The Reception of Julius Caesar in Nigerian School Drama: A Study of Secondary Schools in Kano State

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which draws extensively on Plutarch's Lives and Roman historiography, is a frequently prescribed text in Nigerian secondary school literature programmes, and its reception by students in Kano State, North West Nigeria, offers important insights into how classical and Renaissance materials are interpreted across cultural and geopolitical contexts. This study investigates how students and teachers in secondary schools in Kano State receive and interpret Julius Caesar, with particular attention to the Roman historical content and its perceived relevance to Nigerian political experience. A mixed-methods design was adopted, combining classroom observations of Julius Caesar lessons in eight schools across Kano Municipal, Nassarawa, and Ungogo LGAs, with questionnaires administered to 160 SS3 students and interviews with twelve English Literature teachers. Findings indicate that students most readily identify with themes of political betrayal and leadership corruption, which they consistently map onto perceived features of Nigerian political life. The Roman historical setting is largely unfamiliar to students, and teachers rarely contextualise the Roman background, limiting students' ability to engage with the historical layer of the text. Students who received historical contextualisation lessons showed significantly deeper thematic engagement. The study concludes that Caesar's Roman context enriches rather than impedes the text's relevance for Nigerian students and recommends that Classical Studies content be formally integrated into the teaching of classical-historical literature across Nigerian secondary schools.

Keywords: Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, classical reception, secondary schools, Kano State