Enigma Theatre as tool
for political revolution
By HENRY AKUBUIRO (akuhen@sunnewsonline.com)
Sunday,
March 16, 2008
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•Enigma
theatre at a performance
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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For close almost an hour, the youthful actors and actresses
engaged in a dramatization of our socio-political reality.
Deft footfalls and sashaying footsteps sought to interpret
the script.
Body contortions and shimmying waists blended with African
music. Melliflous voices sang beautiful medley, varying the
emphasis with emotional echoes. Good acting was uninhibited
on stage.
The scene was from the latest rehearsal of Enigma Theatre
at the National Council of Arts and Culture (NCAC) studio
at the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, few days ago.
Life theatre is coming a live again in the city.
Enigma Theatre was formed in 2005 by the lady, Sharon Ogbang,
with the aim of, among others, revitalizing life theatre in
the country. Three years after, it has staged four outstanding
plays for the public. The Race was staged in 2005, Kaluku
in 2005/6, Ataka’s Hope in 2006/7, and A Day in the
Life of Mr. Oluoto last year, in addition to other life performances
across the country on invitation.
Though the artistes in Enigma Theatre are in their late twenties
and thirties, they have, going by their previous performances,
remarkable talents. The troupe does not have only actors and
actresses – it includes choreographers and musicians,
most of who have featured in high level performances in the
Nigerian entertainment circles.
It is a known fact that drama mirrors life. Plays by Enigma
Theatre follow in this tradition, reflecting everyday happenings
in our society. Political aberrations and gaffes, youthful
exuberance, social immoralities, cultural awareness and health
campaigns are some of the issues that inspire their plays.
For the theatre troupe, drama fulfills both enlightening and
exciting expectations, which is why it often involves the
mode of dance drama on stage.
Sharong Ogbang told Sunday Sun: “Our plays are both
political and social-oriented. We have addressed the issue
of HIV/ AIDS, sex trafficking, among others, in our plays.
We use the political setting as symbols, because what you
see on stage is applicable to what happens in the political
setting.”
She has a degree in Theatre Arts, and is conscious of the
relevance of contemporary performance. Sharon writes scripts,
directs and produces plays, as well as being an actor.
In line with Enigma Troupe’s concept of continuous relevance
in the art by staging plays from time to time, it will be
staging Big Man’s Wife, the latest play by the troupe,
in a week’s time.
Big Man’s Wife, unlike its name suggests, is a wedlock
of political and social themes. Besides, the comic and the
didactic meld in this dramatic experience.
Directed by Victor Eze, the plot of the play centres on a
man of integrity who refuses to be induced by graft. He rose
from a humble beginning as a traffic warden, climbed the corporate
ladder and finally became the administrator of a state, a
most elevated position.
In a corrupt society where he domiciled, a position like his
entails aggrandizing the resources of the state in concert
with government officials. But not this man: he refuses to
pay heed to the requests of others to compromise his conscience,
even amidst threat to his life. Moral probity is prized in
this artistic affair.
The play’s rehearsal shows some tingling moments. One
of them is the opening scene when a bevy of ladies, wives
of prominent people in government, make a parade of their
ostentatious lifestyle. These women are at home with squandering
their husband’s fortunes on fads and unprofitable ventures.
Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise: their behaviour
underscores that trite.
These ladies do not just want to be a coterie that shuts their
doors to fellow women on top – they are bent on luring
the wife of the state administrator into their fold. When
this is done, they can clink their glasses in cheers.
But, why is she not already among their despicable group?
The wife of the administrator, like her husband, isn’t
given to debased engagements; her manners are rustic and her
speech isn’t refined. The other ladies would like to
her to change. Given her unpretentious background, it seems
like a bridge too far to cross.
Beware of the kind of companies you keep. Her Excellency makes
the mistake of granting audience to her junior colleagues,
and it becomes an open sesame to tragedy in her life.
Big Man’s Wife x-rays the influence of friendship.
Getting the First Lady to subscribe to their demands doesn’t
come very easy: it takes repeated sweet talks, even persuasion
to win her over. They told her that she is shabbily dressed
instead of dressing in the height of fashion, she talks like
an untutored woman, and she walks like a village mama instead
of affecting her footsteps. In a word, she is a negation of
what the First Lady is meant to be, at least from the superficial.
The drama comes alive as the women walk on stage elegantly
for her to emulate. At first, she is repulsed. Later she falls
to their pranks. She, after receiving a lecture on the appropriateness
of English pronunciation from them, is thrilled and learns
faster than they expect. The la-di-da transformation is in
its climax. But the farcical is yet to be enacted.
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown: it isn’t
far removed from the reality here. In the next setting, the
State House, the state administrator is getting the jitters
because of a terrible dream he has had, which his wife interprets
as a sign of penury, for the man is too righteous to think
of the number one, as his ilk are wont to nowadays.
To stick to the ideal in such a compromised society isn’t
profitable. It is an idiotic recourse, probably. Most people
in this society is sold to dog-eat-dog way of life, little
wonder that while the society is worshiping and acclaiming
the ladies who have made it while prostituting abroad, the
man is like a lone voice in the wilderness, decrying the aberration.
He can as well shout himself hoarse: who cares?
If you are a leader, you are constantly at the mercy of corruption.
Despite a promise of a mouthwatering bribe (though it is cloaked
as a gift to mark his second anniversary in government, the
administrator is unperturbed, which draws the ire of his wife
and the leitmotif of “You have to think about it”.
But for a man who is a stickler to the rules and whose principle
is averse to lucre, there is nothing to think about. Not even
the use of threat by aggrieved government officials who fail
in their bid to have him sanction their dubious undertakings
can make him bulk. His wife is miffed, and calls him names.
But he is undaunted. Integrity comes first as far as he is
concerned.
Big Man’s Wife will be staged at the Agip Hall, Muson
Centre, Lagos, on Easter Sunday, March 23, and Easter Monday,
24. “We are promising the audience fun-filled time with
comedy, good acting, dance, music and a time to reflect on
the glaring issues that confront us in Africa,” assured
Sharon.
The taste of the pudding, it is said, is in the eating. |
