadiwni, the wife of
Kurunmi is an example of this. Sadiku in The Lion and the Jewel, Rola in A
dance of Forest, Lyaloja and Bride in Death and the King’s Horseman, Amope in
The Trial of Brother Jero all by Soyinka do not play any heroic roles but are
mostly objectified as anti heroes, temptresses to the heroes or just plain wives.
The woman penitent in this same play is painted with desperation, who goes
through despair and despondence as she bewails her inability to conceive a
child. She prays that her barrenness be taken away so she can be a normal
member of the society. In Clark‟ s Song of a Goat, Ebiere suffers a similar fate
which lead her to sexual relations with Tonye, her husband also ends in an
incestuous affairs with her son Odwale. In Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again
we were presented with a scenario of women at the call of me. Beneath the face
of comedy in the play, and the language used lies a fractious atmosphere
among the three women, all jostling for the attention of their husband. The
masculinity orientation of Rotimi is reflected even in the Proverbs he uses in his
works. A re-reading of many of his plays shows how a lot of these proverbs are
male oriented. The work celebrates male process, wisdom, intelligence, wit,
tact and boldness. The negative stereotypes of women have continued to spread
into a greater number of Nigerians‟ plays authored by male writers. Therefore,
there is a tacit agreement in the works of these pioneer male dramatists over
the society outlook on women. This is tied to the historical assertion that
women have always been constructed as weak and inferior to men. They were
socialized to be homemakers and agriculturist.

Zulu Sofola evolved at the time most great Nigerian male dramatists were
leading the arts. She debuted in 1991 with The Disturbed Peace of Christmas.
Though Sofola was a female, her entry into the intellectual competition did not
alter the image of women in literary drama. It only reaffirmed men‟ s
superiority and supremacy over women. Sofola’s dramas in addition gave
domination to men imaging in the society. Going through her plays, one can
observe the regular conflict of the old and new culture, but in ideology the old
usually triumphs. Sofola is a traditionalist, for her plays overwhelm and
enchant the sacredness of traditions, whereby she never hesitates to bring
down any of her characters who dare to go against it. For her, the inviolability
of tradition must be maintained and respected at all cost in spite of its inert and
unprogressive nature. Therefore, in many of her plays, any attempt by women
to break free from this traditional sacredness incurs a vicious backlash. In
Wedlock of the Gods, Ogwoma is punished for failing to respect the tradition of
observing the period of mourning of her dead husband in spite of the fact that it
was a loveless union contracted by force. In Old Wines Are Tasty, the message
passed is that one cannot merely disregard tradition no matter how much
enlightenment they may have in character. In The Sweet Trap, male supremacy
over the female takes centre stage. This situation is understandable in form of
an attempt by the character, Clara, who attempted to challenge an age old
injunction that the husband’s word is law. Either right or wrong it is to be
accepted. Clara had indicated an intention to have a birthday party. But Femi
Sotub, her husband, disagrees to this. However, she is convinced by a friend to
have the party elsewhere which turns into embarrassment and near tragedy.
Using a symbolism to show man‟ s supremacy, Clara is made to kneel before
her husband to ask for forgiveness. Once again tradition has won. Most of
Sofola‟ s works are constructed towards the same line. In The wizard of law,
Sikira is portrayed as a temptress who compels her husband to indulge in
skullduggery to satisfy her whims and caprices. Zulu Sofola is still notable for
being the only female dramatists to have stood up in sure recognition in the
midst of other great Nigerian male dramatist.

