A REVIEW OF DENJA ABDULLAH’S PLAY DEATH AND THE KING’S GREY HAIR - By Olaniyi Abdulwaheed

In every society, there must be a leader. A leader who is ready to refurbish the land, lead by example and abides by the laws of the society. A leader who is respected by his subjects is the one that serves the nation relentlessly and bends for the rule of law. The law of every society defines its power, culture and tradition. The uniqueness of a tradition in a particular nation is reserved in the constitution and how the people of the state respect the rule of law. When the power of a nation is given to a particular person to maintain orderliness, peace and harmony reigns if the ruler or king obeys political culture. Leaders must lead by example lest things fall apart.

The play Death and the King’s Grey Hair centres around the ancestral culture of the people of Shakaga village. According to their unwritten constitution , a king rules for a short period of time, it is a taboo for him to live with signs of ageing,.The village only witnesses young kings and short reigns. The law of the land does not permit any king to stay long on the throne. The ancestral tradition of kingship in Shakaga started during the time of Jigulu, their founding father.

The trend of tradition exists for ages in the village and the people of the land witness no king that stays long on the throne until the time of King Esutu. The terminal sign, which is grey hair, has not appeared on King Esutu’s head despite the fact that he has ruled beyond the expected time.

1^ST WISEMAN: ‘…Esutu has ruled and handled enormous powers for fifteen seasons, the longest in the history of our land. And surprisingly the sign for departure refuses to come.’

Otolofon, the one being mandated by tradition to examine the king’s head season by season has nothing to show to the seven Wisemen who are the kingmakers. The reign of King Esutu has not been terminated. The long reign of Esutu baffles the Wisemen and that prompts them to nurture the curiosity to know the reason why their king’s hair fails to turn grey, therefore, considering deliberation on the impeachment of the king.

Esutu the tyrant king who rules for seasons in a land of ‘short reign,’ secretly breaks the tradition through the ageless gift being given to him by his visiting friend, a prince from another land. The ageless gift—changing Esutu’s grey hair to black—keeps him on the throne. After the truth has been unveiled, the revolt by Esutu’s subjects together with the seven king makers lead to his downfall. As the tradition demands, he is asked to drink poison and die but he leaves the village with shame.

In this play that calls for the rule of law, the characters perform their roles excellently. While the main character, King Esutu, symbolizes a tyrant leader who is intoxicated by power, forgetting the oath of allegiance he took when power was being conferred on him during his ascendancy to the throne of Shakaga. The Royal Bard, the one employed by Esutu is a sycophant whose job is to praise the king and veils the flaws in the palace. The seven WISEMEN are epitomes of legislative arm, checking the actions of the executive, King Esutu. Gabisi who is a poet and guardian of the word represents a human right activist who dies in the agitation for good governance.  

Supposedly, the story line influences the language style of the play. Despite the fact that the play is written in the English language, the playwright tells the story in local dialects of some indigenous languages in Nigeria. The play is laced with Yoruba proverbs as well as Hausa. This language style makes the play to be flawless. The style is a marriage of English, Hausa and the Yoruba language.

The play, ‘especially its title Death and the King’s Gey Hair’, seems to be familiar in the realm of literature. Although the story line is unique, it is a form of retelling the stories about what people know but seems to have forgotten when the ills of the society is yet to be erased. The play, supposedly, shares affinity with Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman and Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons.But just as Prof. Benedict M. Ibitokun says in his Valedictory Lecture, ‘Homo Sapiens and the Mirage of Self-Plenum:  

‘No modern writer can claim that he is saying anything new, if he says so, nobody will believe him. What makes a writer great is his blend of medium and message, and his artistic bravura: the peculiar and unfamiliar way of saying the familiar thing.’

A play telling the story that has significant message in refurbishing the society, it is recommended to student at all levels and every Nigerian who is working towards the positive change of the country.