Committed art has been the core of postcolonial African writing. The drama and theatre of the Nigerian-born playwright and critic, Femi Osofisan, corroborate the works of other African playwrights such as Bole Butake, Bate Besong, Samuel Kasule and Alemseged Tesfai, among others, who critique the lofty vision of nationalism through experimental techniques of theatre. Hence African theatre and drama from across the continent engage satiric tropes to echo the plights of people driven to the borders of society because of abortive nationalist projects.

Chima Osakwe's critical assessment of the drama and theatre of Osofisan in The Revolutionary Drama and Theatre of Femi Osofisan emphasises the relevance of arts in the social, political and cultural transformation of nations that are emerging from colonial violence. In situating Femi Osofisan within the category of the second generation of Nigerian playwrights, Osakwe avertedly expresses the view that critics’ encounter with the thematic of Osofisan's works share the playwright's experience of the transformation of his society at critical stages of historical and political development; subjects that Osakwe states are conveyed through specific language paradigm, the trope of the market-place and role-playing techniques that are often rooted in the metatheatrical quality of the playwright's works. It is along this line that Osakwe perceives Osofisan's dramaas revolutionary, highlighting how such an approach is delivered in a mood that consciously manipulates the ‘content and technique to empower the underprivileged, whether as an individual or a group, to gain socio-political and economic rights and privileges or overthrow an oppressive political system or repressive institutions of civil society’ (1). Osofisan's use of total theatre which Osakwe states is characteristic of most of his dramatic pieces, is debated in the book for its advancement of the revolutionary agenda. Propagating notions of human rights and equality which he argues are deeply rooted in the selected works of Osofisan, Osakwe employs Marxist critical construct and Frantz Fanon's ideological understanding and approach to decolonisation (3–4) as a strategy to not only highlight Osofisan's disillusionment with the nationalist project, but also to interrogate the role of the postcolonial elite in nation-building.