Wedlock of the Gods

This is a tale of love, sacrifice, tradition, hate, vengeance, and death. Wedlock
of the Gods treats the subject of taboo over the life of a young woman in a
society engulfed in barbarous tradition. Ogwoma‟ s happiness lies in her love
with Uloko but this happiness had undergone a sudden metamorphosis as her
parents uses her as bait for money to save the life of her brother, their only son.
This is not well taken by Ogwoma but her sex in the construct of the society
denies her the will and power of going contrary to this betrothal - Ogwoma is
forced into a marriage with Adigwu. Everybody is aware of their unhappy
marriage but sets out indifferently towards the situation. Untimely, Adigwu
passes away. His death is mysterious and places suspicion in the mind of his
mother, Odibie. Odibie whom is Ogwoma‟ s mother-in-law had never liked
Ogwoma and for his has every reason to doubt Ogwoma‟ s innocence over her
son‟ s death. She searchers for proof to show that Ogwoma had killed Adigwu,
as well as having an opportunity to average the supposed murder of her son. In
the course of action, Ogwoma ignores the accustomed view that stipulates that
a woman in morning must stay clear of any engagement with any other man for
a particular amount of time-precisely three months. Ogwoma nulls this societal
apocryphal norm by continuing her relationship with Uloko, inviting on herself
the strong criticism and possible chastisement for disobeying the “law of the
gods”. Nonetheless, Ogwoma is bent on making her affair with Uloko successful
against all odds. Parents, friends, neighbours, and relatives advise Ogwoma and
Uloko to deviate from their unaccepted affair so as to avoid incurring the wrath
of the gods. The stubborn nature of both loves won‟ t heed this. Ogwoma and
Uloko soon meet doom as Odibie uses witchcraft to terminate their lives. Even
in the presence of multifarious forces against their unity, and even in death,
Ogwoma and Uloko‟ s love never dies.

The Reign of Wazobia (by Tess Onwueme)

The overwhelming issues engrossed in this text are power, patriarchy,
oppression, tradition, sex segregation and self esteem. The story is rooted to the
intoxication of power in a society where total power is granted to men only. The
Reign of Wazobia takes shape in the character of Wazobia, a woman who has
been made king-surrogate of IIaa Kingdom, to the surprise of many, if not all.
The entry of Wazobia as King-surrogate had set the seats of the men on fire,
giving them, the sort of challenge they never thought they would see in their
time. the affairs of the kingdom that had been operated solely by the men is
now being generalized system which power and importance is given to men,
leaving women in subordination. The women in this kingdom are subjected to
dance, even naked, to the entertainment of men-feeding their eyes and
satisfying their pleasures, which is being camouflaged and disguised as a
traditional ritual. Wazobia fights to debunk this barbaric tradition decreeing for
education for all men, women, and children. Wazobia who fights for the
liberation of women is even endangered by some of them, paving way for her to
e disposed in this fight. Anehe and Wa, two of the most senior Queens of the
late King are being envious of Wazobia‟ s rise to power, and so joins forces
with some of the chiefs in the kingdom to bring her down from the throne. With
the aid and support of the other women in the Kingdom, including two of the
younger Queens of the late King-Bia and Zo, Wazobia triumphs over the forces
against the liberation of the women.

Closed Doors (Julie Okoh)

The dedicatory note is prognostic of the atmosphere of sobriety we are going to
encounter in the play. The setting of the play is the Reception hall of Goodwill
Nursing Home. The picture presented in the play is one of patched humanity,
and psychically paralyzed voices of the female subaltern. Closed Doors x-rays
the appalling experiences encountered by girls in contemporary Nigeria, the
psychological trauma suffered by the victims, and how they could overcome
their predicaments and assert themselves in life. Amina a thirteen year old girl
was raped by an Imam. She was also sexually abused and abandoned by cattle
herdsmen.

