Reimagining Tragedy in Postcolonial Nigeria

Reimagining Tragedy – The Gods Are Not to Blame and Postcolonial Identity INTRODUCTION

What happens when a story we all have come to know, written over two thousand years ago,

is retold in a completely different way, involving different culture and historical context?

What happens when an ancient tragedy, something about prophecy and guilt and inevitability,

is reimagined to help a struggling nation redefine itself after intense colonial rule?

Sophocles, and his infamous Western tragedy, Oedipus Rex, are transformed

into a similar yet absolutely new story. Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame transformers

Sophocles’ tragedy into a new play, rooted in Yoruba culture, and shaped by factors