Femi Euba (born April 1939) is a Nigerian actor, writer, and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, who has published numerous works of

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

, theory, and fiction. His work as a theatre practitioner encompasses acting, playwriting, and directing. Among the topics of his plays is

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

culture.

Education and career

Born in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, Nigeria, the son Alphaeus Sobiyi Euba and Winifred Remilekun Euba (''née'' Dawodu), Femi Euba studied acting in England at the

Rose Bruford College Rose Bruford College (formerly Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance) is a drama school in the south London suburb of Sidcup. The college has degree programmes in acting, actor musicianship, directing, theatre arts and various discipli ...

of Speech and Drama, earning a diploma in 1965, after which he appeared in many shows on the London stage, including the 1966

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...

productions 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 ''

The Lion and the Jewel ''The Lion and the Jewel'' is a play by Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka that was first performed in 1959 in Ibadan. In 1966, it was staged in London at the Royal Court Theatre. The play chronicles how Baroka, the lion, fights with the modern Lakunle ...

'' (as Lakunle the Schoolteacher), and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'', with the late Sir

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (194 ...

and the late

Simone Signoret Simone Signoret (; born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a ...

Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy '' Macbeth'' (). As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth (a Scottish nobleman), Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide, after which she becomes quee ...

, directed by

William Gaskill William "Bill" Gaskill (24 June 1930 – 4 February 2016) was a British theatre director who was "instrumental in creating a new sense of realism in the theatre". Described as "a champion of new writing", he was also noted for his productions of B ...

. Euba left London in 1970 to study Playwriting and Dramatic Literature at the

Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...

, where his received an MFA in 1973. In 1980–82, he went back to Yale to study, receiving an MA in Afro-American Studies. He then returned to Nigeria, where he worked for some years, and earned a PhD in Literature-in-English at the

University of Ife Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal government-owned university that is located in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife ...

, Nigeria (now Obafemi Awolowo University), in 1986. Over the years, Euba has taught at different colleges and universities, in Nigeria and the US, including the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Currently the Louise and Kenneth Kinney Professor at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

, he has continued to teach playwriting, and dramatic literature, mostly concentrating on the drama and theatre of Africa and of the African diaspora. He is also a consultant in Black Theatre. Among his many credits as a director are Soyinka's ''

Death and the King's Horseman ''Death and the King's Horseman'' is a play by Wole Soyinka based on a real incident that took place in Nigeria during the colonial era: the horseman of a Yoruba King was prevented from committing ritual suicide by the colonial authorities. In a ...

'' (2008) an
''The Trials of Brother Jero''
(1988); Edouard Glissant's ''Monsieur Toussaint'' (1990);

August Wilson August Wilson ( Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of ten plays, collectively called ' (or ...

's ''

Joe Turner's Come and Gone ''Joe Turner's Come and Gone'' is a play by American playwright August Wilson. It is the second installment of his decade-by-decade chronicle of the African-American experience, ''The Pittsburgh Cycle''. The play was first staged 1984 at the Euge ...

'' (1994); Shakespeare's '' The Tempest'' (2005);

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

's ''The Learned Ladies'' (1991);

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

' ''

Alcestis Alcestis (; Ancient Greek: Ἄλκηστις, ') or Alceste, was a princess in Greek mythology, known for her love of her husband. Her life story was told by pseudo-Apollodorus in his '' Bibliotheca'', and a version of her death and return from ...

'' (2001);

Athol Fugard Athol Fugard, Hon. , (born 11 June 1932), is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright. He is best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apart ...

's ''

Sizwe Bansi is Dead ''Sizwe Banzi Is Dead'' (originally produced and published as: ''Sizwe Bansi is Dead'') is a play by Athol Fugard, written collaboratively with two South African actors, John Kani and Winston Ntshona, both of whom appeared in the original produ ...

'' (1992–93),

Richard Brinsley Sheridan Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Irish satirist, a politician, a playwright, poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He is known for his plays such as ''The Rivals'', ''The Sc ...

