Strong Breed, The
By Wole Soyinka
Year staged: 1968
Staged in: Mercury Theatre
Cast Size: Unknown
Synopsis
Eman, a teacher but village outsider, ignores pleas to leave on the eve of the New Year, the night when the village purification ceremony occurs. Tradition requires a person, ‘the carrier’, to be a ceremonial sacrifice – to cleanse the village of ills for the coming year. His compassion compels Eman to substitute himself for the helpless idiot boy who has been selected. As Eman is hunted down by the village men, in flashback, he sees his father was also a ‘carrier’, that his own mother died in childbirth, and Eman’s wife having waited 12 years for him to return from travels of self discovery and learning also died in childbirth. Eman accepting his fate as one of the ‘strong breed’, is caught and killed.
Find the script
Strong Breed, The
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year published: 1964
Production Team
Lionel Ngakane
Director
Lionel Ngakane
Director