MARXIST ORIENTATION IN FEMI OSOFISAN'S RED IS THE FREEDOM ROAD AND MOROUNTODUN
Abstract
ABSTRACT
This research examines the Marxist orientation in Femi Osofisan’s Red is the Freedom Road and Morountodun, focusing on the playwright’s engagement with class struggle, social inequality, and revolutionary change. Osofisan employs drama as a weapon of social criticism, using history and myth to interrogate the structures of oppression in Nigerian society. By analyzing the dialectics of class conflict, exploitation, and resistance, the study reveals how Osofisan advocates for collective struggle and the emancipation of the oppressed. The two plays dramatize the confrontation between the ruling class and the marginalized masses, highlighting the contradictions inherent in capitalist and neo-colonial systems. Through his radical reinterpretation of historical narratives and incorporation of Brechtian techniques, Osofisan advances a theatre of commitment that aligns with Marxist aesthetics. This study therefore argues that Osofisan’s drama transcends mere entertainment, serving as an ideological instrument for awakening consciousness, mobilizing the people, and envisioning a just and egalitarian society.
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