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ESIABA IROBI CAME TO LEEDS in the mid-1990s to study for his PhD, entitled 'Community Theatre in Nigeria'. Anyone who knew him will appreciate that his was a lively presence! In the copy of his Why I Don't Like Philip Larkin & Other Poems (2005), which he gave me, is the inscription "For Martin. Smoke and Lighthouse." Like so much else about Esiaba, this is splendidly enigmatic. I've no doubt that he enjoyed the thought of leaving me with a puzzle.
He spent his time at Leeds with all his customary energy and unpredictability - voraciously consuming theatre, reading widely, travelling adventurously, debating and arguing passionately. I often asked Esiaba to give seminars to our undergraduate students, which he did with skill and wit. I recall one incident that, for me, sums up much about Esiaba. Shortly after his arrival in Leeds, the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester staged the first performance in Britain of Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman. I arranged for a party of students to travel over to Manchester with me to see the performance (to which I had made a very small contribution in an advisory capacity). The production was supported by distinguished Nigerian artists, including Peter Badejo, as "choreographer and Nigerian advisor," and Muraina Oyelami, as "Musical Director and Composer," and was directed by Phyllida Lloyd. It was a production that - quite rightly - enjoyed considerable critical acclaim. In the incident when Elesin Oba is moving to his intended ritual suicide in the marketplace, the actor (George Harris) expressed his destiny to join the departed Oba by dancing energetically up and down on the spot accompanied by vigorous drumming, and ululation from the women of the market. I recall it as a powerful...