Meridian Hour, a feast of words

Published 11/15/2009 4:29:00 AM

Meridian Hour, a feast of words

Akeem lasisi



Since she played a major role in Owo Eje, a film produced by Remdel from Kola Akinlade’s Yoruba novel that goes by the same title, Ganiyat Ogundele has not been very consistently in action in the performance world. Well, she re-surfaced a few years ago in Jos, Plateau State, where she was part of the Jos Repertory Theatre Festival. 

Then, she had noted that the need to tidy up some home front demands had held her back a little bit. 

When she thus returned to stage in Lagos recently, where she performed at Poetry, Laughter, Arts and You, a poetry festival produced by Ben Tomoloju, she was conscious of the need to re-assert herself.

She largely succeeded in doing this as she swung from Yoruba traditional dance to poetry recitation, especially in the staging of Eddy Adeinokun’s collection, Meridian Hour, which was the main show of the two-day feast sponsored by GTBank. It was anchored by actor and culture activist, Ropo Ewenla.

While the programme held at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, climaxed the contributions that Uncle Eddy, as the celebrant is popularly called, had made to literary development in the country, it also helped to re-invent other poetry performers such as Iquo Eke, Funmi Aluko and Folu Agoi. 

Each had performed separately to the delight of the audience that cut across different strata of the society. 

While Eke and Aluko filled the inspiringly branded hall with poems that connected culture with romance, Agoi, who teaches English at the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin, spiced the event with a satirical poem.

Yet, another major revelation of Play is that the real traditional/vernacular poetry and its modern counterpart can be accommodated in the same entertaining experience. 

This was evident in the fact that popular esa egungun (masquerade chant) poet, Suleiman Ajobiewe, opened the show with his elastic voice and seemingly inexhaustible rendition that was well applauded by the audience. 

Exploiting the flexibility of oral performance, he sang the praise of the Managing Director of GTBank, Mr. Tayo Aderinokun, digging elaborately into his Olowu Oduru lineage praise.

Also on the bill was songbird Yinka Davies, who invoked the essence of the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, with her performance of his popular poem, Telephone Conversation. 

Yet, the main act, Meridian Hour, served as a melting pot for various seasoned talents and polished groups, who practically sent ablaze the emotion of the author/celebrant. 

“I am simply flagabasted,” Uncle Eddy, who was surrounded by members of his immediate and GTBank family, friends and associates that included Mobolaji Adenubi, Mr. Ben Lawrence and Akin Adeoya, had said.

Starring with Ganiyat in Meridian Hour were thoroughbred actor and director, Felix Okolo, the Nefretiti and members of Crown Troupe of Africa.

In Ireke Onibudo, beasts batter Toyin Osinaike‘s heart. Then, he finds love

In Ireke Onibudo, beasts batter Toyin Osinaike‘s heart. Then, he finds love

AKEEM LASISI



For any dramatist to do justice to any of D. O. Fagunwa‘s novels, he or she must be able to make the impossible happen on the stage. The reason is that Fagunwa‘s literary world is largely that of magical and supernatural realism. The dramatist should be able to make wild animals appear and talk on the stage. He must be able to present believable encounters between the living and the dead and, indeed, take the audience to a realm that is only a stone‘s throw to the backyard of God.

In Ireke Onibudo: The Fabulous Adventures of a Sugarcane Man, an adaptation of Fagunwa‘s Ireke Onibudo, which will be on the stage from November 7 at the National Theatre, Lagos, the audience is due for such pleasant shocks. In the play written by celebrated dramatist, Prof. Femi Osofisan, coming on the platform of the Chams Theatre Series, an initiative of Chams Plc, geared towards reviving live theatre in Nigeria, the playwright has not only done both Fagunwa and the sponsoring company a great service, he has also re-invented himself as a force to reckon with in inter-textual writing. 

As Chams did last year when Ogboju Ode ninu Igbo Irumole was staged, it has produced both the English and Yoruba versions of Ireke Onibudo. The Yoruba adaptation is written by seasoned writer and actor, Prof. Akinwumi Isola, while it is being directed by lecturer and actor, Kola Oyewo. Again, both playwrights worked independent of each other, an experiment that has produced two independent plays from the same novel whose hero, Ireke, narrates to his long-lost friend Akintunde Beyioku, the story of a most turbulent but interesting life he has lived.

The defamiliarisation is, of course, further radicalised by the director, Tunde Awosanmi, who is steadily establishing himself as a force to reckon with in the industry. The obviously fluid professional communication between him and Osofisan makes the play a must-watch. This is apart from the fact that the producers have been able to rally into the cast thoroughbred actors such as Toyin Osinaike (co-acting Ireke with Kunle Agboola); Albert Akaeze (Tiger) and Charles Ihimodu, who brillantly plays the role of the king of Alupayida. Also in the cast are multi-talented hands such as Ropo Ewenla, Ify Agwu and Jude Udeni who, like some other characters, effortlessly switch roles to capture Ireke‘s galloping narration of his past life.

In the play, the hero, who sets out as a common man - unlike the hero of Ogboju Ode who is a powerful hunter - is in search of succour and meaning to life. Offspring of a man that foolishly falls from grass to grace, Ireke finds himself in a world where wild animals have to dictate the pace of his breath. Today he is in battle with Ologbo Ijakadi, the wild cat. Tomorrow, he is on the lap of Arogidigba, the queen of all fish who loses her tender temper when the adventurer refuses to marry her. 