Amina’s case is a very pathetic one. She was raped by a religious per- sonage
whom she trusted, who by his insidious action turns out to be a charlatan. She
refused to disclose the rape incident to her father because the father was an
employee of the Imam and she didn’t want the father to be sacked.
the brutal rape of a seven year old black girl by a migrant worker in 1974, in
South Africa. Rape in this text and context is viewed as a patriarchal weapon to
intimidate and rob women of their right to express their own sexual desires and
so on. Later Amina ran away from her parents’ house.
It is therefore this fear of the penalty she was likely to face from the Sharia
penal code that led Amina to run far away from home to the Nursing home, an
accommodation for bruised female subjectivities.
Tracy’s problem of self-insulation is as a result of the fact that she was betrayed
several times by those she trusted and loved dearly. Her dream was to become a
medical doctor, married to a medical doctor, possibly Michael her secondary
school lover but this dream was painful- ly shattered. She was also a victim of
unjust admission policies in the country

Tracy, however, after a second attempt passed the University en- trance
examination and was admitted into pre-medicine basic studies. While in school,
Tracy’s problems became compounded when she follo- wed her friends to a
birthday party. There she fell in love with a man she didn’t know was married.
She got impregnated by him who abandoned her and her baby. On discovering
that she was pregnant, her father drove her away from the house. She went
back to her lover’s office but was equally driven away by two hefty men who we
are told were hired assassins asked to terminate her life. Tracy’s encounter with
the nymphs purges her fear of the society and after that she is able to tell her
story which she refused to share ever since she arrived the Nursing home.

Wole Soyinka
The characters he creates out of his female characters are usually outspoken
and fearless but they always hold tradition in high regard; for example, Iyaloja
in Death and the King’s Horseman and Sidi in The Lion and the Jewel.
Ezenwanebe (192) asserts that; “They are represented as agents of cultural
preservation and sustenance”. Soyinka has a way of making his female
character have so much wisdom that would surprise the men around them. The
wisdom however is always of rich tradition, the type that can stand side by side
and compete with any western element. His female characters are usually
ironical in the sense that regardless of the fact that his female characters were
fearless, bold and full of wisdom, they never challenge their tradition, not even
the ones with oppressive nature as regards to women. His female characters
activism is usually out to preserve culture.

Owing to the fact that the plays selected for this paper are legends and
historical accounts, the playwrights were able to creatively address feminist
issues with justifications and believable sources. Apart from writing on gender
issues, the manner, technique, style, elements used, features, and approach
employed by the playwrights are the main points of evaluation in this paper.
The plays are selected because of the fact that, the writers used characterization,
symbols, language, and particular actions to justify their thematic concerns and
issues in the plays. These techniques and style are examined under aesthetic
considerations in the plays below.

Tess Onwueme
Tess Onwueme’s characters are sometimes allegorical; she uses animals to
represent humans, which then pass the message across satirically. Her early
characters were women in a patriarchal society, and the female characters
refuse violently tradition, and are educationally empowered. Ezenwanebe (192)
says that; “The plays show that education is the tool that charts the women’s
emergence from the tradition of private life to liberated, public sphere as seen
in the life of the protagonist”. Chidi Amuta (54); also posits that what
Onwueme brings to this theme is a certain sense of contemporary which pitches
the conflict in the context of present day Africa with its universities and other
modern institutions. For example, Gladys in A Hen too Soon, Ona in The Broken
Calabash and Wazobia in Wazobia. She brings on stage day to day activities in
relation to her theme; her characters are modern and fairly exposed to the
western world through the window of education. Tess’ characters in her plays
propagate the need for women to be educated. Her belief is that once a woman
has gotten any form of formal education then that would be the end of
ignorance and enslavement, because education would open their eyes of
understanding. This will enable them know that the ‘traditions’ they stay rooted
in are enslavements and a way of brainwashing them to feel that they are
responsible by following it. Even though it is said that education and money can
open doors, Tess believes that education is a better form of liberation for
women. This approach is also peculiar to Onwueme’s writing and it is a subtle
way of emancipating women from the shackles of uneducated life which further
confounds the issue of gender disparity especially in Africa.

Top Girls ( Caryl Churchill)

British playwright Caryl Churchill’s script Top Girls focuses on central
character Marlene and delves into what it means to be a successful woman
and what a woman’s place in society really is. The play opens with Marlene
hosting a dinner party at which the guests are famous women from
throughout history. The play premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre in
1982 and later ran at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway in New York City
during the 2007-2008 season. The play is set in London in the opening years of
the 1980s and was inspired by interactions Churchill had had with feminists in
America whose views differed from those in British history. Among other
themes, Churchill explores the difficulties women face when trying to balance
a career and a family. The play opens with a surreal, dream-like passage that
draws parallels between the present day characters in the play and women
from history.

