Snippets of the Absurd in Soyinka’s <i>Madmen and Specialists</i>

Abstract

The term ‘Absurdism’ was first used by Martin Esslin in 1960 to describe a novel theatrical movement which began after the Second World War. Although weird and untoward, the form and vision of the absurd theatre seem to be a genuine result of a close diagnosis of the human situation. Absurd plays therefore amplify a ridiculous departure and jettison of rational adherence to reason and realism as the epicenter of human situation. As a result, there is a general belief by absurdists that humans exist in a world with no purpose or order. Wole Soyinka seemed to have caught the absurdist bug after the Nigerian Civil War holocaust (1967 – 1970) which placed man at the acme of beastiality as exemplified in Madmen and Specialists. The paper looks at the nuances of absurdity inherent in the play, Madmen and Specialists, which suggests that Soyinka apart from being abreast with the pulse and idiosyncrasies of humanity, is equally a farsighted playwright in the mould of Beckett and Ionesco. This paper submits therefore, that snippets of absurdism permeate Madmen and Specialists.