Give an account of the importance/significance of the dramatic techniques used in the play.
SUSPENSE
this is apparently the most significant dramatic technique used in the play. Maligu is seen in front of the cave at night calling on Soko, the Priest. What does he want? He tells Soko of a certain letter about the coming of a white stranger. This indeed is very strange and a source of suspense. Kindo is angry that the white man arrives in the village and falls to pay obeisance to his father, the king. He orders Simba and Boko to carry the white man down to the palace. The white man’s right-hand man has to be dragged to the palace. Where he is flogged and Kindo forces the white man to kiss the ground as a way of paying homage.
In another development, Kindo is seen dragging Wara to the cave to make love. Wara resists, insisting that someone is in the cave. He wants to take her to the forest but he is not armed. Surprisingly, Soko emerges from the cave, Again, Mailgu and Soko plan and put Wara in a sack and take her to Whitehead to be raped but she manages to escape unhurt.
When Wara escapes, she runs away, and she meets Soko who encourages her to run away to avoid being used for the peace sacrifice. The death of Soko by Parker angers Kindo, the warrior, who kills the whiteman’s, right-hand man. Maligu, still planning to destroy Kindo advises the king with his white ally to banish Kindo, his son. Surprisingly, Kindo does not want to go down alone, he kills Whitehead who falls on the body of Parker. Thus the spilling of the blood of a stranger is great suspense.
IRONY
The use of irony is another key technique besides Suspense. Maligu is the king’s chief adviser but rather than tell the king the truth, he feeds him with lies, Mr. Whitehead plans to establish a tobacco farm but he comes with intoxicating gin and hard drug which, rather than make their lives better, makes them drunk and wild, doing atrocious acts, The Priest, Soko, is required by custom to sleep in the cave but ironically, he has a cozy hut in the forest where he sleeps. Again, Soko and Mailgu plan and smuggle Wara to the white man to be raped but when she runs away untouched, Soko pretends to be saving her from being sacrificed while the plot is on to get rid of Kindo, During the peace week, the white man suggests the sacrifice of a goat. Ironically, Soko is killed and the peace sacrifice still claims the blood of the stranger and not the goat.
DICTION/LANGUAGE
The language of the play is very simple. However, the plot is sustained through the use of suspense techniques, Dialogue is effectively used and this makes the play very natural. The diction of Whitehead cannot be differentiated from the rest. Thus, communication is not affected, no matter the level of the character.