Dr Sola Adeyemi holds a BA, MA and PhD in Theatre Arts, Drama and English from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, University of Natal, South Africa and the University of Leeds respectively. He has taught Contemporary British Theatre, African Theatre, Performance Studies and Film Studies and Contextual Shakespeare at Loughborough and Regents Universities, and at the universities of Natal and Greenwich. At Goldsmiths, he teaches on African Theatre History, Postcolonial Theatre, and Culture and Performance.
Academic Qualifications
PG Certificate of Higher Education, University of Greenwich, London, 2014
PhD English (Theatre Studies), University of Leeds, 2009
MA Drama Studies, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, 1999
BA (Hons) Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 1994
Diploma, Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 1989
Teaching
Sola has previously taught at the Universities of Loughborough and Greenwich. He teaches across a broad spectrum of undergraduate and postgraduate modules which include African Drama and Theatre, (aspects of) Culture and Representation (Critical Cultural Theory), Modern Black British and American Drama from 1910, Postcolonial Drama, African Theatre History, Contemporary British Theatre, Contextual Shakespeare, Performance Studies, Acting for Film, Modernist and Avant Garde Performance, and performance workshops. One of Sola’s teaching values, based on his specialism as an African performance scholar and artist, with a vast knowledge of European and World performance cultures, is in the diversification of the curriculum to reflect the different world performance traditions.
Professional Activities
Sola is the Editor of Opon Ifa Review Literary Journal; Editor, Alpha Crownes Publishers; and Contributing Editor to 3P+ International Journal of the Arts. He is also on the Editorial Board of Africa Book Link (New African Literature, Drama and Criticism). Sola is the General Secretary of African Theatre Association (AfTA), UK, an international non-profit society open to scholars and practitioners of African performance and theatre.
Symposia and Lead papers
Sola is a regular speaker at international conferences and seminars. Recent addresses include “Through a Spectral Frame: From Africa and Its Literature to the Empire Stage”, Afrikakolloquium, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany (2019); “Re-reading Adaptations by Femi Osofisan: Wesoo Hamlet!”, seminar at Leiden University, the Netherlands (2018); “Re-reading / Adaptations: Interweaving Sensibilities and Versing Shakespeare”, at the Quorum at Queen Mary University of London, UK (2018); “Interpreting the colonial narratives in Women of Owu & Richard Lander and the Travelling Polygamist”, at Performing Tangiers: Theatre Forms in Motion, International Conference, Morocco (2018); “Of Roses and Bullets: Re-reading Reality and Illusion in Post Biafra Literature”, at the 6th African Popular Cultures Workshop: Biafra 50 Years On, African Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK (2017); “Femi Osofisan in the Postcolony”, Lead Paper at Femi Osofisan, Post-Negritude Tradition and 50 Years of Nigerian Literary Drama conference, University of Ibadan, Nigeria (2016); and “Encounters with Mr B: The Dramatic Mind of a Cultural Activist”, at the Symposium on Ken Saro-Wiwa, Department of English, Oxford University (2015).
Adeyemi, Sola. 2017. Performing Arts. In: Toyin Falola and Akintunde Akinyemi, eds. Culture and Customs of the Yoruba. Austin, Texas: Pan-African University Press, pp. 249-258. ISBN 9781943533183
Adeyemi, Sola. 2011. Language and Accessibility in Femi Osofisan’s Drama. In: Sola Adeyemi and Duro Oni, eds. Developments in the Theory and Practice of Contemporary Nigerian Drama and Theatre: A Festschrift in Honour of Dapo Adelugba. Rochester, UK: Alpha Crownes Publishers, pp. 187-202. ISBN 9780956683700
Sola Adeyemi’s research interests include World Theatre/s; Postcolonial Theatre and Literary Studies; African Theatre and Performance (with special emphasis on West Africa and South Africa); Film and Media Studies; Postcolonial Literature; Theatre History / History of the Theatre; Contemporary British and Black British Theatre; Performance Cultures; Intercultural Performance; and works of Bertolt Brecht.
Areas of supervision
Sola has wide experience of postgraduate and undergraduate supervision, having supervised numerous students to successful completion. He welcomes dissertations and theses supervision in the following areas: any aspect of modern and contemporary African Theatre and Performance; any aspect of World Theatres; Postcolonial Theatre; Performance Cultures and Critical Theory.
