Theatre
Leopard Among the Women
Shabeelnaagood
Xasan Sheekh Muumin · 1968
Synopsis
The play, in sung verse, shows how the women of the towns become the prey of men. Its heroine, Shallaayo, was taken by the Leopard of the title in a false marriage; in a famous song, she rises up against laws that men made for their own benefit alone, men whom women have nonetheless fed. Around her, the play defends traditional customs that the town undoes, the reform of women's condition and education.
Context
The author composed both the text and the music of the play, which many regard as his masterpiece. Bogumił W. Andrzejewski, a pioneer of Somali studies, translated it into English and presented it under the title Leopard Among the Women, published by Oxford University Press in 1974 in a volume of two hundred and thirty pages; it remains on the syllabus of many literature courses.
Who it is for
For those interested in Somali sung theatre and in the fate of women in the towns at the time of independence.
Prizes and reception
Regarded by many as its author's masterpiece, it is, according to Martin Orwin, the only Somali play translated into English.