Sam Ukala

• Name — Sam Ukala • Born — 1948 • Died — 2021 • Occupation — playwright, poet, short story writer, actor, theatre director, film producer and academic.

Sam Ukala was a Professor of Theatre Arts and Drama at Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. Ukala was also Professor of Drama and Theatre Arts at a number of Nigerian universities, including Edo State University. From 1993-1994, as a Commonwealth academic staff fellow, he also researched and taught at the School of English Workshop Theatre of the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. 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 Chairman of the Delta State Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) 2021.

Ukala developed an approach to theatre that he pioneered in his own dramatic writings. He called this 'folkism', and explored the concept further in his academic work. 'Folkism' grew from his belief in the necessity of decolonization in theatre, and the desire to explore African traditional standards of beauty and dramatic balance. In the construction of his plays he draws on an African oral tradition. In particular he develops material from the oral tradition of the Ika people (of the northwest region of Delta State in Nigeria). This he works into modern dramatic forms. When in Leeds in 1993-1994 he was researching English popular theatre, which led him to discovering the work of Horse and Bamboo Theatre in Lancashire. Their work was actually very far from being traditional theatre, as it used contemporary visual theatre forms, but Ukala was inspired by what he saw as its folk-based inspiration. In 1995 Bob Frith, Horse and Bamboo's founder and director, suggested a collaboration; Sam agreed and this began in November 1998.