Sandra L. Richards 
 
 
eve of the coronation of Jean-Bedel Bokassa, an event still fresh in his

audience's memory. The choice allows him to lampoon Nigerian events 
like the craze for extravagant "Wonyosi" lace;.13 the accumulation
of 
dead bodies along Nigerian roadways; the public execution of criminals 
in a carnival-like atmosphere known popularly as the "Bar Beach 
Shows"; and a long litany of riots perpetrated against innocent civilians

by unknown soldiers. The decision to feature a university professor 
prominently among Anikura's beggars directly indicts Soyinka's 
university audience for its complicity in perpetuating national chaos. In

addition, the choice of the Central African Republic allows him to lash 
out at one of the continent's most notorious leaders. Thus, the distance

between audience and dramatic events is virtually non-existent, and 
highly impassioned reactions - either positive or negative - are the only

plausible responses. 
     The characterization of Polly is another area of difference. Brecht

 is careful to maintain a tension between Polly's uttering middle-class 
 cliches related to romance and acting upon an astute sense of financial

 profitability. Thus, character is constantly made to comment - albeit 
 unwittingly - upon itself, and the discrepancy between motives for 
 human behavior and their rationalization as a system of social values 
 remains at the forefront of the drama. 
     With his sights aimed elsewhere, Soyinka eliminates scene three in 
which Brecht's Polly mouths romantic sentiments before agreeing with 
her parents that such emotions are useless. Similarly, in scene five 
Soyinka's Polly wastes no time bemoaning the loss of love; she quickly 
assumes leadership of Mack's band of thieves, imposing upon it a more 
acceptable business image by introducing the Wonyosi cloth, much 
beloved by successful Nigerians. In response to Tiger Brown's amazed 
reaction to her transformation, she offers "The Song of Lost Innocence"

with its chorus of female traders who like a contagion of Mother 
Courages attack the Civil War dead and sell their grisly finds to the 
audience. This Polly makes no passing nod to bourgeois respectability. 
With the tension between private thought and public stance removed, 
Soyinka's character may confirm audiences' experiences, yet she 
poses less demand that observers focus on the root processes by 
which these events occur. 
     By devoting less time to Polly, Soyinka is able to bring to the 
foreground the soon-to-be crowned monarch, absent from the earlier 
plays. Thus, in scene three Emperor Boky addresses the audience 
directly, mouthing egalitarian sentiments while offering a boot dance, 
complete with hobnails and deadly blows to his soldiers, as an example 
of revolutionary culture. But Soyinka can not simply parody Bokassa's 
brutal delusions of grandeur, for the real Bokassa was already a gross 
parody of leadership, acting out his own, self-scripted imitation of the

glories of French civilization. Fact and fiction have coalesced, raising

the question of what actually is being imitated. 
     Furthermore, the presence on stage of an Emperor Bokassa 
crystallizes Soyinka's contention that the exercise of power appeals to 
and anesthetizes the moral sensibilities of all social classes. Thus, in

the aggressive "Who Killed Neo-Niga?" song, replete with military
drills 
 
 
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