Resuscitating Cultural Values through Play Production: Myth, History and Critical Renewal in Femi Osofisan's Morountodun

In every culture, theatre has been a way of holding on to or passing on collective memory, disseminating cultural information, shaping collective identity, and questioning the social order. In today's African societies, however, cultural continuity is taking place under the circumstances of social change, globalisation, linguistic transformation, and changing modes of cultural production. The article critically analyzes Femi Osofisan's Morountodun, a play as a tool for reviving cultural values. Based on Stuart Hall's theory of cultural representation and Richard Schechner's performance studies, the study explores Osofisan's adaptation of the Moremi legend, the association with the historical Agbekoya uprising, the metamorphosis of Titubi, and the use of music, dance, language, and festival aesthetics. A cultural renewal is not the mechanical inheritance of traditions but rather a critical reinterpretation of cultural meanings in which they are put into dialog with the current social reality, according to the study. The analysis illustrates that Morountodun still preserves elements of the cultural memory of Yoruba, and problematizes the assumptions of heroism, sacrifice, authority, gender, class, and communal responsibility. The article also puts forward the Cultural Renewal Through Play Production Framework, which links cultural research, dramaturgical adaptation, integrated performance, audience participation, and ongoing cultural dialogue. It argues that culturally informed theatre can help to ensure cultural continuity if the stories passed down are not simply repeated, but are rather critically reimagined for new audiences and in new times.