Chukwuka Omessah

This research analyses the 2023 UNIBEN staging of Ola Rotimi’s If: A Tragedy of the Ruled as protest theatre to confront systemic poverty in Nigeria. Through TfD’s participatory lens. The production, performed by 200-level students exposed poverty as elite-orchestrated betrayal rather than personal failure, using satire, Pidgin choral resistance, and direct audience address to dramatize healthcare collapse, gendered exploitation, and inflation-driven evictions. Script and observational analysis reveal how the tenement microcosm sparked conscientization, viral discourse, and micro-petitions, while challenging “education ends poverty” myths amid graduate joblessness. Yet resource constraints, urban-academic isolation, and solution deficits limited impact. Marking the first documented Nigerian university use of canonical protest theatre for direct poverty advocacy, findings highlight theatre’s power to forge empathy and agency