Wole Soyinka: dance master of appetite

Wole Soyinka is a master of the chameleon. He has shifted shapes so often from poetry to drama to fiction, and from comedy to tragedy and back again, that it is no wonder he has confused and sometimes upset critics and readers. His early work was at times obscure and abstract, but if there is one theme that connects Iiis comedies to Iiis tragedies , it would certainly deal with the enormity and variety of human appetite. Whether it be for power, sex, money, or martyrdom, overwhelming appetite has been one of the constants of Iiis work. We can study its evolution in four of Iiis early plays: two satires-Opera Wonvosi and Kongi Is Han'est, and two tragedies-The Bacchae of Euripides and Death and the King s Horseman.Kongi s Han'est and Opera Wonvosi are both satires of political tyranny. The appetite in play is for absolute power in the hands of dictators like those who have dominated so much of post-colonial African history. The two tragedies also deal with these appetites for power and control as well as their opposities: the appetites for pleasure, release, sex, and wild ecstasy.Kongi 's Han'est (1065) presents us with a classic parody of an African dictator. Kongi assigns Iiis Aweri lackeys to write Iiis books for him so that he may appear a man of learning and wisdom. His appetite for grandeur is so messianic he wants to renumber the calendar for himself, so that the past will be measured in years B.K.H. (Before Kongi's Harvest). He poses for a photographer in savior-like postires that could be labeled "The Face of Benevolence... the Giver of Life" (WS 93) Though Iiis enemies try to assassinate him, Kongi survives their attack and maintains Iiis power. The final grim reality is that the tyrant still rules and Iiis enemies, who represent the healthy appetites of love and tradition, are killed or must flee for their lives. As in much of recent African history, the excessive appetite for power rules the day.Soyinka 's appetite for satire also leads him to write Opera Wonyosi, Iiis interpretation of a modern European classic: Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera (1928). Brecht's play was already an adaptation of Iiis original source, John Gay's The Beggars Opera (1728). Both Gay and Brecht were out to criticize political corruption in their own societies: 18th century Britain and early 20th century Germany. The two works satirize the human appetites for money, love, and power. In both the main characters are thieves, prostitutes, and hustlers: figures from the underworlds of London and Berlin. In other words, they provide a perfect model for Wole Soyinka.Soyinka keeps Brecht's plot intact but moves it to contemporary West Africa, retelling the story of Mack the Knife, Iiis rival the King of Beggars- called Chief Anikura and Iiis wife De Madam, and Mack's troubles in love with Polly, Lucy, Jenny and other ladies of the night. He even keeps some of Kurt Weill's famous songs, especially the Ballad of Mack the Knife, for which he writes Iiis own lyrics alluding to examples of Nigerian corruption like the marble monopoly at Igbeti. Instead of the street singer, Soyinka updates that role to a hip Dee-Jay. His main addition to Brecht's play is its setting in the neighboring Central African Republic during the coronation of His Imperial Diminuative Emperor Bokassa I. Both Gay and Brecht made use of coronation settings which usually provided major business for thieves and beggars. Gay used the coronation of King George II in 1727 and Brecht used the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837. But Soyinka actually introduces Emperor Bokassa as one of Iiis major characters. "Folksy Boksy" as the Dee-Jay calls him. is simply too good a target for satire. His first scene is a masterful comic riff on the blustering tyrant. Emperor Boky compares himself to Napoleon who also started out as a commoner and was not even a real Frenchman coming from Corsica. Boky is a francophonie African, but like Napoleon he is a powerful leader who glorifies the traditions of the French Revolution, at least in Iiis own mind. …