Download our SSCE Study Guide Bundle
Plot Summary of Holding Talks
Holding Talks by Ola Rotimi is an absurdist drama and a satire that highlights how human energy is wasted on endless discussions, debates, and dialogue in situations that desperately require immediate action. As the playwright Ola Rotimi explains, the play takes on a dream-like quality where “everything is said but nothing is done,” because the characters constantly find “some justifiable rationalisation for that which really needs to be done not to be done.”
The play opens in a poverty-stricken barber’s shop, where the Apprentice is reading old newspaper headlines about various national and international “talks” while the Master Barber is asleep. An affluent, burly Man enters and immediately asserts dominance by making the Apprentice fiddle with a broken fan and asking the Barber irrelevant questions.
When the Man asks for a haircut, he accuses the Barber of having a shaking hand. The Barber denies this, and despite the Apprentice’s pleas to simply agree with the customer, the Barber insists on his truth. The Man forces the impoverished Barber into a bet over the shaking hand, pitting his £1 against the Barber’s meagre 10 pence. Because the Barber is weak with hunger, his hand trembles during the test, and the Man gleefully pockets the money. As the starving Barber attempts to give the Man a clean shave to earn 5 pence, he collapses to the floor and dies.
From this point on, the Man continuously obstructs any real action with philosophical monologues and hypotheticals. When the Apprentice suggests rushing the body to the hospital in the Man’s Mercedes Benz, the Man drops the body. He claims the Barber “refused” his help and altruism by arguing over the bet. He insists that before doing anything, they must first “define our terms of reference” and formally debate whether the man is actually dead.
The Man’s callousness is further highlighted when a blind beggar and his boy enter; the Man makes a show of giving them a penny while casually stealing bananas from their bag to eat. He then launches into a long, rambling story about his primary school teachers—a strict math teacher named Mr. Kalunde and a sweet White teacher named Miss Gilford, who completely ignored her students’ problems by telling them to “go home, darling.”
When the Apprentice tries to leave to hail a taxi for the body, the Man mocks him. He forces the Apprentice into a long, hypothetical debate about whether a taxi driver would ever allow a dead body in their car, ultimately making the Apprentice admit he would scream in such a situation, proving the idea futile. The Man then lectures the Apprentice on the importance of having “Personalata” (personality) to deal with the authorities, and writes a note for the police. He instructs the Apprentice to pretend to be completely “deaf and dumb” when the police arrive so he doesn’t mess things up. While the Apprentice is gone, the Man listens to a radio broadcast about various global “talks,” and proceeds to rob the dead Barber’s pockets of his remaining coins and groundnuts.
Soon, a news reporter and a photographer rush in, eagerly taking inappropriate and grotesque photos of the Barber’s exposed body for “public interest.” A Policewoman arrives to investigate, but the Man intentionally obstructs her questioning. He insists on “order”; he criticises the grammatical sequence and logic of her questions rather than providing facts about the death. He refuses to give his name, claims the Barber’s dying words were gibberish (“Prupapa pruprupapo pi-i-pi-i-p-i-i-i-i!”), and mimics his old teacher by repeatedly telling the Policewoman to “go home, dearie.”
When the Policewoman tries to interrogate the Apprentice, he obeys the Man’s orders and stares blankly, pretending to be dumb. Furious and unable to get a single straight answer, the Policewoman storms out, threatening to arrest them both. The play concludes with the Apprentice asking if he is allowed to speak now, to which the Man replies, “Yes, let’s talk.” This response reinforces the play’s theme of endless, unproductive dialogue.
Background of Holding Talks
Holding Talks by Ola Rotimi was published in 1979 by Ibadan University Press Limited in association with Oxford University Press. The play represents a notable departure in style and theme from Rotimi’s previous works. It signals a major shift in the playwright’s career as he moved from historical and social realism into an experimental style. With this play, Rotimi became one of the key figures in introducing the “theatre of the absurd” into Nigerian and African dramatic literature. Before Holding Talks, Rotimi was best known for his historical dramas (Kurunmi) and classical adaptations (The Gods Are Not to Blame). This play marked a bold departure with its experimental dialogue, disjointed language, and symbolic characters who lack proper psychological depth or names. The title itself acts as a metaphor. It focuses on a world in which talking has become an end in itself rather than a means to a solution.
The play was conceived in the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War and during the early post-independence years. It reflects Rotimi’s growing frustration with the direction of the country’s governance. The play’s core background critiques the predilection of successive governments and political elites to hold endless meetings, seminars, and conferences without taking meaningful action. Rotimi saw this as a “theatre of the absurd” where immense energy is spent on dialogue while the actual living conditions of the common people deteriorate.
