Set and Lighting Designs as Communication Modes in Femi Osofisan's Morountodun

Playwrights in their attempt to communicate their ideas and visions to their anticipated audience or reader often make use of a series of dramatic elements and codes. Speech crafted into dialogues and monologues, music, dance, body language such as facial expressions, gestures, etc., alongside technical aids such as set, light, props and costumes, often form the thrust of these communication modes. This paper examines the use of set and light as dramatic communication modes in a play text. It explores the fundamental principles and functions of set and lighting designs in relation to the realization of a playwright's vision, with particular reference to Femi Osofisan's Morountodun (1982). The paper attempts to show how set and light as indicated in the text help in the projection of the playwright's ideas and visions to the audience with particular regards to the functional, aesthetic and symbolic conception and setting of the play and its characters.