The role of 
Professor in Wole 
Soyinka's The 
Road is a taxing 
delight for the 
actor because it 
is demanding of 
both talent and 
training. 
It is a complex role but the intrinsic beauty 
in it lies in the subtlety of changes which 
show the many sides of the character and 
the joy for the actor is in the ability to fuse 
the artistic and technical aspects of his 
training in bringing the complexities of 
the character into a credible realisation. 
Our approach to the realisation of 
the role was two-pronged: physical and 
psycho-social. For the physical we 
considered gait, gestures, (facial , limb 
and body) and general comportment. For 
the psycho-social we took what is said 
about him by other characters in the play. 
But above all we let Professor's own 
words propose and substantiate him on 
the stage. 
Keeping in mind the specific 
physical descriptions given by the 
playwright, the vocal interpretation was 
of first consideration. Breathing exercises 
came first for both capacity of breath and 
also for breath control. This was followed 
by and combined with exercise for clarity 
of speech. For effective realisation of any 
role in any play these exercises are 
necessary but especially so in the case of 
Professor. The nature of his speeches 
demands it because of the particular 
arrangement of text. 
For capacity and breath control we 
started with the basics in general relaxation 
exercises. However, as we progressed 
the exercises gained more details and 
particular attention was paid to the areas 
of the neck, shoulders and the thoracic 
cavity because of the anticipated special 
postures to be assumed in the physical 
realisation of the role. 
For capacity and breath control, 
monologues from other plays were used. 
The prologue from Shakespeare's Romeo 
and Juliet, Hamlet's advice to the actor 
OLWNDORA ravlaw 
African Quarterly 
on the Am 
VoLl/N03 
1 
(Hamlet, Act. 3 Sc. 2); the opening 
chorus of Henry VIII; and the speeches of 
Elesin, lyaloja and the Praise Singer in 
Part III of Wole Soyinka's Death and the 
King's Horseman are a few of the excerpts 
used. These examples, apart from their 
inherent poetic diction have many 
polysyllabic words structured into long 
sentences linked with commas and semicolons.
We are taught by books on 'Acting' 
to ask some question towards interpretation 
of characters. Such questions are: D 
of a character? 
successful achievement of such goals? 
such obstacles? 
What are the goals or aspirations 
What are the obstacles to the 
How does the character react to 
However some characters do not 
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D easily or completely conform to such 
general rules. Professor is such a character 
because he lives in the privacy of a selfcreated 
world and when other characters 
dare to step on the edges of his 
consciousness his reactions are prompted 
by the contents of a fermented mind, the 
explosion of which could intoxicate with 
its mere odour In this line of argument, let 
us consider his use of the word 'cabalistic' 
in, 'There are the cabalistic signs again' 
(p. 65) which shows the esoteric warp of 
Professor's mind when ordinary Xs and 
Os on a football coupon are linked with 
the folklore and religion of the time of the 
biblical Moses. In his response to Samson's 
description of Professor's 'new wonder' 
as 'an accident', Prof replies; 
You are afraid? There are dangers in 
the Quest 
I know, but the word may be found 
companion not to life, but Death. Three 
souls you know, fled up that tree. You 
would think, to see it that the motor-car 
had tried to clamber after them. Oh 
there was such an angry buzz but the 
matter was beyond repair. They died, 
all three of them crucified on rigid 
branches, (p. 11) 
The last sentence here shows the 
profoundity of Professor's Christian 
background even though he is no longer
a member of the 
church. Such are 
the psychological 
nuances which 
affect one's 
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n 
which has to be 
made believable 
on stage. 
We see 
professor as a 
symbol 'of a poetic 
vision', yet he is 
also human in his 
own way. His 
h a n g e r s - o n 
behave in a human 
pattern and he 
responds and 
relates to them in a 
way not totally unhuman. 
He can 
only be seen within 
the context of the 
play. To see him in 
any other way is 
to take him out of 
the distorted and 
narrow world built for him by the 
playwright. 
