Inua Ellams’ award-winning historical drama Once Upon a Time in Sokoto is set to come to Oxford this autumn, with the cast and creative team now confirmed for the production. Adeola Yemitan, Antonia Layiwola, Bayo Gbadamosi and Will Atiomo will lead the cast, playing Nafisa Sarauniya, Zinari Zangina, Hadiru Zhango and Yusef Dawdu respectively.
The play will receive its world premiere at Royal & Derngate in Northampton on September 28 before arriving at Oxford Playhouse for six performances running from Tuesday 13 to Saturday 17 October 2026.
Written by Nigerian-born poet, playwright and artist Inua Ellams, whose previous work includes Barber Shop Chronicles, The 14th Tale and Three Sisters, the play is directed by Roy Alexander Weise.
It is set in pre-colonial northern Nigeria during the mid-to-late 1800s, against the backdrop of the Sokoto Caliphate, an Islamic civilisation in the region now known as Northern Nigeria. The drama explores friendship, power, faith, heritage and the political upheavals surrounding its characters.
At the centre of the story is an unlikely relationship between an enslaved woman and her former mistress, two women who come from different social, cultural and religious worlds but are drawn together as personal and political events begin to threaten everything around them. “At its core, Once Upon a Time in Sokoto is the story of an extremely unlikely friendship between an enslaved woman and her former mistress,” Ellams said, adding that the play explores how the legacy of the period continues to influence global perceptions and politics today.