Holding Talks draws heavily on the European existentialist and absurdist traditions pioneered by dramatists like Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot) and Eugène Ionesco. Rotimi adapted these concepts to highlight the African and Nigerian situation. Instead of focusing on metaphysical dread, Rotimi’s absurdist background is grounded in socio-economic inequality and administrative ineptitude, where the absurdity stems from human-made bureaucracy and official indifference.
In summation, Holding Talks is a satire that explores how human energy is squandered on endless discourse, debates, and dialogue, even when a situation urgently demands immediate action. The playwright intentionally crafted the narrative to take on a dream-like quality where “everything is said but nothing is done.” Ola Rotimi himself described the foundational concept of the play by stating: “In this play, nothing really gets done. Things get close to being done; but nothing gets really done because there is always some justifiable rationalisation for that which really needs to be done not to be done.”
Setting of Holding Talks
Holding Talks is set in a poverty-stricken barber’s shop deliberately furnished to emphasise the owner’s destitution. The shop features a rusty swivel chair, a squeaky, mildewed bench, a cheap weather-mottled wall-mirror, and a rickety table clumsily nailed together from inferior white ‘afara’ lumber. To attract customers, the shop also relies on a broken, scrawny standing fan and a wooden radio, which throughout the play broadcasts news of various global “talks”. This impoverished environment sets the stage for the affluent “Man” to enter and use his wealth and status to trap the hungry Barber and his Apprentice in pointless, fatal arguments.
The setting starkly contrasts two levels of the socio-economic ladder. The Barber and his skinny, undernourished Apprentice represent the lower class. They struggle to get by in a harsh and indifferent economic climate. This is contrasted by a character like Man, who is dressed with material wealth and represents those in power or with disposable wealth who are detached from the struggles of the common people.
Beyond the physical room, the setting mirrors the chaotic and nonsensical nature of modern governance. The continuous “talks,” arguments, and official discussions taking place outside, which yield no practical action or solutions, metaphorically reflect a society trapped in endless bureaucracy while pressing emergencies are ignored.
About the Author
Olawale Gladstone Emmanuel Rotimi (1938–2000), universally known as Ola Rotimi, was one of Nigeria’s foremost playwrights, directors, and theatre scholars. He was described as a “complete man of the theatre” because of the crucial role he played in shaping modern African drama by blending Western theatrical techniques with traditional Nigerian performance forms.
Rotimi was born in Sapele, Nigeria, to a Yoruba father and an Ijaw mother. He was exposed to performance from an early age, as his mother ran a dance troupe and his father organised community theatre. He attended Methodist Boys’ High School in Lagos, where he earned the nicknames “Shakespeare incarnate” and “The Poet.” In 1959, he received a scholarship to study in the United States. He earned his B.A. from Boston University and an M.F.A. in Playwriting and Dramatic Literature from the Yale School of Drama. At Yale, his talent was quickly recognised, and Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again was selected as the student play of the year.
Upon returning to Nigeria in the late 1960s, Rotimi taught at the Obafemi Awolowo University (then the University of Ife) and the University of Port Harcourt. At Ife, he founded the Ori Olokun Acting Company. He transformed a disused hotel into a dynamic, open-air performance space. His directorial approach became famous for the concept of “Total Theatre,” which pushed beyond the boundaries of traditional Western spoken drama by integrating indigenous music, chants, and dance. This approach also utilised multilingualism (English, Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin, and other indigenous languages) alongside large, dynamic casts and audience participation, techniques that bring the lively, chaotic energy of Nigerian society to his theatrical works.
Rotimi’s works are celebrated for exploring Nigeria’s history, ethnic diversity, and socio-political complexities. His major plays include The Gods Are Not to Blame (1968), a masterful adaptation of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King transposed to an African cultural setting, and Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again (1966), a satirical comedy that mocks the opportunism and absurdity of the post-independence Nigerian political class. His later works, such as Kurunmi (1969) and Ovonramwen Nogbaisi (1971), examined historical tragedies and the clash of cultures, while If: A Tragedy of the Ruled (1983) and Hopes of the Living Dead (1988) addressed political marginalisation, human rights, and social justice.
Ola Rotimi passed away on August 18, 2000. He is remembered as an unmatched master of the stage and a cultural bridge builder whose works remain standard reading in African literature and theatre programs globally.
Receive Literary Updates through our Social Media Channels:
- WhatsApp: Literature PADI
- Telegram: Literature PADI
- YouTube: @literaturepadi
- Facebook: Literature PADI