The structure of the play supports the 
nature of this character of professor. The 
role is not divided into formal acts and 
scenes in the Aristotelian sense. It is a 
series of symbolic architectonic units in 
which the principal actors express 
themselves about the tragedies of their 
existence on the road of life, and also tell 
us about the other characters who cross 
their paths. 
The Road is Professor's play. He is 
more often than not, the topic of discussion. 
When he is not, he is invited to listen, give 
an opinion or simply provoked with 
questions. Therefore the actualisation of 
his role on stage rests largely on the actor's 
ability to carve out these architectonic 
units and interpret them towards a 
meaningful realisation of the whole play. 
For the greater part of his time on 
the stage Professor sits. The sitting position 
is a defensive one yet he has to generate 
a lot of aggressive action. This, therefore, 
has to be done through the vocal, facial 
The playwright, Soyinka (left) with Fatoba, Dapo Adelugba 
the world premiere of THE ROAD in London, 1965. 
and hand gestures. In doing this, a 'self 
portrait' of the action must be avoided. It 
could be tiring sitting upright for a long 
time on a stool without a backrest, and 
maintaining a relaxed posture without 
slumping This is where one's training in 
relaxation and posture is paramount. 
'Victorian' is the playwright's 
description of Professor's costume. Being 
'Victorian' could also be a behavioural 
attitude as well as a style of speech 
delivery. It is quite noticeable that Professor 
enjoys speaking in circumlocutions He 
loves polysyllabic words and archaic 
collocations. Quite a number of his 
sentences demand a lungful of air as well 
as precision in articulation to be able to 
render them meaningfully. He says, 
My bed is among the dead, and when 
the road raises a victory cry to break 
my sleep I hurry to a disgruntled swarm 
of souls full of spite for their 
rejected bodies, p, II) 
You say the lorry overtook you - good 
(Writes.) Lorry was travelling at 
excessive speed. You see, I can make 
up a police statement that would dignify 
(peeping) and Jimmy Johnson during 
the archives of any traffic division but 
tell me - have I spent all these years 
in dutiful search only to wind up my 
last moments in meaningless 
statements? 
What did you see friend, what did you 
see? Show me the smear of blood on 
your brain, jp 56) 
Apart from the' length of the 
sentences, the alliterations, assonance 
and internal rhymes have to be said not 
only for their oral beauty but also for their 
relevance in meaning towards an 
understanding of the mind of the speaker. 
Where he uses short sentences, the words 
are very crisp and sharp. His alliteration 
often propel the tongue to such a giddy 
vocal speed during which itcould be quite 
difficult to control the reins of the tongue. 
One peculiarity which we thought could 
be lent to the interpretation of the character 
was to end his sentences by a slight 
upward inflexion of the voice so that it 
does not fall and yet does not quite rise to 
the level of turning the sentences into 
questions 
Sometimes, Professor's humour, we 
observe, could be very subtle and 
African Quarterly 
on the Art> 
Vol II NO i
understated while at other times he could 
be sarcastic and mordacious. Besides all 
the air of aloofness and probing 
seriousness, he is quite capable of a hearty 
laughter. Thus, it is the ac'or's duty to allow 
his voice clarify not only symbolic meanings 
through vocal inflexion. Professor's speech 
when he goes into a disquisition on the 
fieryness of the word is an example of our 
interpretation of the role. The speech says: 
Oh the Word is a terrible fire and 
we burned them by the ear. Only 
that was not the word you see, ofi 
no, if was not. And so for every 
dwelling that fell ten more rose in its 
place until they grew so bold that 
one grew here, setting its laughter 
against the very throat of the organ 
pipes. Every evening, until I thought, 
until one day I thought, I have never 
really known what lies beyond that 
window. And one night, the wall fell 
down, I heard the laughter ofch ildren 
and the wall fell down in an uproar 
of flesh and dust. And I left the Word 
hanging in the coloured lights of 
sainted windows... {Almost humbly). 
As you will notice, I have made 
certain alterations. That corner was 
not there before. I have scraped the 
walls. Installed an electric light. Red 
neon. It is, I think, likely that I left the 
church coffers much depleted... but 
I remember little of this. Have you 
heard anything, (pp. 68/69). 
