Joshua Agbo
The narrating thread in this contemporary African drama connects the past to the present. It shows how memory can yield something about life in ways that touch us all, either as oppressors or the oppressed. Dead Wood, the consciousness of a wounded generation, is a sober portrait of the abiding problems of our time, a reminder of what to follow and what to avoid, especially mistreating others as dead wood. It is our leaders' responsibility to enhance human dignity and not take it away. The play opens with the arrival of corps members having a mix of excitement and disillusionment at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp in Kebbi State, Nigeria. Following a struggle against NYSC authorities by corps members and the punishment meted out by the military, the play tells how the actions and misdeeds of our leaders can offend common humanity and destroy peace. Dead Wood mirrors how the oppressed entangle themselves in the very misdeeds of their oppressors. The play holds up a mirror to see ourselves and our actions. Pervading the text are the themes of oppression, abuse, molestation, corruption, wickedness, and suppression. The play is a cumulative response to the failed Nigerian state, which is riddled with endless malfeasance and stealing, and by extension, to the unjust world as a whole. The text renews a sense of contemporary African drama in a deeply moving coming of age way that colours the African tragedy in a hilarious manner, and the narrative involves the entire world, lest we forget. Joshua Agbo teaches at Benue State University in Nigeria. He is currently working on his Ph.D. in African exile literature at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. Publisher's website: http://sbprabooks.com/JoshuaAgbo