's ''

The Rivals ''The Rivals'' is a comedy of manners by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in five acts which was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on 17 January 1775. The story has been updated frequently, including a 1935 musical and a 1958 List of Maverick ...

'' (1996), ''The African Company Presents Richard III'' (1998),

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

's ''

Hedda Gabler ''Hedda Gabler'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The world premiere was staged on 31 January 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage. The play has been can ...

'' (1999),

Maryse Condé Maryse Condé (née Boucolon; February 11, 1937) is a French novelist, critic, and playwright from the French Overseas department and region of Guadeloupe. Condé is best known for her novel ''Ségou'' (1984–85).Condé, Maryse, and Richard P ...

's ''Tropical Breeze Hotel'' (2003),

Eduardo Machado Eduardo Oscar Machado (born June 11, 1953) is a Cuban playwright living in the United States. Notable plays by Machado include ''Broken Eggs'', ''Havana is Waiting'' and ''The Cook''. Many of his plays are autobiographical or deal with Cuba in s ...

's ''Broken Eggs'' (2009),

Stephen Adly Guirgis Stephen Adly Guirgis is a Pulitzer Prize Winning American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. He is a member and a former co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company.Blake, Leslie (Hoban)"Comin' Uptown" ''Theater ...

's ''Our Lady of 121st Street'' (2011),

Tarell Alvin McCraney Tarell Alvin McCraney (born October 17, 1980) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. He is the chair of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble. He co-wrote the 2016 film ''Moonlight ( ...

's '' The Brothers Size'' (2012), and Bruce Norris's ''

Clybourne Park ''Clybourne Park'' is a 2010 play by Bruce Norris written as a spin-off to Lorraine Hansberry's play ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (1959). It portrays fictional events set during and after the Hansberry play, and is loosely based on historical events ...

'' (2013).

Works

*"Akibu: a play for television in two parts" in ''Five African Plays''; ed.

Cosmo Pieterse Cosmo George Leipoldt Pieterse (born 1930 in Windhoek, Namibia) is a South African playwright, actor, poet, literary critic and anthologist. Education and career Cosmo Pieterse went to the University of Cape Town and taught in Cape Town until lea ...

. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1972. *''A Riddle of the Palms and Crocodiles'' (plays),

Negro Ensemble Company The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) is a New York City-based theater company and workshop established in 1967 by playwright Douglas Turner Ward, producer-actor Robert Hooks, and theater manager Gerald S. Krone, with funding from the Ford Foundation ...

, 1973. *''Archetypes, Imprecators and Victims of Fate: Origins and Developments of Satire in Black Drama'',

Greenwood Press Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...

, 1989, *''The Gulf'', Longman, 1991. *"The Eye of Gabriel" (play), in ''Black Drama'',

Alexander Street Press Alexander Street is an electronic academic database publisher. It was founded in May 2000 in Alexandria, Virginia, by Stephen Rhind-Tutt (President), Janice Cronin (CFO), and Eileen Lawrence (Vice President, Sales and Marketing). As of January ...

, 2002. *"Dionysus of the Holocaust" (play), in ''Black Drama'', Alexander Street Press, 2002. *''Poetics of the Creative Process: An Organic Practicum to Playwriting'',

University Press of America University Press of America is an academic publisher based in the United States. Part of the independent Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the ...

, 2005. *''Camwood at Crossroads'' (novel), Xlibris, 2007.(

Self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pri ...

)

References

*Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, 2005.

External links

College of Music & Dramatic Arts, Louisiana State University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Euba, Femi 20th-century Nigerian male actors 21st-century Nigerian male actors 1941 births Alumni of Rose Bruford College College of William & Mary faculty Living people Louisiana State University faculty Male actors from Lagos Nigerian dramatists and playwrights Nigerian expatriate academics in the United States Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom Nigerian male stage actors Obafemi Awolowo University alumni Yale School of Drama alumni Yoruba academics Yoruba male actors