Title: Chants in a Cemetery
Genre: Drama
Author: Denja Abdullahi
Year of Publication: 2025
Publisher: Orpheus Literary Foundation
Reviewer: Prince Ezeabata Chibuzor
Death is perhaps the most universal of human experiences, yet it remains the most enigmatic. In his latest theatrical work, Chants In A Cemetery, Alh. Denja Abdullahi confronts this fundamental aspect of existence with the philosophical depth and dramatic sophistication that has become his signature. This absurdist play presents a haunting dialogue between two grave diggers—Baba, the elder, and Musa, his apprentice—whose conversations in a Muslim cemetery become a microcosm for examining life’s fleeting nature and the echoes of our deeds that dissolve into mortality’s void.
The play’s structure is deceptively simple: five acts chronicling the daily routine of grave diggers tending to their sacred yet mundane duties. Yet within this framework, Abdullahi constructs a profound meditation on death, faith, social inequality, and the human propensity for both wisdom and folly. The cemetery setting serves as more than mere backdrop. It becomes a character itself, a repository of stories, a testament to human vanity, and ultimately, a mirror reflecting our collective anxieties about mortality. Baba emerges as a complex philosopher-gravedigger whose years among the dead have endowed him with a sardonic wisdom about life’s ironies. His observations cut through social pretense with surgical precision: “The living projects their hopes, aspirations and grief onto the dead. The dead smells no fragrance and their eyes are already covered with the earth crust, so they see no beauty.” This bitter insight reveals Abdullahi’s understanding of how death exposes the performative nature of human grief and reverence. The intergenerational dynamic between Baba and Musa provides the play’s emotional core. Musa represents curiosity and the quest for understanding, while Baba embodies experience tempered by disillusionment. Their exchanges move seamlessly from the practical—discussions of grave dimensions and burial customs—to the metaphysical, exploring questions of religious faith, social justice, and the meaning of existence itself. One of the play’s most powerful themes emerges in their discussion of religious and social divisions that persist even in death. Baba’s observation that “People of different faiths worship God in different places, so how could they be buried in the same place at death?” followed by his mordant conclusion that “It is sad that men are divided in death as they were in life. The unity we crave for will come only in the hereafter” exposes the tragic persistence of human prejudices even in our final resting place.
Abdullahi uses the cemetery as a lens through which to examine Nigeria’s social stratifications. The contrast between the elaborate graves of the wealthy—with their “marbled tombstones, colourful flowers, golden caskets and built-up graves”—and the simple burial mounds of the poor reveals how economic inequality extends beyond life into death itself. The playwright’s critique becomes even sharper in Musa’s observation about caskets designed to reflect one’s profession: “a fisherman would be buried in a fish-like casket, a farmer would have a hoe for a casket and a driver would have a motor car as a casket.” This satirical edge reflects Abdullahi’s broader concern with how material possessions and social status have corrupted our understanding of human dignity. The play suggests that death, rather than serving as the great equalizer, has become another arena for displaying wealth and status, even as the dead themselves remain unconscious of such displays.
Reading Chants In A Cemetery equally brought me face-to-face with my own encounter with death’s sudden violence. In 2019, I lost my dear friend Malachy Udobi Ezechukwu in a tragic motor accident along the Gwagwalada-Giri expressway. He was traveling from Kubwa to the University of Abuja Mini Campus in Gwagwalada for screening, having gained admission to read law alongside me. That ghostly accident—as I have come to think of it—shattered my understanding of life’s predictability and forced me to confront two essential truths: the necessity of empathy and forgiveness, and the urgent imperative to fulfill our assignments in life, as no one is too young to die. Baba’s words resonate with particular poignancy in light of this loss: “A man’s grave should matter to him more than his bed.” Malachy’s death taught me that our graves—metaphorically speaking—are always closer than we imagine, and that the work we do, the relationships we build, and the contributions we make must be pursued with the urgency that mortality demands. The play’s exploration of how quickly the living forget the dead also strikes a personal chord. Baba’s cynical observation that mourners gather for burial but quickly return to “eat, drink and do what the living must do that same day of the burial of the dead” reflects a harsh truth about human nature’s capacity for compartmentalization and self-preservation.
Furthermore, Abdullahi’s dialogue demonstrates remarkable authenticity, capturing the rhythms of working-class speech while elevating everyday conversation to philosophical discourse. The playwright’s ability to weave Islamic theology, social criticism, and existential questioning into natural conversation between two laborers showcases his mastery of dramatic technique. The play’s absurdist elements emerge not through surreal imagery but through the profound disconnect between the gravity of death and the mundane concerns of the living. When politicians’ sirens pass by the cemetery, Baba notes with bitter irony that “one day that same siren will lead them here,” highlighting the universal nature of mortality that makes all human pretensions ultimately absurd. The play, while rooted in Nigerian cultural specifics like; Islamic burial practices, local political realities, and economic disparities, achieves universal resonance through its unflinching examination of mortality’s implications for how we live. The play further questions religious division, social inequality, and the performance of grief. The work’s experimental nature positions it within the broader tradition of Absurdist Theater while maintaining distinctly African sensibilities about community, spirituality, and social responsibility.
This work in the same vein represents another significant achievement in Alh. Denja Abdullahi’s distinguished career as a playwright, poet, theatre director, and literary activist. Having previously earned acclaim with his award-winning play Death and the King’s Grey Hair which won the 2015 SONTA Master Playwright Prize and was the finalist for the 2018 NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature, Abdullahi continues to explore death’s philosophical implications with increasing sophistication. As someone who has benefited from Alh. Denja’s mentorship and support in my own literary journey, I have witnessed firsthand his commitment to nurturing emerging voices in Nigerian literature. His encouragement of my unconventional play Ghost of Sparta and his support for the Association of Creative Writers at the University of Abuja, which I founded, demonstrates his dedication to literary community building. His ongoing encouragement of my upcoming novel on the Nigerian-Biafran War reflects his understanding that literature must engage with historical trauma and national memory.
In conclusion, Chants In A Cemetery stands as a significant contribution to contemporary African drama and to the universal literature of mortality. Abdullahi has created a work that functions simultaneously as social commentary, philosophical meditation, and deeply human drama. The play challenges readers and audiences to confront not only their own mortality but their responsibilities to the living, the urgency of meaningful action, and the ways in which social divisions distort even our most fundamental human experiences. For those of us who have lost friends, family, and fellow travelers on life’s journey, the play offers both consolation and challenge. It reminds us that while death may be the ultimate equalizer, life remains ours to shape through empathy, forgiveness, and commitment to justice. In honoring both the dead and the living, Abdullahi has crafted a work that transcends its immediate setting to address the deepest questions of human existence. Chants In A Cemetery deserves recognition not only within African literary circles but on the international stage, where its insights into mortality, social justice, and human dignity can contribute to global conversations about literature’s power to illuminate our shared condition.
