The highlight of opening weekend for this writer was Wole
Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman, which narrates a real-life tale
in which foreigners-English empire-builders in 1940's Nigeria-interrupt native
tradition with tragic results.
Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature, is a
master of language, and Ashland veteran actor Derrick Lee Weeden as the
horseman who must die with the king in keeping with Yoruba tradition,
delivers the words richly and with lavish rhythm, bringing the play full
circle from his communal life of joy to one of tragedy.
The visual production is stunning (Linda Buchanan, sets, Lydia
Tanji costumes), and equally striking is the beautiful tonal drumming and
dancing of the market women in native clothing (Michael Keck, sound design,
Randy Duncan, choreographer). G. Valmont Thomas is the Praise-Singer who sets
the stage for the horseman's death, and director Chuck Smith directs with an
unerring sense of drama.