CRITICAL REALISM IN FEMI OSOFISAN'S MOROUNTODUN AND OLA ROTIMI'S HOPE OF THE LIVING DEAD

The research is a critical realist study of Femi Osofisan's Morountodun and Ola Rotimi's Hopes of the Living Dead with the aim of revealing the critical realist issues in the select plays. To fulfill this research aim, the study demonstrates how the select playwrights project typical critical realist underpinnings in the plays such as poverty, religious falsehood, oppression of the masses, and class segregation, economic and political marginalisation and others addressed in the select plays. The research adopts the theoretical framework of realism because of its ideological position of depicting the class and economic segregation of a section of people in the society and the unequal distribution of resources in the society particularly in the Nigerian socio-political and economic set up in line with the critical realist tendencies discussed in the select plays. The study concludes that the select plays depict the social, cultural, political and economic issues the masses face in Nigeria with close examination to the select plays.