xxx Chronology
and uses the BBC World Service and the international
press to condemn the corruption of the just concluded
elections. He predicts revolution or a coup. On the last
day of the year, Shagari is overthrown in a coup that
brings General Mohammadu Buhari to power.
Blues for a Prodigal, Soyinka’s film on the elections of
released. In May an unsuccessful production ofThe
Roadopens at the Goodman Theater in Chicago and in
December Yale Repertory Theatre producesA Play of
Giants.Six PlaysandAPlayofGiantspublished.
August, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida over-
throws the Buhari-Idiagbon junta.
In June, Wole Soyinka, as President of the International
Theatre Institute (ITI), is embroiled in an international
press and media controversy following the decision of the
ITI to drop a dramatization of George Orwell’sAnimal
Far mby the National Theatre of Britain from the official
program of theFestival of Nationsin Baltimore, Maryland,
USA. (The ITI decision is based on petition by the Soviet
Union that the version ofAnimal Farmin the National
Theatre of Britain entry is a veiled Cold War-inspired
cultural assault on the Soviet state).
In October, the Swedish Academy announces that
Soyinka is the year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for
literature.
Death and the King’s Horsemanproduced at Lincoln Center,
New York City.
Publication ofArt, Dialogue and Outrage, a major collection
of Soyinka’s essays on literature and culture.Mandela’s
Earthpublished.
Isara: A Voyage Around ‘Essay’, a fictional account of the
author’s father and his friends published.
A Scourge of Hyacinths, a new radio play broadcast on BBC
Radio.
From Zia, with Love, a stage version ofA Scourge of Hyacinths,
is premiered in Sienna, Italy. The play uses a satirical
and farcical exploration of the inner workings of the in-
ternational traffic in drugs to expose the corruption and
hypocrisy of the Nigerian military rulers.
June, the victory of Moshood Kashimawo Abiola
at the federal elections to return Nigeria to civilian