But while remaining faithful to Fagunwa in terms of structure and overall theme, Osofisan puffs rebellion onto the face of the audience in terms of stories he invents into some of the ‘episodes‘ that make up the long flashback that Ireke Onibudo is. 

Like many other Osofisan‘s plays, Ireke makes use of traditional songs, dance and even poetry. There is, for instance, an exchange of love poems between Ireke and Ifepade, just as some verses of Ekun Iyawo that Ifepade chants to bid her parents farewell will remind the audience of the Yoruba bridal poetry of old. 

To add to the beauty of the play, the director may, however, have to shorten it a little to completely sustain the audience‘s attention. 

Grammarians will also prefer “My attendants and I must leave at this point” to “I and my attendant...” (as said by Ireke’s resurrected mother) just as Tiger must remember that the last syllable in the word ‘coward‘ should be pronounced as ‘ward‘ (of a hospital) and not ‘wad‘ (as in a wad of money). One other thing, when Ireke and his friend, Beyioku, sit among the audience to watch the drama of his past life on the stage, it may be better if they sit at one side of the hall, so that the people sitting behind then would not miss their (actors‘) countenances.

On the whole, however, the play is a remarkable experience that will win many back to the stage. Beyond fulfilling the CSR tradition, the Chams‘ initiative has shed light on how the corporate sector can help to revive the art industry. 

Osofisan captures this when he says, ”With this project, Chams is able to stir up a revival of interest in the works of a cultural icon, Daniel Fagunwa. But also significantly, Chams is able to employ over a 100 theatre artistes for about three months a year. For these, all those who relish this form of social and cultural entertainment must remain eternally grateful to the company.”

And the remarks made by Chams’ Managing Director, Mr. Demola Aladekomo, at the preview of the play held at the University of Ibadan, indicates that the organisation is also enjoying itself as far as the sponsorship is concerned. ”We are glad to restate that the Chams Theatre Series is a strategic intervention and contribution of Chams Plc to the rejuvenation of the arts and stage culture in Nigeria. It is also a means of promoting our culture and re-orientating Nigerians to the values that we hold dear. We believe those values should propel action in our society,” Aladekomo notes.

When poets gather, the muse reigns

When poets gather, the muse reigns

By Abimbola Adelakun, Published: Tuesday, 5 Jan 2010 
   

The city of Ibadan played host to the literary community when poets gathered there for the Open House Poetry Day. The event which held at the University of Ibadan was organised by the Nigerian Pen Centre. Featured were five published poets and several aspiring ones who read their works and interacted with other guests. 

The five poets who sat on the high table were a graduate of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Ibadan, Ibukun Babarinde; poet and copywriter, Jumoke Verissimo; psychiatrist, Niran Okewole; publicist, Perpetual Eziefule and lawyer and literary critic, Tade Ipadeola. 

The reading session was moderated by Ropo Ewenla while the convener, Dr. Remi Raji, who read the poets’ profiles, said the purpose of the gathering was to bring poets down to earth and know how their minds work. “We want to know why they write and how they write,” he said. 

The five read from their works. Babarinde read Kpansia, a poem about a market in Bayelsa State that was relocated when President Umaru Yar‘Adua was to visit the state. The poem is one of the many he has written as a result of his experiences as a youth corps member in the state. With nothing much to do, Babarinde found solace in poetry and came back with a collection. Describing the market, he said it was located on the only road that led to the city. 

”When I visited the market, I saw what the people were doing to themselves. To me, I saw them being squeezed and oil dripping as droplets of blood.” 

In the poem, Babarinde says, ”Market was bad today/ A pint of blood now drops a dollar/ I must take heart myself/ The market is never for the highest bidder.” 

Verissimo didn‘t just read her poem, Wanderer, she performed it and got a resounding applause . 

Okewole, who was earlier described as a bridge between science and art, said his journey into poetry began in his younger days when he went into fits of depression. His poetry then was all about rhymes. He doesn‘t know why he writes but claims he writes to speak to the human spirit. He is a Marxist because it is an ideological position he finds congenial. He read The Hate Artist. 

Eziefule had her service year in Ibadan. She also did her masters’ degree in Ibadan. She thinks the city made her a poet. She not only reads her poems, she also accompanies them with songs. That way, she says, she is able to eliminate the monotony often associated with reading poetry. She read Our House and sang Feso jaiye to it intermittently. 

Ipadeola, the lawyer, attributes his love for words to his grand mother, somebody he describes as one with a phenomenal command of language. 

”She sent proverbs on errand. She had aesthetics of speech and was always called to settle quarrels because of her word power. She lived to be very old and till she died, she was still settling quarrels. One of her favourite expressions was Eni go ku isinmi, eni gbon ku aapon which means, ”If you are a fool, you will have a peaceable existence, but if you are smart, you will always have issues, challenges.” 

Ipadeola said that he started writing because his law profession taught him that judgement does not end with a proclamation. The “confrontation potential” of words made him take to writing. One of his grandmother‘s words, Adie ba lokun, inspired him to write, Songbird, which won him an award in Korea recently. 

