The Struggle Against Mutability: A Review of Abdul O. Umar and Sam Iyanda's The Kings Darling
They say there is one thing that is constant in life and it is change. Well, they said it right. The King's Darling is a play which captures a controversy between the king and his cabinet on one side, and the youths on the other side over the issue of expelling western drug sellers (who are non-natives) in the village from the society. The king's cabinet is of the opinion that the drug peddlers disallow local drug sellers from making profits and they destabilize the people's culture and tradition especially as one of them sold drugs for abortion to one of the young ladies in the village.
The youth, however, have a differing opinion and think these drug peddlers should stay since the local drugs peddlers are not as efficient as the modern ones. Their attempts to make the elders see sense in their argument fell on deaf ears and they choose to register their protest by unanimously deciding not to participate in a festival that demands the participation of the youths by vacating the village.
They returned days after the festival with the king son terribly ill with fever. The local medicine will just not do to heal him, he needs the attention of the non-native physician and their drugs. If the king disallows him from receiving the needed treatment because he has made a law proscribing his people from patronizing these drug peddlers and his son dies, would it not imply that the king cannot make decisions that would protect his people from harm? Would the king reverse his own law, allow a change in culture and let the non-native drug physicians treat his son? The answer is what you must find out by reading the book.
The king and his cabinet remind me of Achebe's tragic character in Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God (Okonkwo and Ezeulu), the only difference being perhaps that the Kings had the good sense to avert disaster by quickly rescinding his decision to proscribe the non-native western drug peddlers.
The play is replete with proverbs to capture the speech of the elders. It has less grammatical inconsistencies compared to STRAY BULLET. One thing to note also is that the role of women were underplayed in the play. They played the role of mere gossipers providing comments or updates on the happenings in the village, it would be great to know what actions they took while the youths (according to the play, youths refer to young men only) vacated the village.
All the same, Abdul O. Umar and Sam Iyanda have kept the dying play writing tradition alive despite challenges of poor readership and inattention to playwriting and stage acting. Their effort is commendable and we await more from their stables.
© Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy 2017
Meet the Reviewer
Ubaji Isiaka Abubakar Eazy is a literary critic, writer, poet, essayist, copy editor, and book reviewer.
