Madmen and Specialists

Madmen and Specialists
Written by	Wole Soyinka
Characters	Dr. Bero Old Man Mendicants Si Bero Iya Agba Iya Mate
Date premiered	August 1, 1970 (1970-08-01)
Place premiered	Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
Original language	English
Subject	Nigerian Civil War
Setting	Dr. Bero's surgery and the space before it, Nigeria, 1969

Madmen and Specialists is a play by Wole Soyinka, conceived in 1970 during his imprisonment in the Nigerian Civil War. The play, Soyinka's eighth, has close links to the Theatre of the Absurd. ^[1] Abiola Irele (in the Lagos Sunday Times) called it "a nightmarish image of our collective life as it appears to a detached and reflective consciousness". It was published in London 1971 by Methuen and in New York in 1972 by Hill & Wang.

Overview

In Madmen and Specialists, Wole Soyinka explores the absurdity of the human condition amid war and political oppression. The play contrasts “madmen” and “specialists” to show how individuals are trapped in a society where rationality is detached from reality. Soyinka critiques authority and post-colonial politics, revealing how power dehumanizes people. Through absurd dialogues and actions, he highlights the futility of seeking meaning in a chaotic and violent system

Madmen and Specialists is considered Soyinka's most pessimistic play, dealing with "man's inhumanity and pervasive corruption in structures of power". ^[2] The plot concerns Dr. Bero, a corrupt specialist, who imprisons and torments his physician father. ^[3]

Soyinka uses the play to examine the complex interplay between history, psychology, and drama, portraying the moral decay, corruption, and human suffering caused by war. The narrative demonstrates how theatre can respond promptly to social issues, serving as a medium through which the playwright interprets and critiques the historical realities of his time. Madmen and Specialists is often analyzed alongside Soyinka’s memoir ^{[4] [5]}

References

1. Hans M. Zell, Carol Bundy, Virginia Coulon, A New Reader's Guide to African Literature, Heinemann Educational Books, 1983, p. 171.
2. Liukkonen, Petri. "Wole Soyinka". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 2 February 2015.
3. Harding, Frances (January 1991). "Soyinka and power: language and imagery in Madmen and Specialists". African Languages and Cultures. 4 (1): 87–98. doi:10.1080/09544169108717730. ISSN   0954-416X.
4. Johnson, Chris (April 1976). "Performance and Role-playing in Soyinka's Madmen and Specialists". The Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 10 (3): 27–33. doi:10.1177/002198947601000305. ISSN   0021-9894.
5. Sedlak, WernerR (2001-04-26). "Wole Soyinka's Cultural Activism: His Representations of Detention in The Detainee, Madmen and Specialists, Season of Anomy and The Man Died". Matatu. 23–24 (1): 41–54. doi:10.1163/18757421-90000353. ISSN   0932-9714.