When asked whether they find it easier to write on paper or type their thoughts straight into the computer, Ipadeola said he never can bring himself to write on a computer. 

”Ideas can strike you anywhere and if you don‘t write it down immediately, it will leave you forever. So, I keep a paper and a pen on me all the time,” Eziefule said. Babarinde prefers typing directly into the computer and cannot bring himself to write on paper anymore. 

Verissimo said that she had to learn to be flexible enough to keep her day job and still write good poetry. Okewole says since his poetry does not feed him, he has no choice than to hold to his medical profession. 

While responding to the issue of objectivity and the poet, the Marxist, Okewole, said the environment determines consciousness. A poet cannot divorce his emotions from his writing. 

”You cannot have a mind like Einstein and Gates, without the environment. People criticise American poets for being frivolous, flippant. It is the Marxist approach. People think writers are starry eyed romantics. A poet has his brain wired differently. In fact, a good poet distances himself from the theme. Don‘t write tear jerker instead of a good work. It is a given that a poet is engrossed with the subject matter.” 

Eziefule posits that there is no way a writer will not be subjective. She said the poet cannot help but be involved, but what matters is the degree of involvement and how it affects the work. 

Other young and upcoming poets were also given a chance to read their poems at the occasion. Olarewaju Adewusi read his poems in Yoruba and got an applause.

Day of bards at TerraKulture By FEMI SALAWU

Day of bards at TerraKulture
By FEMI SALAWU
The Sun Newspaper, Thursday, November 19, 2009


The expectations were quite high when renowned culture/ theatre activist, Ben Tomoloju announced plans to stage a pan Nigerian poetry festival tagged P.L.A.Y (Play, Laughter, Arts and You) with the backing of GTBank. 

Being an art critic himself and having distinguished himself as one of the pioneers of art journalism in Nigeria, the burden of the success had fallen squarely on his shoulders. But the big stage is not something new to him. Tomoloju had been credited with successful big budget theatre productions which had been taken on tour of the shores of Nigeria.

However, at the end of the two-day event, not a few were not left in doubt of the impact which the event had on the artistic community. For two days, the stage of TerraKulture, Victoria Island, Lagos witnessed different shades of poetry such as performance, spoken word, chants, and mentoring/ discussions forms among others. 

The forum brought together some of the best poets from different orientations such as traditional, conventional and contemporary. It was also witnessed bodies such as the Veteran Association League, Students and Lecturers from Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Lagos State University, University of Lagos and Olabisi Onabanjo University. 

On the purpose of the event, Tomoloju disclosed, “We are trying to enliven performance of poetry in Nigeria. We are exploring the various traditions and influences in development of poetry to get this genre of literature showcased to the public.”
The first day of the event began with an opening ceremony and recorded a capacity crowd and was attended by special guests such as representatives of the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orietations, Lagos State Government as well as members of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). 

Renowned Yoruba actor/ poet and chanter, Sulaiman Ayilara popularly known as Ajobiewe kickstarted performances with traditional homage poetry entitled IBA. Other highlights of the occasion include performances by respected poet, Odia Ofeimun, sensational singer, Yinka Davies and NEFERTITI, an all female group, Akeem Lasisi of the Iremoje fame. 

Yinka Davies, aside performing some of her songs, also mesmerized the audience with a brilliant rendition of Wole Soyinka’s Telephone Conversation which drew applause from the audience.
The segment was capped with the World Premiere of Meridian Hour written by Eddie Aderinokun and directed by Tomoloju. Otunba Eddie Aderinokun is a writer, poet and former Vice President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and has been a supporter of several bodies of writers in Nigeria. 

One of the highlights of the festival was the presentation of the stage adaptation of Meridian Hour. Essentially a collection of poems, Meridian Hour traces parts of Nigerian history from 1960s to the 1990s. 

Tomoloju explains, “The adaptation to stage moves with the word, sounds, music and spectacles. The only caution was that it didn’t take the form of drama because the word is very pre-eminent. We didn’t any allow any spectacle or song to distract the audience from the main thing which is the word.” 
The afternoon session featured a discussion session for young poets with the title My Voice, My Style. Anchored by Aderemi Adegbite, Cordinator, Poetry Potter, the segment featured discussants including Joke Muyiwa Fadirepo, HOD, Performing Arts Department, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Odia Ofeimun, Sage Hasson, a Spoken Word artiste, Ropo Ewenla and Ayodele Arigbabu. 

Another session tagged Children’s Matinee was devoted to children with respected author Madam Mabel Segun OFR, as main guest. Highlights of the session included performance of Mabel Segun’s poems by selected children and an interview session with the matriarch. Apart from giving her the opportunity to interact with her ‘grand children’ as it were, a workshop will be carved out of it to teach the teachers how to teach poetry.
The final session again included performances by Ajobiewe, Yinka Davies, Akeem Lasisi and stage presentation of Meridian Hour. 

Tomoloju had high expectations for the festival, when he said, “I am sure after this festival, people will be encouraged to try one thing or the order with poetry performance or performance poetry. As we know, performance poetry maybe poetry written to be performed while poetry performance maybe an attempt to put any piece of poem on stage. Well we are looking at both angles. It might encourage people to go on and expand on this. It will help the educational process and help more people to align with poetry either to enjoy its performance or meditate on the content and its aesthetics. The project is simply about promotion, propagation and preservation of a poetic heritage.”

