A Dance of the Forests

The play opens with a short prologue in which the spirit Aroni the Lame One names each of the characters and describes their relationships to one another as well as each character’s previous incarnation: Demoke the carver was once the Court Poet, Rola the courtesan was once called Madame Tortoise, and Adenebi, who is now the court orator, was known as the Court Historian in a past life. The Forest Head, an invented Yoruba god unique to the play, is disguised as a human man called Obaneji. The local people are preparing for the Gathering of the Tribes, and through Agboreko, the Elder of Sealed Lips, they have petitioned the gods to send illustrious ancestors to attend their festival. Instead, Aroni summons the Dead Man and the Dead Woman as accusers, explaining that the dead couple were wronged by Demoke, Obaneji, Adenebi, and Rola in their past lives during the time of the Court of Mata Kharibu, 800 years earlier.

The Dead Man and his wife, the Dead Woman, push their way up from the ground and ask passing villagers for help. Demoke the carver is in a hurry and will not listen. Rola the courtesan stops next, but is repelled by the dead couple’s ghastly appearance. The Dead Man feels ashamed. The Dead Woman had hoped that the couple’s invitation to the Village Celebration would allow her to have the baby that she has been gestating for a hundred generations. A noisy procession of villagers drives the dead couple away with their bells and gunshots.

Rola, Demoke, Obaneji, and Adenebi enter, all trying to avoid the festival. Rola feels overcrowded by distant relations. Demoke, who carved the village totem (also called the idol) out of a sacred tree, has fled the scene after the village razed the other trees in the grove. Demoke no longer sees the work of art as his own. Obaneji, who is really the Forest Head in disguise as a human, says that he fled the village due to the noise of the festivities, and Adenebi also left for the noisy village because of his weak heart. The sound of bells and shouts rises again and the Dead Man and his wife reenter. The group of villagers go deeper into the forest to avoid the dead couple and the approaching revelers.

Murete, an Orisha in the form of a one-legged tree imp, finds Aroni in the forest. Aroni accuses Murete of abandoning the Forest Head for the village festivities. Murete is angry that the god Eshuoro bit the top off of the tree where he lives, and admits that he wanted to attend the village festival. Aroni interrogates Murete about Murete’s interaction with the humans, and Murete says that he has only contacted the human Agboreko, the Elder of Sealed Lips. Aroni tells Murete to warn him if the god Ogun is around, as Demoke is Ogun’s servant. Aroni leaves.

Ogun, patron god of carvers, enters and interrogates Murete about the whereabouts of Demoke, his follower, by forcing Murete to drink a pot of alcohol. Murete is of little help; he tries to attack Ogun, mistaking him for Eshuoro, before passing out. Ogun vows to protect Demoke.

Obaneji, Demoke, Adenebi, and Rola return. Demoke wonders if the Dead Man was really his apprentice Oremole, who is later revealed to have been murdered by Demoke out of jealousy while helping Demoke carve the idol. Demoke is worried because “they say Aroni has taken control. That is when the guilty become afraid” (14). Rola changes the subject, asking Obaneji why he came. As the chief clerk of the village, Obaneji knows many secrets about the villagers. He recounts legal cases involving lorries, or trucks, including a lorry infamous for pollution known as the Chimney of Ereko, and a recent case in which a village council member accepted a bribe to double the number of passengers in a particular lorry. The truck caught fire, and 65 people died. Obaneji asks Adenebi, who is the council orator, if Adenebi knows the name of the man who took the bribe for the sake of Obaneji’s official records. Adenebi accuses Obaneji of being insensitive to the victims of the fire, and they argue about the culpability of the councilman who accepted the bribe.

Demoke, who works with fire to make his art, says he would rather die by falling from a great height than by fire, having recently seen Oremole, his apprentice, fall from a tree. Demoke laments that his phobia of great heights limits his ability to carve. Obaneji refuses to answer how he would rather die; he deflects the question to Rola, who laughs and embraces him, trying to kiss him. Disgusted, Obaneji throws her to the ground, sparking outrage among the other three villagers. Rola hurls insults at Obaneji, who reminds her that two of her lovers are dead because of her. Demoke recognizes Rola as her ancestor—Madame Tortoise, a famous courtesan—because Madame Tortoise dominated Demoke’s thoughts as he carved the village idol for the festival. Disgusted with the group, Adenebi leaves.

The dead couple reenters. Demoke asks if they have met Oremole, his apprentice who fell to his death. The Dead Man accuses Demoke of reeking of death, and the couple leaves again. Demoke reveals that he intentionally knocked Oremole from the tree, jealous that his apprentice could climb and carve higher than he could. Thinking he hears his father’s voice, Demoke leads the group toward the sound, however the voice was actually Ogun, attempting to stop Demoke from going farther into the Forest Head’s realm.

An old man, Demoke’s father, enters with a councilman, followed soon after by Adenebi. The Old Man, along with the rest of the village, wants to get rid of the dead couple, unhappy that such tragic ancestor spirits have arrived for their festival. The Old Man calls for the Chimney of Ereko to be driven through the forest, fumigating it with the lorry’s excessive petrol exhaust. After interrogating Adenebi about his recent encounter with Demoke, the Old Man worries that Obaneji is actually Eshuoro, seeking revenge for the death of Oremole, as Eshuoro was Oremole’s patron god.

Agboreko performs divinations as a dirge-man, a drummer, and a dancer perform a ritual ceremony. The arrival of the Chimney of Ereko throws the scene into chaos; everyone flees, and Adenebi Is lost, confused, and terrified. He hides from a procession of forest spirits who are fleeing the exhaust fumes. Obaneji finds Adenebi and asks if he found the name of the person responsible for the lorry fire that killed the 65 people. Adenebi follows Obaneji to the welcoming of the dead.