Damiete Braide
The cast did justice to the play. They kept the audience reeling with laughter and they stayed glued to their seats till the audience. When the play ended, the hall erupted in great applause. Although this was his first performance on stage, Joshua Oloriegbe, who played the lead character, Major Lejoka-Brown wowed the audience with his performance. His acting skill was remarkable, so also Chizara Ini-Inyang, who played the role of Sikira.
Gbemmiyi Smith, the founder of Childville Schools, said he was not surprised by the pupils’ performance. It is because the cast was well chosen, he said.
He said: “The play is a satire on the Nigerian government, the military rule, the way they were not prepared to rule and their views of running the country. Today, the children did justice to that play and they have been able to achieve something most actors are not been able to achieve.”
Gboyega Jerome who directed the play was a member of Nollywood, but decided to take his acting skills to schools in order to train them “from the cradle.”
It was the ninth edition of the play performed at MUSON Centre. Each time, they performed, the play met the expectation of the audience.
Jerome enjoined parents to encourage their children to participate in stage productions “because it will expose them and bring them out of their shell from being shy to be bold.”
Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again by Ola Rotimi is a satire about the political struggles of modern Africa. The main character, Lejoka-Brown, a former Army Major, contracts many wives (unknown to the first wife) over the years. Early in the play, the audience is introduced to Lejoka-Brown’s wives and the circumstances of their marriage. There is Mama Rashida, his brother’s wife Lejoka-Brown has to marry because of tradition, and due to his brother’s death. Sikira, the second wife marries Lejoka-Brown in order to advance him politically and, literally to help win women’s vote. Then, of course, there’s Lizzy who, like the other wives, thinks she is the only wife. She comes back from the United States of America (USA) after completing her medical degree.
Lizzy’s plane lands earlier than usual in Nigeria, so she simply finds Lekoja-Brown’s father’s house and makes it her own. Lejoka-Brown, at that point, is on his way to the airport in order to prevent Lizzy from going to his father’s house. After living in America for some time, Lizzy adopted the Western view of traditional marriage and is not afraid to chase her husband, even after the little incidence where Sikira runs from the house shouting “our husband has gone mad again.”
This is her exit point, Sikira leaves the marriage once and for all. Soon after Mama Rashida does the same and at the end Lizzy obtains her heart desire. Lejoka-Brown all to herself.