On the future of the festival, he revealed, “Well as soon as we are through with this, we start working on another event. We are looking forward to this event being staged yearly and ofcourse this would not be without the help of sponsors. We appeal for assistance in this regard.” 

 

The Line... drama collaboration across border By Lasunkanmi Bolarinwa

The Line... drama collaboration across border
By Lasunkanmi Bolarinwa
as published by the Guardian of Friday, January 22, 2010
AT the end of 2009, words went round the theatre circuits of Nigeria and Ghana that there would be an audition for a play that would draw its cast and crew from Ghana, Nigeria and Benin Republic. That it would also be a collaborative production involving the National Theatres of Nigeria, Ghana and the Benin Republic drama school, Atelier Nomade, under the artistic direction of Alougbine Dine.

The play in question is Israel Horovitz's The Line, which in this case would be coming alive as an African adaptation. It requires only five characters: four males and one female. They are Flemming, Stephen, Dolan, Molly and Arnall. The implication of this, therefore, was that between Ghana and Nigeria, there were just five slots.

In Nigeria, over 60 people auditioned at the Cinema Hall II of National Theatre, though about 33 officially put down their names, while in Ghana, about 21 showed up for the audition. 

Perhaps the number would have been higher in the two countries, but for the condition that rehearsals would be at a location in Benin, which many felt was not favourable. 

As a matter of fact, quite a number of people left the Lagos venue of the auditions when they discovered it would be difficult to cope considering their other schedules.

Those who stayed behind took turns to do the usual singing, dancing and reading as the groups were gradually pruned to the last five in each country. 

Part of what the director said he was looking for were rich voice texture, added to it was original body movement anchored on strong professional discipline. 

In Ghana, Emmanuel Abankwa, Dotse Mawuli Charles, Ekon Morrison, veteran Solomon Sampah and Bernice Abena Ampafo, the only woman in the team, made it. The Nigerian audition, however, threw up two female possibilities in the persons of Virginia Okereku and Inna Erazia. The three males who made the Nigerian list were Oladele Akinseye, Williams Benson and Ropo Ewenla.

To add another twist to the selection tale, Alougbine Dine, the director insisted on a workshop that would bring all 10 together in Cotonou where the final five would be picked. 

So, on December 26, 2009, the two teams met at the Atelier Nomade Centre, Benin, for three days of gruelling sessions of acting and improvisation, dancing, singing and a sprinkle of sightseeing.

At the end, Dine chose two from Ghana (Sampah and Abankwa) and three from Nigeria (Erizia, Benson and Ewenla). 

Consequently, preparations are expected to have commenced at the Atelier Nomade especially since the premiere is slated for Ghana on February 18, at the National Theatre of Ghana. 

This would be followed by eight other performances in other parts of the former gold coast country. 

Thereafter, the show goes back to Benin in the American Centre, Cotonou for four performances before its final berth in Nigeria for a series of nine shows.

Apart from the initial fund provided by the Prince Claus Foundation, Dine is optimistic that other prospective sponsors that his Centre had approached for additional support would respond in good time before the show begins. 

There is also another sense of optimism he holds in the promised attendance of the playwright, Horovitz, at the Accra premiere. 

If all other things work well, this might also signify that the play would be making a run of some theatres in the United States of America. 

What gives credence to this is the fact that Horovitz is marking his 70th birthday this year and there is already a grand plan to have a global celebration of the playwright by friends and associates. An African interpretation of one of his works therefore might just be one of the strands of argument to support the claim that his work has a universal appeal.

The Line is one of Horovitz's plays with the longest theatre runs, with its over 30 years consecutive off-Broadway showing. 

Dine, on his own, has had 79 performances of the French adaptation, First, in a number of African countries including Nigeria and South Africa sometimes in 1999.

The original play classifies well into the absurd genre. It uses the contest for priority of five characters on a line to reflect on the manipulations we all employ to be the first and not necessarily the best in all things even at the most ridiculously obscene level. 

What or whom the characters are waiting for on the line, is not known. But it is most important to them that they do anything and everything to be first in line and maintain such without compromise. 

As the characters manipulate and trick themselves in and out of first position on the line, the playwright dwells on sexual and gender relations in handling the character of Molly against others.

Speaking about the choice of The Line for a collaborative nature as this, Dine says that there is a lot to do in the task of reintegrating West Africans culturally especially with the lingering effect of colonisation and a divide and rule mentality that took no cognisance of the traditional cultural affinities of people across the Berlin conference imposed boundaries. 

He expects the playwright to be slightly shocked and pleased on seeing his interpretation because he intends to entirely domesticate the theme of the play within an African worldview. 

Dine, who is a Yoruba from the Ajase extraction, is already drawing a correlation between Orunmila, his corpus of wisdom, and Horovitz's European perception of human strife.

While he is working out how to mediate in the tango of the African and European world, there is also a need for some mediation in the course of his rehearsals which would be interesting to follow. 

He speaks French but for a dash of English; he is adapting an English text, though with a French translation, yet, the copy being used is English; his cast speaks only English but for a smattering of French. Perhaps somebody in the audience would speak none of these languages and yet understand the actions without ambiguity.

