Giants on stage
Synopsis
Giants on Stage shows a static picture in which the 'giants' of the title, Kamini, Gunema, Kasko and Tuboum - slightly disguised representations of Idi Amin Macias Nguema, Jean-Bedel Bokassa and Mobutu Sese Seko, respectively - are presented as constituents of the post-colonial products of the Western superpowers. Kamini, for example, is put into power by the British, financed by the Americans, militarily armed by the Soviets and ultimately abandoned by all when the services of an insane dictator is no longer convenient to them. Giants on Stage is thus a surreal fantasy of international poetic justice in which the economic and political support systems of Western governments respond catastrophically, in their own time and at their own whim, to the monsters they have created and consequently lost control over.In this play, Soyinka manages to bring together in one place all the infamous dictators of Africa. The Secretary General of the United Nations and two delegates, from Russia and the United States, are the other personalities who give Giants on Stage its international character. The pretext for such an encounter is a meeting of the United Nations. As the play unfolds, we witness the role the superpowers play in sustaining the dictators in power and at the same time the true nature of these African dictators - their confusions, sexual perversions, their misconceptions of power and its complexities.
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