HAGHER AND WOMEN': A GENDERED EXCURSION INTO AISHATU AND ANTIPEOPLE

Abstract

Recent Nigerian drama of ideological concerns bring to the fore issues of women-centredness. This means that plays by male and female playwrights often delimit themes that portray the strengths and weaknesses of women in texts. Iyorwuese Hagher made his entrance into the Nigerian theatre scene many years ago. This means his focus in his dramaturgy is an all-embracing one, where the ideology of women-centredness is concerned. His plays AISHATU and ANTIPEOPLE reveal identity themes that are engendered. This gendering of playtexts is not a recent phenomenon where Hagher is concerned. The women in both plays are women of flesh and blood or real women we encounter everyday on the streets. They are not imaginary women, rather we experience them in interpersonal relations that leave them dispossesed of the initial strengths and the opportunities they had. Therefore, this paper evolves a gender stance from a reading woman .Any alternative from a masculinist stance may present further openings to the texts.


(Humanities Review: 2002 2(1): 22-29)