Rotimi Babatunde; Writer, Waiting to Win

Rotimi Babatunde; Writer, Waiting to Win
Ropo Ewenla

His name is Rotimi Babatunde. You won’t notice him if you see him in a crowd but for his near Ola Rotimi looks. Even that can be conveniently ignored as looks are not indelible marks of ingenuity. It takes some patience to listen to him too because of a tendency to stutter. An attribute you could link to the hypothesis that he is probably on the point of choking from the many creative ideas struggling to find expression in him. If you mention his name in most art and literary circles in Nigeria, the chances of drawing a blank are quite enormous. Except in Ibadan, where he has been hibernating for some years now, Mr. Babatunde is hardly known as a writer to be paid any serious attention. Even at that, beyond the small circle of writers, drinkers and smokers that he is wont to be found in their company, he is just another guy on the streets of Beere, Beyerunka or Inalende. Ironically however, this young man is ending up as one of the strongest up coming writers of the current generation. That is especially true if the recognition he has garnered in the international literary circuits is anything to go by.

Before you accuse me of over-sweetened tongue or honeyed pen, let me give you an inkling of what makes the foregoing introduction near-mandatory. In 1997 his ‘Oxbow Lakes’, a poem, in Daybreak on the Land (Library of Poetry, Owing Mills MD.) was published. In 1999 his ‘Love Song’, a poem, in A Volcano of Voices: A Ford Foundation/ Association of Nigerian Authors Joint Project by Kraft Books Ltd., Ibadan, was published. In the same year, his piece of fiction ‘the Fall of Icarus’, caught the attention of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s World Service, London, and it was not just aired, it won a prize money. In 2000 ‘Death’s Last Dance’, another fiction of his was anthologised in Little Drops of Spectrum Books Ltd., Ibadan. In 2001, ‘Elements’, a sequence of poems (in both the English originals and the German translations done by Jan Wagner) in Die Aussenseite des Elementes No. 11 (NPAM, Berlin), was published. ‘A Shroud for Lazarus’, a play, was featured as a staged reading at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs, Sloane Square, London (Director: Topher Campbell) in 2004. In 2005 ‘Auto-da-fe’, a short story of his made it to Fiction on the Web.

He was a Fondazione Pistoletto award recipient for participation in the Unidee in Residence programme for artists at Universite des Idees, Cittadellarte, Biella, Italy in 2007. He was sponsored to participate at the Teaterdargana Festival of theatre in Stockholm, Sweden by The Swedish Institute and Riksteatern in November 2006. He was one of the three authors short listed for Nigerian Writer of the Year award by The Future Awards with Chimamanda Adichie and Tolu Ogunlesi in 2006. He received a Fiction Grant from The Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, Shelter Island, New York in February 2006. He participated in Beyond Borders: A Festival of Contemporary African Writing, Kampala, Uganda, sponsored by the British Council in October, 2005. He participated in The Royal Court’s International Residency for playwrights at the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London, U.K. in 2004. He was a fellow at The Kate and George Kendall Writer’s Fellowship, The Macdowell Colony, New Hampshire, U.S.A in 2002. He had Residence Fellowship at the Ledig House International Writers Program, the literary programme of the Art/Omi Foundation, New York, U.S.A in 2001. He won 1st Prize in the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Meridian Tragic Love Story Competition in 1999. He came 2nd in The 22nd International Student Play script Competition organized by the World Student Drama Trust, London in 1998. He was short listed for the Association of Nigerian Authors Drama Prize in 1997. In the same 1997, he won 3rd Prize in the North American Open Poetry Competition with Oxbow Lakes.
In October 2008, his play, Elddopet, translated into Swedish and initially commissioned by the Swedish Art Council opened, went on tour of Sweden in not less than sixty performances and closed in Stockholm in December 2008. The play was directed by Lars Melin and translated into Swedish by Eva C Johansson. The cast included Mans Clausen, Harald Lonnbro and Yankho Kamwendo. Scene design was by Charlotta Nylund and Petra Weckstrom was the play’s producer. In the words of Petra the producer of the play, it would play to “approximately 5,500 Swedish kids between 10 and 12 years old!” That is nothing if not remarkable. Before then he had been flown to Sweden to see the premier and he came back quite impressed and overwhelmed. He was impressed by what the Swedish Art Council was doing but very well depressed that the chances that the Nigerian system can give similar opportunity to writers in the land is as remote as dogs snacking on kola nuts.

He was contacted to do Elddopet in 2005. That was shortly after his participation in the Royal Court Theatre’s International Residency for playwrights in London. It was through the Residency that the Riksteatern, the Swedish National Theatre, got to know of his work and became interested in commissioning a play from him for their World Playwrights Project. There were other plays in the project which were written by writers from Argentina, Mexico and Kenya.

Asked how he took the offer? Did it have any ring of initial difficulty compared to other things he had done? He says “Every new work presents its own special challenges. Before writing ‘The Bonfire of the Innocents’ which was translated into Swedish as Elddopet, I had never created any play for a young audience so I was venturing into a new dramatic territory. The Swedish tradition for such plays is seen by many as possibly the most adventurous in the world, with issues like divorce, death, alcoholism, sexual violence and similar down-to-earth themes routinely addressed. In Sweden, plays for youth are not seen as inferior to those for adults; if anything, they are taken more seriously because that is probably what their theatre is most respected for. So, not only did I have to understand the unique demands of writing a play for a young audience, I also had to write one for the National Theatre of a country with a sophisticated critical tradition in that dramatic sphere”.

