Feminist Readings of Gender and Power in Contemporary Igbo-Language Drama: A Critical Analysis of Selected Plays from 2015 to 2024

This study applies feminist critical frameworks to analyse representations of gender and power in contemporary Igbo-language drama produced between 2015 and 2024, addressing a documented gap in feminist literary scholarship on Igbo dramatic literature. While feminist approaches to Igbo fiction in English have produced a substantial body of scholarship, Igbo-language drama as a feminist text remains critically underdeveloped. The corpus comprises fifteen full-length plays by nine playwrights, drawn from university production archives, community theatre programmes, and published playscripts from Anambra, Imo, Enugu, and Ebonyi states. Critical analysis draws on African feminist theory, intersectionality, and theatrical semiotics to examine characterisation, dialogue, stage direction semantics, and narrative resolution as sites of gender ideology production. Findings reveal three dominant gender representation tendencies: progressive reformist plays challenging patriarchal domestic norms, conservative cultural-preservationist plays valorising traditional feminine roles, and ambivalent plays that articulate gender critique while remaining structurally reliant on patriarchal plot resolution. Female playwrights constitute only three of the nine represented authors, yet their works demonstrate the most sustained and formally innovative feminist interventions. The study argues for the institutional promotion of female Igbo dramatists and proposes a feminist dramaturgy curriculum module for Nigerian university theatre programmes. Keywords: Igbo drama, feminist criticism, gender representation, contemporary theatre, African feminism.