Page 11 - BPW BERKELEY BULLETIN - Edition 22 - February 2024 - with attachments

While Wole Soyinka has written in many media, he is first and foremost a playwright. And
Death and the King’s Horseman is the most well-known, most studied, and most discussed play
by Soyinka. Written in 1975, this anti-colonialist drama was inspired by real-life events when the
king died during the colonization of Nigeria by the British Empire. According to Yoruba
tradition, his dog, his horse, and his horseman were to accompany him in death. Drama ensues
when a British officer who finds the practice barbaric intervenes.