The Swamp Dwellers

Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka finds stunning universal resonance in a quietly tragic tale steeped in Yoruba myth and lore and set in a rustic hut in the Niger Delta. An ageing couple living on chronically flooded land, awaiting one of their twin sons from the city, is visited by a complacent Yoruba holy man and a blind Muslim beggar who trigger a terrible crisis of faith and trust. Corrupt religion, family betrayal, environmental disaster, post-colonial exploitation, urban modernity encroaching on rural tradition: the themes of this searing and heartbreaking drama are both timeless and palpably contemporary. Director Awoye Timpo (Obie Award winner, Wedding Band) returns to collaborate with TFANA for another seminal mid-century work.

TIME: The late 1950’s pre–Nigerian Independence

PLACE: A Village in the Swamps of the Nigerian Delta