''A Dance of the Forests'' is one of the most recognized of

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

's plays. It was "presented at the Nigerian Independence celebrations in 1960, it ... denigrated the glorious African past and warned Nigerians and all Africans that their energies henceforth should be spent trying to avoid repeating the mistakes that have already been made." At the time of its release, it was an iconoclastic work that angered many of the elite in Soyinka's native Nigeria. Politicians were particularly incensed at Soyinka's prescient portrayal of post-colonial Nigerian politics as aimless and corrupt. Despite the deluge of criticism, the play remains an influential work. In it, Soyinka espouses a unique vision for a new Africa, one that is able to forge a new identity free from the influence of European

imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...

. ''A Dance of the Forests'' is regarded as Soyinka's theatrical debut and has been considered the most complex and difficult to understand of his plays."''A Dance of the Forests''", Hans M. Zell, Carol Bundy, Virginia Coulon, ''A New Reader's Guide to African Literature'', Heinemann Educational Books, 1983, p. 169. In it, Soyinka unveils the rotten aspects of society and demonstrates that the past is no better than the present when it comes to the seamy side of life. He lays bare the fabric of Nigerian society and warns people that they are on the brink of a new stage in their history:

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

. The play was published in London and New York in 1963 by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(

Three Crowns Books Three Crowns Books was an Imprint (trade name), imprint of Oxford University Press devoted to writing from the British colonies in Africa and South Asia. The series was active publishing for both the UK and international market from 1962 until 197 ...

References

1960 plays Plays by Wole Soyinka Plays set in Nigeria Nigerian plays {{1960s-play-stub