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Plot Summary of Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again
Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again by Ola Rotimi is a political satire about opportunistic and poorly equipped leaders in contemporary Africa. The play follows Rahman Taslim Lejoka-Brown, a former military Major who decides to run for political office. His political ambitions are severely complicated by his chaotic domestic life.
The play opens with Lejoka-Brown, a boastful former military Major, revelling in his new political career, which he admits is purely an opportunity to chop a big slice of the National cake. He treats his political campaign like a war, as he develops a military strategy of surprise and attack.
His comfortable life is disrupted when he receives a cablegram announcing that his American-educated Catholic wife, Liza, is arriving in Nigeria months earlier than expected. Lejoka-Brown is in a panic because Liza, whom he married while serving in the Congo, is entirely unaware that he has since taken two other wives. His other wives are Mama Rashida, his late older brother’s widow whom he was forced to marry by traditional custom, and Sikira, a young woman he married solely to secure the votes of the powerful National Union of Market Women, led by her mother.
While Lejoka-Brown and his lawyer friend, Okonkwo, wait at the airport planning to intercept Liza, she goes directly to his house. There, Liza encounters Mama Rashida and Sikira. She initially mistakes them for housemaids before learning the shocking truth about her polygamous marriage. When Lejoka-Brown returns and tries to pacify Liza with what he calls the Egg Treatment (a gentle, romantic approach), she rejects him. She lays down an ultimatum: she will only remain in the house as a guest until she figures out her next steps.
Liza’s presence begins to radically transform the household. She teaches Mama Rashida the economic principles of Supply and Demand; she helps her transform her petty trading into a highly profitable, large-scale poultry business. She also influences Sikira. She gives her modern clothes and empowers her with the idea that Men and women are created equal. Sikira begins to rebel against Lejoka-Brown’s domineering behaviour, up till the point that she packs her things and leaves the house to return to her mother.
Simultaneously, Lejoka-Brown’s political career begins to unravel. During a party executive meeting, his colleagues reject his autocratic military surprise and attack campaign strategy. Later, while Lejoka-Brown is hosting the press to dispel rumours of a rift in his party, Liza purposely humiliates him by walking through the gathering in a revealing bathing suit, leaving him looking foolish.
The climax occurs during a party meeting where Madam Ajanaku, Sikira’s mother and head of the Market Women, withdraws her union’s support due to Lejoka-Brown’s mistreatment of her daughter. She leads a vote of no confidence against him and demands a female candidate.
In the final scenes, Lejoka-Brown’s worlds have completely collapsed. Mama Rashida announces she is moving to the village to manage her booming chicken farm. Okonkwo arrives with the news that the political party has officially replaced Lejoka-Brown with Sikira as their new candidate. This change prompts Lejoka-Brown to exclaim, “Women are taking over the world!”
Left with no political ambitions and only one wife remaining, a humbled Lejoka-Brown begs Liza to stay. They reconcile as he promises to abandon his crazy politics, return to his family’s cocoa business, and build a clinic for Liza to practice medicine. The play ends with the two playfully engaging in military drills while the crowd outside cheers for Sikira’s new political campaign.
Background of Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again
Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again premiered as a major production at the Yale School of Drama at Yale University in Connecticut, U.S.A. in 1966. This premiere was directed by the late award-winning American director, Jack Landau. The play was written to take a comic swipe at ideological misfits and opportunists operating within the political landscape of contemporary Africa.
The play is rooted in the socio-political climate of post-independence Nigeria during the mid-1960s. It uses domestic satire to mirror the broader chaos, corruption, and political confusion of Nigeria’s First Republic. It reflects the immediate post-colonial era, a time of great optimism but also deep political instability. The newly established democratic institutions were hijacked by self-serving elites who lacked genuine political ideology. The protagonist, Lejoka-Brown, is a former army major turned businessman and politician. His approach to politics satirises the militarisation and corruption of the political class during this period.
Rotimi uses farce and comedy to expose the absurdity of a political system run by individuals driven purely by vanity and prestige. The Lejoka-Brown household functions as a microcosm of the Nigerian nation. The domestic dysfunction, struggle for power, and lack of unity among the household members mirror the ethnic and political divisions of the wider society.
Setting of Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again
The play is set in Lagos, Nigeria, during the hustle and bustle of political campaigns for General Elections. The events unfold across three specific locations. The first is Major Lejoka-Brown’s home. It is the primary setting for the play’s domestic comedy. It is described as an antiquated, wattle and clay-walled home representing a wonder of 19th-century indigenous architecture. The living room reflects his dual obsession with traditional authority and modern politics. The walls proudly display a large map of Nigeria, an old matchet in its sheath, and various political posters with slogans for his National Liberation Party. The space is casually furnished with a settee, pouffes, drinks-tables, a record player, and a white sheepskin sprawled on the floor.
Ikeja International Airport is the secondary location where some of the action takes place, meant to be represented scenically by simple panels bearing signs like “No smoking.” This is where Lejoka-Brown and his lawyer friend, Okonkwo, wait while attempting to intercept the early arrival of his American-educated wife, Liza.
National Liberation Party Conference Room is the third location. It is the backdrop for the play’s political conflicts. Marked by a “Silence” sign, this room is where Lejoka-Brown meets with his party’s executive committee and attempts to enforce his military-style surprise and attack campaign tactics, which ultimately leads to his party rebelling against him.
Beyond the physical stage locations, the play’s setting captures the broader socio-political landscape of post-independence Africa, characterised by new democratic systems being run by individuals still operating with the brash, self-serving, and militaristic mentalities of the era.
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.
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