SATIRE AND RESISTANCE IN POSTCOLONIAL NIGERIAN DRAMA: A LITERARY STUDY OF CHUKWUMA ANYANWU’S WRATH OF THE GODS

Abstract

This paper examines Chukwuma Anyanwu’s Wrath of the Gods (2025) as a postcolonial satire 
that critiques authoritarianism in post-independence African societies. Drawing on the works of 
Fanon, Ngũgĩ, Frye, Bakhtin, and Bhabha, the study explores how the play employs indigenous 
aesthetics, performative irony, and orature to subvert hegemonic power and colonial residue. 
Fanon’s theory of postcolonial disillusionment frames the character of King Agu I as a 
representation of recycled colonial repression and elite betrayal of the masses. Ngũgĩ’s emphasis 
on cultural resistance underscores Anyanwu’s strategic use of African orality, ritual, and 
proverbs, which embed the play within African epistemological traditions despite its English 
medium. Satirical techniques, defined by Frye as tools that expose societal vices through ridicule 
and exaggeration, are central to the play’s political commentary and comedic structure. The play 
also aligns with the satirical traditions of Wole Soyinka and Femi Osofisan, further grounding it 
in local dramatic heritage. Bakhtin’s concept of the carnivalesque is enacted in the inversion of 
social hierarchies through communal storytelling and public ridicule of the king. Bhabha’s “Third 
Space” theory elucidates the hybrid aesthetic of the play, where colonial language and indigenous 
performance intersect to resist both external domination and internal tyranny. Using a qualitative 
research design and close textual analysis, the paper argues that Wrath of the Gods reclaims 
performance as a powerful site for political resistance and postcolonial critique.