The Lion and the Jewel is a play by  writer  that was first performed in 1959 in . In 1966, it was staged in London at the . The play chronicles how Baroka, the lion, fights with the modern Lakunle over the right to marry Sidi, the titular Jewel. Lakunle is portrayed as the civilized antithesis of Baroka and unilaterally attempts to modernize his community and change its social conventions for no reason other than the fact that he can. The transcript of the play was first published in 1962 by . Soyinka emphasises the theme of the corrupted African culture through the play, as well as how the youth should embrace the original African culture.