The Reinvention of the “Legend of Robinhood” in Femi Osofisan's Once Upon Four Robbers

Abstract

This paper takes a close look at one outstanding theatrical technique that Femi Osofisan has frequently leveraged upon to drive home his  socialist ideology. In many of his plays, Osofisan has consistently employed the adaptation/revisioning technique in his drama. This  paper carefully examines how this technique is effectively employed in Once Upon Four Robbers to elevate poor robbers to social  reformers in close consonance with the legend of Robin Hood in Sherwood of London He places the robbers in the shadow and pedestal  of the celebrated Robin Hood thereby giving them a noble image. In carrying out this research, the analitical methodology was adopted  in gathering useful materials from the library and the internet. The paper concluded by applauding this Osofisan‘s adaptation technique,  and recommended that the style be widely embraced by other Nigerian dramatists.