SOCIO-CULTURA IMPERATIVES AND HARMONIOUS PROGRESS STRATEGI ES IN AYAKOROMA'S PLAYS

Harmonious progress has no gender limit and cuts across societies of the world. It is geared towards peaceful resolution of gender based sociological issues and gender advancement. The Nigerian society is prescriptive of gender roles part of which at times encroaches on people's rights, especially those of women. The society accords some groups of people with dignified honour: Hence, the need for harmonious progress that is gender inclusive for societal sustainability. Among the socio-cultural imperatives that demand strategies for harmonious progress are: societal expectations, beliefs and values; expected social climb, the storm breaker and realism; significance of honour in death and cultural insensitivity; strategic stubbornness and the aftermath; and marriage ceremony and its essence. Socio-cultural insensitivity has led to the enrichment of several graveyards.
The chase of shadows rather than substance has been persistent among Nigerians culturally. At the political realm, several militant tactics have been introduced. Barclays Ayakoroma bemoans the future of Nigerians.
He equates this with death begetting death in myopic socio-cultural
considerations. Among the strategies discovered in Ayakoroma's plays are caution, peace, prompt action, dialogue, handshake as a mark of unanimous agreement, being persistent, etc. The three plays used in this article are Ayakoroma's Castles in the Air; A Matter of Honour; and Dance on his Grave. The theoretical framework applied is gender theory.