Knowing that most playwrights always have something against the interpretation of their work by a director other than themselves, one tried to sound out Rotimi Babatunde on his impression of the premier of his play he went to Sweden to see. Contrary to wildly held belief he says he was extremely satisfied by it and that “…the production was faithful to the play’s script but not in a slavish way. Theatre is a collaborative art and the creative contribution of others involved in the production was strong and pleasantly surprising, without undermining the essential vision of the play. The production crew had done comprehensive research for the work and it showed in the quality of the performance. Even the haircuts of the actors were done exactly as it would have been in Nigeria. To the credit of Riksteatern, the research was done without assistance from the Nigerian Embassy in Stockholm, despite repeated attempts of the theatre to liaise with the embassy. Having a Nigerian play going across the length and breadth of Sweden in a tour of over sixty performances is not something that happens very often, if ever before now, but it seems our diplomats in Stockholm just do not care about how Nigeria is being presented in the country they were posted to work in.”

In 2006, the British Royal Court Theatre commissioned him to write a play in commemoration of its 50th anniversary. In view of this and other similar instances in his writing career, is he ever going to write a non-commissioned play? Most other young writers are also looking for such opportunities and may not be able to kick start their career without such a boost. He insists that he has written works that were not commissioned before and that getting a commission makes projects such as creative writing convenient as it “…helps to know the context in which a play will have its first presentation and it is reassuring to know beforehand that the play one is writing will be staged. A substantial proportion of plays written in countries with professional theatre cultures are commissioned. This is not a new development. Shakespeare wrote for a specific theatre and Chekhov wrote his most important plays for a specific director, Stanislavski. Coming closer home, don’t forget that Wole Soyinka’s first major play, A Dance of the Forests, was specifically written for Nigeria’s independence celebration”.

He was challenged on the possibility of the fact that writing a commissioned play gives you a feeling of being boxed in by the terms of reference of the funding organisation and he disagrees tactically, “A playwright who understands the nature of his or her art will instinctively know how to subvert and transcend such restrictions, if there are any. For example Wole Soyinka used his play, A Dance of the Forests, to criticize and lampoon the illusions of the very politicians who paid for the play’s production. Most commissions though, do not have such reactionary expectations and the terms of reference allow the playwright an ambit so wide that it will be inappropriate to label them as restrictive”.

It is a good thing that he is recognised outside the shores of Nigeria for his literary competence but is he not bothered that Nigerians living in Nigeria have never been able to see any of his plays just as they have not been able to see nor read that of many others like him who are striving to keep the art going? He is optimistic. Carefully so optimistic. He says, “They will, hopefully. I write essentially about the Nigerian experience. If audiences from other countries can connect with the plays I write, then those in Nigeria should find it easier doing the same. So it is logical to think that it is only a matter of time before my work starts getting performed here. There is no need to force it though and end up with a sloppy production. The best approach is to wait for the right opportunity and the right context”.

So, how does he think this would impact on the development of an (permit one to say so) already stunted live theatre environment? How would …? and he cuts in. “Making such predictions is beyond the immediate mandate of any playwright. Yes, our so-called globalised world is so connected that distance doesn’t matter as before, but having one’s work presented first in one’s country is still the ideal scenario. Reality though imposes other imperatives. Between having one’s play premiered abroad and not having it staged at all, every playwright will choose the former. And theatre is not the only sector where the outside world engages with our best talents more robustly than those in Nigeria do. In recent times, the bulk of notable novels from Nigeria have been published abroad. Our best brains are more likely to be lecturing in foreign universities than at home. Our best footballers ply their trade in European leagues, not in Nigeria. This is not because of a lack of patriotism. And, if one is to be realistic, I don’t see how this situation will change until we put our house in order. Resuscitating the glorious days of live theatre in Nigeria is a collective venture, not an individual one”.
…And you think this will help what is happening on the Nigerian theatre stage? I mean, in terms of interpreting our collective theatrics as the likes of Kola Ogunmola, Hubert Ogunde, Wole Soyinka and Osofisan to mention a few (don’t know how many more are left anyway) have done?

“The economic downturn after the seventies affected dramatic writing severely, in many ways far more severely than the other genres of literature. You need a vibrant theatre industry, from good venues to well-paid actors and spectators who feel secure enough to venture outside their homes, to get the best out of the rich pool of dramatic talents we have in Nigeria. You asked me what I think is at present happening on the Nigerian live theatre scene? There are a few brave individuals still trying to keep the embers of live performance glowing but frankly, almost nothing is happening. Almost nothing. And this is regrettable for a country that, in the space of just a few decades, produced playwrights as renowned as Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark and Biyi Bandele”.

At this very moment, he is on an art residency as a guest of the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, Italy, for a period of four months. The Bellagio Center lies on a hilly peninsula adjacent to Lake Como, two hours north of Milan. Some place to challenge the Muse if you ask me. I tried to pry out of Rotimi, what it feels like to be there and, in his usual mode he complained about how the organisers were attending to him with undeserved seriousness. He wonders what they would do if they found out that he is the same guy to be found in some drinking joints in some unknown places in Ibadan engaged in sometimes meaningless beer talk just to exercise the jaw.

