Wole Soyinka
that these are just a few selected details from the dense overflow of ideas,
tropes and symbols in the exchange between the ants and Forest Head
and Aroni should give us an idea of just how much Soyinka puts into
this play, and what difficulties this posed to him dramaturgically. The
sprawling plot, the slow pace of the action, the questionable relevance
of some subplots or plot fragments – the rivalry between Eshuoro and
Ogun; and Murete, the tree imp’s lassitude and drunken antics as the
vehicle of mediation between the beings of the forest and the humans –
seem less revealing of formalistic and stylistic boldness than inept artistic
decisions made by a playwright just beginning his career and taking on
a very big subject matter for a unique occasion.
These flaws are perhaps at their most confounding in the extreme
overcrowding of the climactic ritual trial scene with too many incidents
and too many metaphors and symbols of great obscurity. Considering
the fact that thisisthe concluding moment of the trial scene in the play,
it stands entirely to reason that the disruptive or diversionary games and
contests indicated in the following stage directions for this scene would
lead to a deadlocked verdict at the end of the ritual trial. And this has
the effect of rendering the very legitimacy of the ritual itself profoundly
ambiguous:
(The Half-Child continues slowly towards the Mother, Eshuoro imperiously
offering his hand, furious as each step takes the child nearer her. Looks up
sharply and finds Ogun on the other side of the woman, with hand similarly
outstretched. Snaps his fingers suddenly at the Interpreter. A clap of drums,
and the Interpreter begins another round of ‘ampe’ with the Third Triplet. The
Woman’s hand and the Half-Child’s are just about to meet when this happens,
and the child turns instantly, attracted by the game. The ‘ampe’ gradually
increases tempo among the three Triplets. The Interpreter throws off his mask,
reveals himself as Eshuoro’s Jester. He draws the child into a game of ‘ampe’.
When the Half-Child is totally disarmed by the Jester, Eshuoro picks him up
suddenly and throws him towards the Third Triplet who makes to catch him on
the point of two knives as in the dance of the child acrobats. Rola screams, the
child is tossed up by the Third Triplet who again goes through the same motion,
the other two Triplets continuing the furious ‘ampe’ round him and yelling at
the top of their voices. Demoke, Rola and Adenebi again cluster together. The
Half-Child is now tossed back to Eshuoro, and suddenly Demoke dashes forward
to intercept. Eshuoro laughs, pretends to throw the child back, Demoke dashes
off only to find that he still retains the child. The Interpreter, Eshuoro and the
Third Triplet all evading the knife-points at the last moment and catching the
Half-Child in the crook of their elbows. They keep up this game for a brief
period, with Demoke running between them, until Ogun appears behind the
Interpreter, pulls him aside just as the child is thrown towards him, makes the