In the following essay, Uwandu analyzes The Raft and two other of Clark's early plays. Great art's universal, but before it is universal, it has to be thoroughly local; it has to bear the signature of a people and a way of life

The above quotation from Enc Bentley's What is Theatre should guide us in our appraisal of J. P Clark's dramatic art. This paper assumes that a better understanding of Clark's early plays depends on our understanding of the world-view that gave birth to them as well as an understanding of how they are built This is quite true when we consider the fact that most works on Clark's dramaturgy are focused on the interpretation of the meaning of the plays than on the analysis of their composition. While this paper does not intend to formulate a new or a complete re-interpretation of Clark's early...