The residency program that he is involved in offers influential scholars, artists, writers, scientists, policymakers and other professionals from around the world the opportunity to pursue ideas and to engage others in their work. According to the official website of the Foundation, “The conference program leverages ‘convening power’: the ability to bring notable and diverse participants from around the world together to share ideas, to debate and to collaborate.

The Foundation has operated the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy since 1960. In leaving the property to the Foundation, the previous owner mandated that it be used “for purposes connected with the promotion of international understanding.” A group of distinguished scholars was convened to discuss and advise on the land's usage and function. It was their view that the property should be a refuge for contemplation, writing, and purposeful discussion -- a place where the world’s leading thinkers could be free from everyday demands. In addition, they proposed the Center host targeted conferences, with the goal of arriving at important conclusions concerning the state of knowledge in a given field, and plotting paths for future development”.

National Troupe...Still Dwelling In Swamps

National Troupe...Still Dwelling In Swamps

Lasunkanmi Bolarinwa

(as published by the Sunday Guardian, June 07, 2009.)

THE end of last year and the beginning of this year was a very exciting one at the National theatre, Iganmu Lagos. That was because for that season of celebrations, the management of the theatre decided to mount on stage, one of the classics of Ola Rotimi, Kurunmi, for the viewing pleasure of its thinning audience.

Aside the reputation of the play and its playwright, the fact that the artistic director would be Ben Tomoloju was also more than sufficient to challenge more than the theatre buffs to queue up for tickets at the National Theatre box office.

The media reviews, from the first rehearsals to the last performance were electrifying. The cast, crew, management and directorial crew received heaps of praises for a job well done. When it finally opened, it lived up to its reputation on all fronts. It was the kind of play production a first timer at the theatre needed to see to become permanently addicted to the theatre gospel. Even when the halls were barely filled except for the day of command performance and on the last of the eleven straight shows, those who did not come but saw the trailer or the review in the media knocked themselves for not coming and resolved not to miss such an opportunity again in the future.

Soon, an opportunity to live up to their resolution came. This time, the National Theatre was to stage the production of Wole Soyinka's Swamp Dwellers. It was to be directed by Nick Monu. Going by his resume, this is another director whose work the average theatre buff in Lagos, if not in Nigeria should crave to see if not for all, but for one of the following reasons. Nick Monu was at a time in the recent past, one of Britain's most demanded young actors. He had been with the British National Theatre, the Royal Court and of course the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company. He had also acquired a stretch of experience with the Moscow Arts Theatre.
By the last day of production of Swamp Dwellers, I had seen three shows, all confirming and rebutting my perceptions of the position of the director; the place of the playwright in our national discourse; the attitude of the National Theatre/National Troupe to its productions; the quality of cast; the texture of interpretation and most importantly, the continuing relevance of the play as a potent post colonial treatise that is still capable of interpreting our current reality beyond issues even in the Niger Delta which the play ostensibly deals with. Mind you, none of these three shows was the command performance. I deliberately stayed away from that. The three shows I saw were actually after the command and the last was on the close of production.

On the three occasions that I saw this show, never was I offered a production brochure at the box office. A number of things could have been responsible for this. You sometimes get the feeling that the NTN is reluctant about doing some of the things it does. This feeling arises when you have course to interact with some of the personnel placed in charge of some of the activities. You ask for a production brochure after paying one thousand naira to see a play and you are told that they are meant for the command performance alone; you do not even get to leave with a small literature of additional information about the context of the play. The one I am using for the purpose of this review was obtained from a friend's library.

The production starred, back to back, some of the cast who made a success of Kurunmi in the hands of Ben Tomoloju. The challenge thus was to see them do again what endeared them to the critical audience that saw them in the previous production. I am not sure this was a challenge they lived up to. There are doubts also whether the management of the National Theatre, producers of the play has a full grasp of the kind of standard it bears and should protect. We would get to that later.

Some of the cast one had to watch out for were, Wole Macaulay, playing as Makuri; Albert Akaeze, playing as beggar (spelt begger in the brochure); Toriseju Ejoh, as Igwuezu; David Uba, as drummer/servant; Martins Iwuagwu as Kadiye; Titilayo Akinmoyo as Alu; and Okokon Nse as Flautist.

Apart from these players, there was also a strange clan of ten dancers from the National Troupe of Nigeria who found themselves into the beginning and end of the play. I am confused as to ascertaining whether their coming was as an apology for the length of the play for which the poor fee paying audience who were not circumspect enough had to cough out one thousand naira, or it was as an extended interpretation of the theme and concerns of the play.

Were it to be for the former, then the management of the theatre should know that had there been something of a full house on the days that the show held, there might have been a protest from a substantial number of the audience who felt swindled and ripped off. I actually overheard some members of the Lagos chapter of ANA wondering aloud after what was the curtain call at the end of one of the shows what just happened? They both agreed that they were yet to start understanding the play when it ended and actually joked about getting a refund. I could not agree with them more.

On the other hand, if the dancers had been in the show for the latter reason, then there is a strong need not only to question the quality of interpretation of the director but also to interrogate the process of evaluating directors for a National Troupe's job. In concept and execution, the opening and closing 'glee' were the greatest disservice to what might have passed as a worthwhile project. What could have been more damaging to the credibility of an intellectual effort than to see one of the dancers more devoted to the chewing gum in her mouth than the dance she was executing right there before the full glare of the audience.