Feminist writing directs the attention of the readership to the inequalities and
injustices girls and women experience in society. The challenge of the feminist
scholar therefore is to find the ground to argue effectively for the end of
oppression of all women. Nigeria has produced many fe- minist playwrights.
Julie Okoh is arguably one of the most visible feminist playwrights in Nigeria.
Her feminist plays among others include: In the Fullness of Time, Edewede
which treat her condemnation of female circumcision; Mannequins which
treats among other themes the gender issue of Vesico Vagina Fistula, Our Wife
Forever, which focuses on the social injustice and psychological trauma widows
experience in society; Aisha, Closed Doors, the focus of this paper, The Trials,
Who Can Fight the Gods and Mask. Her feminist inclination through her plays
is not anyway in doubt. In her plays, she addresses such sensitive and vital
issues bordering on sexual injustice against women such as rape, forced
abortion and unrequited love among others. A close scrutiny of her plays
reveals an ideological continuity in her approach to the woman question. The
main aim of this paper is to analyze one of her magna opera, Closed Doors in
order to situate it as feminist theatre.

Several issues surrounding the characters built in the dramas of Tess Onwueme
and Zulu Sofola are designed with issues of education, economic empowerment,
sexual oppression, inheritance customs, and widowhood rites. Modern
playwrights endeavor to extract from their past and present societies, aspects
that showcase the woman in her present state and what she is expected to be.
This analysis is to assess the strong and weak women as well as the brave
woman, the objectified woman, the envious woman, the villainous woman, and
the enlightened woman.

Caryl Churchill has been a part of the movement since it began in the 1970s.
One of her notable productions, Top Girls, is a non-linear plot that follows the
story of a career-driven woman, Marlene, in the 1980s. Marlene hosts a magical
dinner party of important women from history. By talking with these women,
Marlene attempts to find out what it means to her to be successful and how to
navigate the struggle between individual success and collective progress for
women as a whole.

The Milestones of Feminism in Nigeria

Historically, several women have stood out for the liberation of women. Queen
Amina of Zazzau and Queen Kambassa of Bonny were classic examples
demonstrating the feminine might in the military in Nigeria. While queen
Amina led troops, fought wars, and forced emirates like Katsina and Kano to
pay tributes to her State, queen Kambassa pioneered the militarization of the
Bonny Kingdom (Awe, 1992, p. 30-35). The duo legends demonstrate the
possibility of winning the fight for women liberation in the Nigerian military
and in the world at large. The Iyoba Idia of Benin showcased her ability in
Benin City upon the death of her husband. She fought for the right of Obaship
for her son, Esigie, and repositioned the political structure of the Benin
Kingdom.
Furthermore, Margaret Ekpo of Calabar fought gender inequality and
advocated for women’s right. Gambo Sawaba of northern origin played
outstanding roles in the fight for women’s place in the society. Flora Nwapa was
the first woman commissioner and Nigeria’s first woman novelist. Grace
Alele-Williams was the first ever woman university vice-chancellor. Dora
Akunyili made an outstanding impact while heading National Agency for Food
and Drugs Administration (NAFDAC), Okonjo Iweala is a genius in finance,
Chimamanda Adichie is a great novelist, Nana Asmau of Sokoto Caliphate and a
host of others. The list is endless. Therefore, while many Nigerian women from
north to south and east to west are resolute, strong and impactful, others are
weak and waste away in religious bigotry and traditional cowardice. Wake up,
women; and join the movement!

