'Biyi Bandele
Death Catches the Hunter / Me and the Boys

When the Prophet Emefa receives the word of God he founds a new church, and the people flock to see the miracles he performs. He cures the paralysed and restores sight to the blind. His final act of daring is to walk into a lion’s cage. “Behold another Daniel”, he says. Death Catches the Hunter is the lyrically comic tale of a prophet, a teacher and a garage mechanic, wide-boys and spiritual power, adoration and the desire for revenge. (Cast 2m, 1f)

This volume also includes Me and the Boys, a dramatic monologue first seen at the Finborough Theatre as part of the London New Play Festival in 1995.

“The hugely talented Nigerian-born ‘Biyi bandele has written a parable for three voices about faith, manipulation, self-deception and credulity... There is both a political and a spiritual lesson in this agile and original play, and Bandele’s writing bristles with snide, irreverent and intelligent humour.”
~ John Peter, Sunday Times

“...this deceptively simple near-parable is both demanding and rewarding in its thematic complexity, craftily constructed and written in a tone that veers excitingly between jaunty colloquialism and a spare, poetic beauty. It is also belly-achingly funny ...”
~ Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

“...it is made up of big, beguiling, articulate speeches which are a gift for the actors. But the real pull of the play is Bandele’s exploration of the simple foibles that lead a man to declare himself a son of God and his compatriots to believe him ... his play has an endearing, wry, and very human charm.”
~ Mark Fisher, Herald

'Biyi Bandele
Marching for Fausa

Marching for Fausa was premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1993 and deals with political corruption in the Federal Republic of Songhai, a fictional country on the west coast of Africa. A young journalist and photographer, Telani Balarabe, is investigating the disappearance of a group of schoolchildren, arrested by the State Security Service during a public demonstration. (Cast 4+m, 3+f)

“Marching for Fausa ... is a powerful, conscience stirring portrait of the corruption and brutality within a fictitious African republic ... A powerful play about the evils of dictatorship...”
~ Michael Billington, The Guardian

“[it] crackles with anger and dark laughter. It is a story of terror and corruption in an African state: a journalist investigates a shady cabinet minister with predictable results. It’s as if Dario Fo had written a fiery and ferocious political parable. Highly recommended.”
~ John Peter, The Sunday Times

“This crude, raw play is full of vitality and idealism, and what it lacks in subtlety and focus is more than replaced by conviction and, most importantly, a strong sense of characterisation.”
~ Nicola Venning, What’s On

'Biyi Bandele
Oroonoko

In 1688 the British writer and playwright Aphra Behn published her ‘true history’ called Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave. It tells the story of an African prince, tricked into slavery and transported to the British colony of Surinam in South America. Biyi Bandele has written a witty, thought-provoking play that is at once a celebration of Aphra Behn’s humanist vision, a bold and irreverent re-interpretation of the three hundred year-old clasic and a tragic love story that resounds with passion. First performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Other Place, Stratford-on-Avon, in 1999. (Cast 10m, 3f)

“There’s a political indignation, but a refreshing lack of political correctness in Bandele’s version [of Oroonoko]”
~ Paul Taylor, The Independent

“Bandele says he took ‘nothing except the plot’ from Behn's work, and indeed the dialogue shows all the signs of his characteristic register. It is at once richly poetic and sardonic... One can bathe in the milk of Bandele's phrasing...”
~ Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times

“Bandele’s writing is an explosive, muscular blend of coloquial English, ornate ceremonial diction, formal diplomatic intimidation and ribald sexual jokes ... Bandele has written his own play but preserved both Behn’s humane indignation and her adventurous sense of romance. A treat.”
~ John Peter, Sunday Times

'Biyi Bandele
Resurrections

Resurrections is set in Bandele’s homeland, Nigeria. Subversive and satirical drama takes us into a world where shady drug dealers and corrupt lawyers operating within a Byzantine legal system are visited by their ancestral ghosts. “This is Kafka on speed,” says one of the spirits, trying to make sense of it all. Resurrections received an LWT ‘Plays on Stage’ award in 1993. (Cast 8m, 2f)

“Bandele is an extraordinarily talented writer who needs no special pleading. Resurrections is a work which resonates with ideas about history and heroism... Resurrections is a visual and verbal treat from a gifted writer...better than Kafka.”
~ Louise Doughty, The Mail on Sunday

"He has a poetic imagination for the telling phrase and potent image.”
~ Jeremy Kingston, The Times

“The fact is that Bandele-Thomas is an astounding storyteller...he possesses a fantastic ear for individual phrases, and an enviably fertile imagination through which his narratives twine...”
~ Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times

'Biyi Bandele
Two Horsemen

Two Horsemen was first presented at the Gate theatre in 1994 starring Leo Wringer and Colin McFarlane. (Cast 2m)

“In Two Horsemen ‘Biyi Bandele writes sympathetically about imaginative escape from drudgery. Two men in a hut while away the time talking. They say they are street-sweepers, but gradually they slither away from reality, swapping identities and repeating passages of dialogue until you have no idea who they are, what is the truth and whether they are alive or dead. Bandele’s writing is exciting, enigmatic and disturbing - like Beckett and Pinter, he manages to use dramatic dialogue to create an unsettling slippery world.”
~ Sarah Hemming, The Independent

“Thomas’ one-act play is a celebration of talk, pure and simple. Stripping words of narrative function or informative responsibility, he invites us to marvel at the power and the limitations, the beauty and the coarseness, the clichés and the mind boggling variety of language.”
~ What’s On, Sara Abdulla

“...richly comic and enigmatic ... Reminiscent of both Beckett and Soyinka, this is a thrilling piece of writing.”
~ Clare Bayley, Time Out