If for any of the reasons of extending the duration of the play or exploring the thematic concern of the play, adding a dance or series of dances was necessary, there are more apt junctures in the play where dances that are interpretive of the mood and situation of the play could have been planted. What we had in this case was slovenly, lazy, unprofessional and unbecoming of a National Troupe of Nigeria's production.

The secret challenge I nurse in me is to one day see a set or light designer tell the story of the play in colours of paints, shades of light, sound of music and poetic set design that complements and accentuates the intended meaning of both playwright and director in an artistic synthesis. I see most often, barely functional technical designs even when there are open invitations for expressive interpretations. Either for lack of material or metal requirements, technical designs of our plays hardly excites one these days. Sometimes where the set attempts to live up to expectation, the light scheme and or cues take on a life of their own and come on and go off at will.

Where the lighting scheme in The Swamp Dwellers might not be worth writing anywhere about, the set in its design was daring and commendable. Credit for the set is given to Simone Nick. She was able to create a piece of installation for the audience to behold. The set alone was enough reason for me to say that the first one thousand naira I spent on the ticket was not a loss and, on each of the other two times I went back, the prospect of seeing it again was an easy excuse to endure other shortcomings in the production.

Off the script, the play is in a dialogue with the aspiration and reality of the nation. It speaks of debauchery and religious bigotry. It speaks of treachery and loss of basic African family values. It speaks, most importantly to me of the need to realise that each different cultural, social and economic component of the Nigerian state would achieve more, if it concentrates less on its deficiencies and devotes more time into how to creatively align with the others in order to tap from them what it lacks and which others have in abundance. The play suggests a magical alignment between the arid desert and the flooded swamp. It warns of a need to let the past and its failings be, while we focus more on the fruits of the future. All these I see in the situations given life to by the characters of the beggar, Igwuezu, Kadiye and of course, Makuri and Alu.
Unfortunately, I did not see all these in the production. I mean, I did not see any point of emphasis of all or any of the aforementioned. Thus, I will not be able to say categorically, what the thematic area of concentration of the play is. In all, it felt like a production in which the cast did not do enough work to interrogate their lines, characters and the situation in which they are in the play against one another in order to determine interpretation. You therefore have Macaulay in the character of Makuri, speaking with an Igbo accent, while the wife, Akinmoyo, speaks plain, unaccented English just like every other person in the play.

Again, while there is some attempt by Macaulay to speak and play an age that helps the audience understand the character of Makuri just a little, Akinmoyo was rather unconvincing either in carriage or speech. I am sure that she would not have been able to say by how many years her husband is older than her as she was just the same person you encounter at Ojuelegba in her jeans and possibly spaghetti top. This shows a lack of an understanding of the principle of give and take, action and reaction in the theatre, as you cannot effectively give back, in acting, if you do not know or understand, what you have been offered. I have no doubt that there would have been more life on stage had there been a better understanding of this principle.

In the curse of trying to satisfy my curiosity about my perception of the play, I encountered the work of a literary critic, teacher and Professor of Literature in his book, African Drama and the Yoruba World View. He says of some characters in the play: Alu and Makuri, landlocked in cosmic loneliness and futility look much nearer the grave than to life (26). As a mater of fact, Macaulay committed one of the most unforgivable of crimes on the stage when on the last day of performance, he came on wearing a gold chain; part of his own personal jewellery which he must have forgotten to remove in the cause of assuming the character of Makuri at the beginning of the play. All through that performance, I am sure the audience would have been distracted with the glittering shinning necklace on the neck of a character whose portrayal was at variance with every other thing in the play.

However, you cannot say the above for the character of the beggar as played by Albert Akaeze. You need not be told that he is blind when he comes on stage to know that his sight is impaired. His characterisation is one that justifies his inclusion in the cast and equally gives credence to his invaluable experience in the profession. But for a lack of team spirit, which may not be so obvious to the undiscerning, but which is there all the same, his efforts, just like others in the play too, would have come out more prominently.

As far as incongruities go, I think I also saw a bit of anachronism in the use of props where a 555 aluminium bowl, the type which just surfaced in the market in the past ten years or so, was on the set of a play set in pre-independent Nigeria. In my opinion, a calabash, if not an older aluminium bowl, would have helped the audience understand better the temporal setting of the play. A calabash would be more preferable because it shows that limited or lack of contact that the Makuris have with the approaching modernity.

In this performance, I saw things, images and suggestions that stood unconnected with other issues in the play. I saw and read things that made me seek the counsel of the original play text by Soyinka. I do not intend to substitute an impression of the written textual material I have since come to with the impression the textual performance had on me. No. But by going to this length, I have found out that there were deviations - unforgivable and inexplicable deviations. Note. There are provisions to deviate within accepted limited scope but such deviations must be consistent with an overall vision. This way one can be sure where either the director or the playwright has faltered or done well in representation and interpretation within the agreed philosophical, literary or artistic medium of realisation. I found this wanting in Swamp Dwellers. I do not know how many other productions have since taken place between the end of this play and now, but I hope someone else had spoken up on time to alert the management of our theatre about some, if not all of these critical points.