The Lion and the Jewel

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The Lion and the Jewel is a play by Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka that was first performed in 1959 in Ibadan. In 1966, it was staged in London, England, at the Royal Court Theatre. The play chronicles how Baroka, the lion, fights with the modern Lakunle over the right to marry Sidi, the titular Jewel. Lakunle is portrayed as the civilized antithesis of Baroka and unilaterally attempts to modernize his community and change its social conventions for no reason other than the fact that he can. This is a parody of the westernized elite that inherited power from the colonists upon Independence in Africa. The playscript was first published in 1962 by Oxford University Press. Soyinka emphasises the theme of the corrupted African culture through the play, as well as how the youth should embrace the original African culture. A review by Naijabanquet describes The Lion and the Jewel as "a masterpiece that successfully combines the concept of literature as a tool both for socio-cultural activism...

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