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Horseman · OxfordOnly 5 showsBook tickets
A couple in brown and gold Yoruba attire, he holding an eagle staff

Likehearted Productions presentsin partnership with AfOx
and the Oxford Nigerian Society

Death and the King's Horseman

A play by Wole Soyinka

Be part of the ritual.

Book tickets25–28 November · Magdalen Grove Auditorium
The Oxford premiere

WHATTHEYSAY

Praise for the play and earlier productions.

The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball.
The Nobel Prize in Literature · 1986
…fashions the drama of existence
The Nobel Committee, on Wole Soyinka
The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball.
The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball.
The Guardian
A masterpiece of 20th century drama
On the play
The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball.
The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball.
The Independent
A transfixing work of modern world drama
On the play
The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball.
The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball.
Daily Telegraph
The action of the play is as inevitable and eloquent as in Antigone
On the play
The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball.
The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball.
Evening Standard
Soyinka creates a thrilling, fresh tragic genre
On the play
The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball. The drums carried the news across the town and the market women gathered cloth and beads for the praise singer while the horseman danced through the stalls and the district officer prepared for the ball.
5shows only

Four evenings and one Saturday matinee

25–28 November. Seats are limited.

Opening night in
00days
00hours
00mins
00secs
Wed 25Thu 26Fri 27Sat 28 · 2.30Sat 28 · 7.30
Book your night

From Oyo to Oxford

Oyo, NigeriaWhere the true events took place, in 1946.

A story that travelsIt has since been performed on stages around the world.

Oxford, 2026Now it arrives here, for the first time.

My rein is loosened. I am master of my Fate.

Elesin Oba, the King's Horseman

A painting of a Yoruba king seated beneath a royal canopy, holding a golden sceptre

A passage between two worlds

In Yoruba cosmology, Ayé, the world, and Ọ̀run, the spirit realm, are joined by a constant passage. Ancestors return and are reborn, so a king's death is a crossing, not an end.

01

The play

The king of Oyo is dead. Custom demands that his horseman, Elesin, die on the thirtieth day and ride beside him into the world of the ancestors.

As the night closes in, a colonial officer's sense of duty collides with a custom he does not understand, and one man's resolve is tested. Part festival, part tragedy, it asks what duty costs, and who pays.

A couple in blue aso-oke and coral beads between carved wooden arches
02

The story

Four threads run through one night.

A crayon drawing of a bustling African market with baskets of tomatoes, plantain and yam, and women in colourful cloth

The market

Oyo's market is alive with cloth, beads and food. Elesin Oba dances through it, praised by the women who trade there, and the town treats his final night as a celebration.

Tap the drum

The drums

Talking drums carry the news of the king's death and set the rhythm of the night. In Yoruba tradition the drum can speak, echoing the tones of the language to send praise across the town.

The masquerade

While Elesin celebrates, the District Officer and his wife prepare for a fancy-dress ball. Their costume, made from sacred ancestral cloth, shocks the people of the town.

OyoEngland

A son comes home

Olunde, Elesin's eldest son, returns from his medical studies in England for his father's most important night, expecting the ritual to be honoured.

03

Wole Soyinka

Playwright, poet, essayist and activist, and one of Africa's most celebrated writers.

It has since been staged by the National Theatre in London and the Stratford Festival in Canada.

04

Cast & crew

To be announced

Our cast and wider crew will be announced soon.

Elesin ObaIyalojaOlundeSimon PilkingsJane PilkingsThe Praise-SingerThe BrideAmusa
05

The venue

Magdalen Grove Auditorium, Oxford

Opened in 1999 and designed by Dr Demetri Porphyrios, the auditorium blends Greek Classical proportion with a timeless "classico-vernacular" style. Its proscenium-arch stage and carefully designed acoustics make it an intimate home for the play.

Get directions

06

Reserve your seat

Only five performances. Evenings at 7.30 pm, plus a Saturday matinee at 2.30 pm.

90 minutesNo interval
Wed25Nov

Opening night

7.30 pm

Followed by a post-show discussion with special guests
Book this show
Thu26Nov

Thursday

7.30 pm

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Fri27Nov

Friday

7.30 pm

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Sat28Nov

Saturday matinee

2.30 pm

BSL-interpreted performance
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Sat28Nov

Final night

7.30 pm

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Stay for the conversation

After the Wednesday night performance, join a post-show discussion with special guests, to be announced.

Likehearted Productions logo
Africa Oxford Initiative logo
Oxford Nigeria Society logo
Magdalen College coat of arms
07

Good to know

At the venue

How long is the performance?
About 90 minutes, with no interval.
What are the performance times?
Wednesday 25, Thursday 26 and Friday 27 November at 7.30 pm. Saturday 28 November at 2.30 pm and 7.30 pm. Five performances in total.
Where is the venue?
Magdalen Grove Auditorium, Magdalen College, Oxford. Open in Google Maps
Are latecomers admitted?
Yes, but only at certain points during the performance, as guided by our staff. Please arrive in good time so you do not miss the start.
Are there content warnings?
Yes. The play deals with death, including ritual suicide, and with the impact of colonial rule. If you would like more detail before booking, please contact us.

Accessibility

Is the venue accessible?
There are wheelchair spaces on the front row of the auditorium. Please contact us if you would like help planning your visit.
Are there access performances?
Yes. The Saturday matinee on 28 November at 2.30 pm will include British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation.
Can I bring a guide dog?
Yes, guide dogs are welcome.
Who can I talk to about my access needs?
Use the box below or the contact form at the bottom of this page, and we will do our best to help.
Any access requirements?

Tell us what you need before your visit and we will help.

08

Contact us

Questions about tickets, access or press? We would love to hear from you.

Walk with us

Join the procession. Only five performances.

Book tickets