The narrating thread in this contemporary African drama connects the past to the present. It shows how memory can yield something about life in ways that touch us all, either as oppressors or the oppressed. Dead Wood, the consciousness of a wounded generation, is a sober portrait of the abiding problems of our time, a reminder of what to follow and what to avoid, especially mistreating others as dead wood. It is our leaders' responsibility to enhance human dignity and not take it away. The play opens with the arrival of corps members having a mix of excitement and disillusionment at the...