Abstract

The focus of this study is to examine Olu Obafemi as a playwright with the specific choice of Scapegoats and Sacred Cows as paradigmatic enunciations of his inteventional motif in a dysfuctioning state for socio-political change. The objective is to show the extent of the playwright’s revolutionary aesthetics in the materialist perception in style, language and content.  A combination of analytical and critical methods is adopted to examine the primary source and George Lukacs’ Marxist Sociological Theory is used to interrogate Olu Obafemi’s revolutionary aesthetics in the play.  The root of the dramatist oeuvre of Olu Obafemi is purely ideological which imbues his understanding of the nature and life of his society. The playwright’s ideology amplifies social realism with its root in revolutionary aesthetics. The import of this is that man is at the epicentre. It is evident from this study that the playwright relies on history, culture, socio-political and economic situations of his society, Nigeria, in espousing and communicating his ideas and dramaturgy. Creative writers, especially playwrights, should strive to intervene in socio-political and economic situations of their milieu for a just society.

Key Words: Playwright, Intervention, Social Realism, Revolutionary Aesthetics, Socio-Political Dysfunction.

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*Dr. Yemi Atanda, Ph.D., is the Head of Department, Department of Performing Arts, Kwara State University, Malete, Kwara State, Nigeria.

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 8, No. 1, Sp. 1, May 2016, 172 – 184