Ola Rotimi created plays influenced by traditional architectural forms.
Today, Wednesday, April 13, 2022, is the posthumous birthday of legendary Nigerian playwright Ola Rotimi, and global technological giants, Google, have chosen to honour him by displaying him as their doodle today. In the background of the company is Ola Rotimi’s doodle, a browser homepage image of a bespectacled Black man with his receding hairline and scrubby beards holding an open book in his hands. The Google doodle also captured three figures performing in a play that has the resemblance to a scene from Ola Rotimi’s ‘The Gods Are Not To Blame.’
Born on April 13, 1938, Ola Rotimi died at the age of 62 on August 18, 2000. His versatility as an actor, choreographer, director and designer saw him nicknamed “a complete man of the theatre’’ during his lifetime.
Owing to the political climate in Nigeria in the 90s, Ola Rotimi spent time in the Caribbean and the United States where he lectured at the Macalester College, Minnesota. He would return to Nigeria in the year 2000 following the advent of the fourth republic and democratic rule. Prior to his death in 2000, he taught at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
Apart from “The Gods Are Not To Blame,’’ some of his popular literary pieces include “Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again,” “Similar To Oedipus,’’ “Ovonramwen Nogbaisi’’ (a piece on the ancient Benin Empire), and “Kurumi And The Prodigal.’’ Ola Rotimi would have been 84 years old today.
Sources:
Pulse NG
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