The music in the speech harmonises 
with its logical structure. In actualising this 
on stage one's tones undulated according 
to the innuendos within the speech as it 
flows and ebbs from one situation to the 
other, first assertive and immediately 
denying that assertiveness with a tone 
which shows that Professor has progressed 
(or moved away from his original focus) in 
his search for the word. Then it becomes 
patronising by laughing at himself and the 
members of the' congregation as he 
compares the life inherent in human voice 
with the sonorous weight of the sound of 
the organ pipes. From that point, the tone 
becomes reflective and winning as he 
confesses his ignorance of what 'lies 
beyond that window.' The word 'lies' 
could be translated as 'is' or 'untruths 
being told". It then gets pompous coming 
forth with an"uproar" of contagious 
laughter at the words "flesh and dust". A 
African Quarterly 
on the Arts 
VolllNOS 
tone of satisfaction follows in the next 
sentence which is a description of the 
church windows. 
At the point the comas and full-stops 
assumed more than their grammatical 
values as they break the sentences into 
bits making the cadence of every word 
ring like the confessed tones of a mind 
searching for a spiritual anchor. The 
playwright must have scored the music in 
his head as he wrote the speech (as 
indeed all hisother long speeches) because 
the next stage instruction says "Almost 
humbly". The seeming humility in 
Professor's tone carries him to the end of 
the speech until the last sentence which 
verbally asks a question but tonally pleads 
to be understood. 
The other part of our interpretation 
in physical. The first thing we know about 
Professor is that some of the layabouts 
regard him as a madam (p. 4). He sleeps 
'in the churchyard with all that dead 
body' says Samson, (p. 5). He is also 'too 
A* part from the 
length of the sett' 
tences, the alliterations, 
assonance 
and internal rhymes 
have to be said not 
only for their oral 
beauty but also for 
their relevance in 
meaning towards an 
understanding of the 
mind of the speaker. 
Where he uses short 
sentences, the 
words are very crisp 
and sharp. His 
alliterations often 
propel the tongue to 
such a giddy vocal 
speed during which 
it could be quite 
difficult to control 
the reins of the 
tongue. 
clever' (p. 5). Later Samson refers to him 
as 'an artist' in recognition of his skill at 
forging driving licenses. These serve as 
auditory guides to the character of 
Professor before he appears on stage. 
The playwright describes him as 'A 
tall figure in Victorian outfit - tails, top-hat 
etc., The bundles of newspapers, the 
chairstick and the roadsign carried by 
him on his first appearance are vivid, 
visual, as well as subtle psychological 
guides towards the realisation of his 
character. 
We put Professor's height at about 
1 85 m (6 ft). Not being that tall I decided 
to make up the deficiency in height by 
using long strides, keeping a straight (but 
not stiff) back and always looking straight 
ahead with a slight upward tilt of the chin. 
We also rehearsed cocking the head 
slightly to assume an attitude of 
condescension towards the drivers and 
layabouts in Professor's interaction with 
them. We affected large gestures with the 
hands. This, we did to fit in with the long 
strides.
Samson says of Professor, '... he 
get class, he get style', (p. 1 5) We took 
pains to bring out in our physical realisation 
these two aspects of him. Both 'style' and 
'class' were partially realised through the 
costume and hand props, however these 
were worked into his vocal gestures. 
Special attention was paid to particular 
facial movements, and hand gestures, as 
in the holding of certain items of props. 
The pen, pieces of paper, the pocketwatch 
and other props were picked up or 
touched to show a very finicking character. 
The physical aspect of our 
interpretation was not imposed or it would 
have been an ill-fitting garment; rather it 
was allowed to emerge from within in 
order to achieve a synthesis of both the 
physical and psychological parts. GR 
Editor's Note: All page reference 
to Soyinka Wole, The Road, London, 
Oxford University press, 1965. The 
play was recently produced in 
Ibadan, directed by Femi Osofisan, 
with Fatoba playing the role of 
'Professor.'