It’s another Season of stage plays in celebration of Professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature who turns 75 on July 13. It would be recollected that Wole Oguntokun, lawyer, playwright and dramatist first hosted the season in July 2007 in Lagos.

Collaborating with the British Council and the arts and cultural centre known as Terra Kulture, Oguntokun’s Jasonvision featured four plays written by Soyinka and one by Oguntokun himself. The plays include The Lion and the Jewel, Death and the King’s Horseman, Camwood on the leaves and The Jero plays. Oguntokun’s Who’s afraid of Wole Soyinka? also made up the celebration in 2007.

Legacy Realties Ltd sponsored the month-long fiesta, which thrilled theatre lovers on Sundays in July 2007.

But last year, the second season of Soyinka took place at Terra Kulture, starting on the first Sunday of June and continuing till the last Sunday of July. It featured many of Soyinka’s sketches and his plays.
This year, the third season was slated for all the Sundays in June and July while the venue remains Terra Kulture. The project, now bigger than the previous two, aims at celebrating Professor Soyinka’s 75th birthday. Short plays and sketches written by Soyinka will precede each play. These include- Babuzu Lion Heart, Death before Discourtesy, Childe Internationale, Obstacle Race, Population Control, Go North Old Man, Priority Project, Symbolic Peace Symbolic Gifts, Home to Roost, Polling Booth, Press Conference and several others.

The plays, which were staged on the first two Sundays in June are The Lion and The Jewel (June 7 & 14), while Death and the King’s Horseman were presented on the last two Sundays of the month.
In the month of July, Soyinka’s Madmen and Specialists would mount the stage on July 5 and 12 while Kongi’s Harvest will be staged on July 19 and 26. Each performance is slated for 3pm and 6pm through the Season.

The directors for the 2009 edition of the Soyinka Season include Wole Oguntokun, Peter Ikunna, Sola Roberts Iwaotan and Sunkanmi Adebayo. The third yearly Season of Wole Soyinka is produced by Wole Oguntokun and hosted officially by the Victoria Island-based Terra Kulture in Lagos.