Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's Postcolonial Orality: Towards a New Poetics of Drama

Abstract

Ngugi Wa Thiong'o is one of the best known African writers who loves to use oral narrative in his plays (colonial or post-colonial plays). Emphasis is put here on his post-independence plays, called The Trial of Dedan Kimathi and I Will Marry When I Want which is an English translation from Gikuyu, his native language. These two plays are reputed to be localized both in form and content as Ngugi appropriates the traditional way of narration in composing a play, an imported genre. Both these works are postcolonial plays which protest against neo-colonial societies. It is observed here that Ngugi is greatly influenced by the Brechtian form of theatre which is transformed into African context. In this paper I will analyse Ngugi's two postcolonial plays from the perspective of third-world postcolonialism.