In its first revival for more than half a century, The Swamp Dwellers by Wole Soyinka is set to make a return to the stage. Utopia Theatre’s artistic director Dr Mojisola Kareem (Crown of Blood, Death and The King’s Horseman) has thoughtfully resurrected what is sometimes considered one of Soyinka’s ‘forgotten’ works. It hasn’t been performed in the UK since 1975.
The Swamp Dwellers is a quiet story of survival in a landscape pushed beyond its limits. And in a world facing a climate emergency, Kareem says this 70-year-old tale by Nobel prize-winning writer and activist Soyinka hits harder than ever.
Soyinka’s first major drama, The Swamp Dwellers debuted in 1958. Set in the Niger delta of the late 1950s, this short play takes us through a day in the life of an impoverished Nigerian family.
A relentless rain threatens an already failing harvest. As the land disappears under the treacherous waters, a community hangs in the balance.
An ageing couple struggles for survival, living in a hut raised above the swamplands. They have long been resigned to the disappearance of one of their twin sons to the city. The sudden return of his brother carrying the weight of disappointment and hard truths is unsettling. The fragile rhythms of home are set to be disrupted when a stranger comes to the door, and long-buried tensions begin to surface.
A surprisingly modern relevance
Kareem said: “On the surface The Swamp Dwellers appears deceptively simple, but underneath, it asks profound questions about what happens to communities when the world around them begins to shift. For me, that is why the play feels so urgent now.
“Soyinka wrote this play when he was just 24 years old. He is now 91. What strikes me is how little has changed. Almost everything he was writing about is still happening somewhere in the world today. Young people still leave home believing the city will solve everything, only to find disappointment and disillusionment. Communities are still being fractured by poverty, environmental damage and lack of opportunity. People are still being exploited by false spiritual and political leaders. Land continues to be damaged by powerful interests while those with the least power carry the consequences.
“The play feels incredibly contemporary because it touches on issues we are grappling with globally: migration and the search for a better life, climate anxiety, inequality, economic desperation, environmental collapse, fractured communities and the tension between tradition and modernity.”
Emerging from the shadows
The Swamp Dwellers was last staged in 1975 at African Caribbean arts centre Keskidee in Islington, north London, when it was directed by Nigerian-born playwright, actor and director Yemi Ajibade, then the centre’s artistic director.
One of Soyinka’s earliest plays, written during a period when he graduated from Leeds University and moved to London, Dr Kareem believes The Swamp Dwellers to be one of his most “quietly powerful plays”, which “sits in the shadows” of the better-known Death and the King’s Horseman and The Lion and the Jewel.
Theatre in the round
The eight-strong cast for the Utopia production features Jude Akuwudike (National Theatre, RSC), Urielle Klein-Mekongo (Yvette, Black Power Desk), Theo Ogundipe (RSC, Old Vic, Royal Exchange), Obi Maduegbuna (The Order of Things, Iwaju, Checkout), drummer Mr Culture and Joshua Roberts-Mensah (Dem Times, DRUM, Liberation) alongside two local community cast member Omobola Akanbi.
Performed up close and in the round at Utopia Theatre’s Sheffield city centre home, there are just 50 tickets available for each of the 14 performances. This one act play will be performed without an interval and lasts around 70 minutes.
The Swamp Dwellers runs from 29 June to 11 July 2025, at 7pm with an additional 2pm matinee on Saturdays. Tickets are £20 / £12 concessions.
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