I wrote ‘Death and the King’s Horseman’ in less than three days – Soyinka

By Tosin Brown

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has revealed that he wrote one of his most successful plays, Death and the King’s Horseman, in two and a half days.

Soyinka made this known in Abuja on Saturday, February 15, at the unveiling of CreaTent, a creative hub.

The event also saw the launch of Books of Aphorisms, authored by Mohammed Bello, one of his mentees.

“But the important thing—and that’s what I want to address—is that writing that play did not begin when I sat down. Right? No. Obviously, it had been there.

“You see yourself in the subconscious, and finally, it is ready. Many people would not believe that I wrote that play in two and a half days,” he said.

Continuing, he said, “That was the nature of it. The power to respond to it. Not necessarily immediately.

“And don’t worry if you wanted to write a play and it just didn’t come out and you had to do it. Go and do other things. Go and play soccer if you like.

“Go and listen to music. Go and see your friends. Have a party. Join a construction gang who occupy themselves with the community. Anything whatsoever.

“Inspiration is not mysterious. It’s a question of just opening your mind to take up what others are not.”

The 90-year-old playwright encouraged creatives not to consider time as a factor for inspiration, saying he nursed the idea of Death and the King’s Horseman for many years before putting it to paper in less than 72 hours.

Death and the King’s Horseman, which has been adapted into a global film, was first published in 1975.

The play tells the story of the obstacles that Elesin Oba—the king’s horseman—faces on the night he is supposed to commit ritual suicide to follow the recently departed king into the afterlife.