Abstract

The Igbo popular maxim Ohaka community is supreme is a product of the people s interacting life and exemplifies their belief in the power of unity that inheres from communal living However such patriotic value as implied in the aphorism is rift with challenges in modern time and drama as a reflection of the people s interacting life recreates both the challenges and the people s response to them This paper therefore examines instances of conformity to and divergence from the value of ohaka in selected dramatic literature of the Igbo in order to evaluate its significance in contemporary world This is done through the analysis of character s response to the issues of ohaka as dramatized in Zulu Sofola s Wedlock of the Gods 1972 Short Biography Osita Catherine Ezenwanebe Ph D is an Association Professor of Theatre Arts in the Department of Creative Arts Theatre Unit University of Lagos Nigeria With a B A in English Education two Master of Arts Degrees in English Literature Drama and Society and in English Language Nigerian English and a Ph D in English Literature Drama and Society Osita teaches dramatic theory and criticism among other courses She is a Senior Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor of Dramatic Arts 2011 2012 in the Department of English and Foreign Languages Winston- Salem State University North Carolina USA She has written and produced six plays which are all published Withered Thrust 2007 The Dawn of Full Moon 2009 Giddy Festival 2009 Daring Destiny 2011 Adaugo 2011 and Shadows on Arrival 2012 Osita Ezenwane be is one of the authors of Trends in Twenty-First Century African Theatre and Performance a premier publication of the African Theatre and Performance Working Group of the International Federation of Theatre Research IFTR 2011