There are organizations that have hitherto made it possible for feminism to
thrive in Nigeria. The Women’s Aid Collective (WACOL) provides one example
of a successful contextualized feminist effort to promote women’s rights
through Sharia. It provides legal education and assistance to women and girls
in northern Nigeria. It has initiated legal aid, women’s rights and access to
justice projects in many northern States. Another organization is Women in
Nigeria. (WIN). It organized workshops all over Nigeria helping women to fight
for their rights.
As a way forward too, the Enugu State Government enacted laws protecting the
rights of widows (The prohibition of infringement of a widower’s and widow’s
Fundamental Human Rights Law, No. 3). There are organizations and policies
supporting feminist movements all around Nigeria. Therefore, the impact of the
development of feminism in the present day Nigerian society has to continue
thriving for the liberation of the female folk.
Conclusion
Nature has presented life in the sense that all living creatures work and exist in
pairs-each one supports the other. For proper existence, very creature needs a
partner‟ . Even trees depend on good oil to aid it develop, likewise animals,
and of course humans. The Nigeria female dramatists have been widely
inspired by works of male dramatists and their portrayal of women in the
society. Most of the female characters drawn in the plays of these female
dramatists tend towards the positive direction, redesigned and elevated to a
respectable status in the society, whereby, the women is admired, acknowledge,
loved and glorified. They unite to place women side by side with men in terms
of share-duty and account.
A new age of enlightenment for the Nigerian daughter has finally come
sensitizing the women on issues relating to human existence and societal
development. The hidden talents of women in Nigeria in the past have today,
gone though bright revealing brilliance and décor in the minds of the Nigeria
woman. The denial of education for the girl child in the society, which is a basic
human right, had sunk their ability to reason properly and help contribute to
nation building.

Marlene, in the 1980s. Marlene hosts a magical dinner party of important

women from history. By talking with these women, Marlene attempts to find
out what it means to her to be successful and how to navigate the struggle
between individual success and collective progress for women as a whole.

Feminist theatre was influenced by the ideology of social transformation

propounded by Bertolt Brecht and Paulo Freire. Conscientization is a feminist
methodology of subverting what Freire called a “culture of silence”. The
dramatic discourse in feminist theatre is centered on the problems women
encounter in society and the decisions they make ba- sed on their personal
values and beliefs. According to Okoh, “the action in feminist theatre circulates
around female protagonists who generally, do not readily accept the traditional
role of women as decided by socie- ty.”
She goes on to copiously articulate the indices of feminist theatre thus:
• Be woman-centered, identify their problems
• Question gender roles and strategies
• Examine patriarchal traditions
• Question the status quo, hierarchies and power relations
• Challenge assumptions, and social norm
• Increase our knowledge, and raise consciousness
• Aim to improve the condition of women
• Talk about the experience of women in the present economic crisis and the
coping strategies of women in relation to men in the household
• Bring about the transformation of women
• Aim at social transformation in the direction of greater gender
equity
• Use innovative dramatic methods to convey central message
• Project invisible women playwrights .
Ngozi Udengwu also enumerates the following as characteristics of
feminist theatre:
• There is the element of collectivity. Women write feminist theatre,
not individual women. Even when one person writes a feminist play, it
represents collective experiences of real women contribu- ted during an
interview or at a workshop.
• It is a theatre about women. It is primarily aimed at representing women’s
peculiar experiences in society.
• Feminist theatres perform exclusively for women audiences. The main
purpose of feminist theatre is to raise women’s consciou ness about themselves,
about their rights in the society as well as encourage them to reclaim their
voices, which have been silenced for ages.
• Feminist theatres reject existing theatre conventions. They strive instead to
create an alternative theatre that is as opposed to the existing conventions as
women are to men.
Analysis of Closed Doors as Feminist Theatre
Abused and frustrated females To all those females who
Have been frustrated and Abused in one way or the other; And to those who are
trying to Give them reason to live
Life is a continuous struggle

References
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt1814gk2
https://www.google.com/amp/s/bookriot.com/plays-by-women/amp/
https://www.supersummary.com/top-girls/summary/