Omuti Apa Kini

play by Ogunmola

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July 1, 2026

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Omuti Apa Kini is a Yoruba-language play by Kola Ogunmola, performed in 1963. It is a dramatic adaptation of Amos Tutuola's novel, The Palm-Wine Drinkard. While some critics felt the adaptation lost nuances from the original story, the play was immensely popular.1

Kola Ogunmola was a Nigerian actor, mime, director, and playwright who significantly developed Yoruba folk opera into a serious theatre form. He founded the Ogunmola Traveling Theatre around 1947. His plays often featured biblical themes and Yoruba folklore, presented in a Christian and moralizing context, and were known for their tightly constructed plots and gentle social satires.1

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Kola Ogunmola
…greatest fame, however, came from Omuti Apa Kini (performed 1963), a dramatic adaptation in the Yoruba language of Amos Tutuola’s well-known novel The Palmwine Drunkard. Although there were some claims that the adaptation lost much of the story’s original meaning, Omuti Apa Kini was immensely popular. Conscience was another moralistic…
Read More
…greatest fame, however, came from Omuti Apa Kini (performed 1963), a dramatic adaptation in the Yoruba language of Amos Tutuola’s well-known novel The Palmwine Drunkard. Although there were some claims that the adaptation lost much of the story’s original meaning, Omuti Apa Kini was immensely popular. Conscience was another moralistic…
Read More