Investigating the Use of Classical Greek Theatre Conventions in Contemporary Nigerian Theatre Practice

Nigerian theatre, one of Africa's richest theatrical traditions, has been influenced by classical Greek theatrical conventions in complex and often underacknowledged ways, mediated through colonial education, literary training, and the explicit theoretical engagement of playwrights such as Wole Soyinka. This study investigates the extent and character of classical Greek theatrical conventions in contemporary Nigerian theatre practice from 2015 to 2023. A mixed-methods empirical design was adopted, combining content analysis of the production notes, scripts, and critical reviews of 35 contemporary Nigerian theatre productions from Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, and Kano (identified through systematic search of the Performing Arts Digitisation Archive at the University of Lagos and the National Troupe of Nigeria archives) with interviews conducted with 25 practising Nigerian theatre directors, playwrights, and acting professionals. Classical theatrical conventions analysed include chorus structure, dramatic irony, the peripeteia-anagnorisis arc, tragic hamartia, and unity of time, place, and action. Findings indicate that Greek theatrical conventions are present in 68 percent of analysed productions, though rarely explicitly acknowledged by creators. The tragic arc is the most consistently applied structure. Chorus-equivalent structures appear in 52 percent of productions, typically in the form of community voice ensembles or sung commentary traditions derived from both classical and Nigerian oral performance traditions. The study fills a documented empirical gap in the Nigerian theatre-classics interface and recommends comparative performance studies.

Keywords: Greek theatre, Nigerian theatre, theatrical conventions, empirical study, performance analysis