Death and the king's horseman

"This play, by the winner of a Nobel Prize for Literature, asks: 'On the authority of what gods' the white aliens rupture the world.

It puts exciting political theatre back on the agenda...a masterpiece of 20th century drama" (Guardian) Elesin Oba, the King's Horseman, has a single destiny.

When the King dies, he must commit ritual suicide and lead his King's favourite horse and dog through the passage to the world of the ancestors.

A British Colonial Officer, Pilkings, intervenes to prevent the death and arrests Elesin.

The play is a set text for NEAB GCSE, NEAB A Level and NEAB A/S Level. "A transfixing work of modern world drama" (Independent); "clearly a masterpiece...he achieves the full impact of Greek tragedy" (Irving Wardle, Independent on Sunday); "the action of the play is as inevitable and eloquent as in Antigone: a clash of values and cultures so fundamental that tragedy issues: a tragedy for each individual, each tribe" (Michael Schmidt, Daily Telegraph)