WINNER of the 2014 Nigeria Prize for Literature (Drama), Professor Sam Ukala, passed on this morning. He was 73.
A prolific playwright and theatre scholar, Ukala passed on this morning, according to a short message issued by the President of the National Association of Nigerian Artists, NANTAP, Israel Eboh:
“With a heavy heart we announce the death of a distinguished member and Fellow of the association, Prof. Sam Ukala.
“He passed on this morning.
“A most committed and dedicated member of the Body of Fellow and Delta State Chapter, he will be greatly missed
“May his soul rest in peace.”
“Israel Eboh fta”
“President”
One of his plays, Iredi War, based on the 1906 uprising of the Owa Kingdom (now part of Delta State) against oppressive British rule, won the $100,000 Nigeria prize for Literature, in 2014.
His other published plays include The Slave Wife, The Log in Your Eye, Break a Boil, and Akpakaland (winner of the 1989 ANA/British Council Prize for Drama).
In all of his plays, he explores oral literature, folk-lore and traditional theatrical forms to reflect on contemporary socio-political themes. A multi-disciplinary artist of repute — poet, short story writer, actor, theatre director and film producer, Ukala, a native of Owa Kingdom in Ika subtribe of Anioma Nation in Delta State, Ukala, until his retirement recently, worked as a Professor of Theatre Arts and Drama at the Delta State University, Abraka.
Holder of a Master’s and Doctorate degrees from the University of Ibadan, Ukala had also taught at the other universities, including Edo State University; and in 1993/94, served as an academic staff fellow at the School of English Workshop Theatre of the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
He also worked with the Horse and Bamboo Theatre, UK in 1999 and with Bob Frith , where he write and staged Harvest of Ghosts, which toured the UK and the Netherlands.
As an academic, he propounded the theory of ‘folkism’, the tendency to base literary plays on indigenous history and culture and to compose and perform them in accordance with the aesthetics of African folktale composition and performance.
He was also Chairman of the Delta State Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).
