Olamide Babatunde
While people go through a lot of issues eating them up, finding the right place or time to share these things can be difficult but not impossible. With 1000 stories production, in collaboration with Kelvin Mary Ndukwe and Terra Kulture, Night Food, a seven-man cast play, offers an outlet through which steam is let out within families.
It seems the perfect time is over Night Food, a play which brings to the fore the role of culture in domestic family, family values, the pangs of lies, deceit, half-truths and the limits of forgiveness.
Night Food casts the multiple award winning Film actor, Stan Nze as (Kene), Nnena Udeh (as Folake), Tunji shotimirin (as Alhaji), Yinka Davies ( as Iya Agba), among others. When Kene and Folake recently lost their child, and Folake’s family visits to keep them company, a situation that threatens to throw the entire family over board soon unravels.
Kene slips into an affair with young client, and the guilt of it weighs on him so much he couldn’t meet his deadlines. Meanwhile, his three mother in-laws each comes at him encouraging him to be a man and get over the loss and be there for his wife.
Iya Kareem, Alhaji’s second wife, however, doesn’t let go easily maintaining that Folake has since moved on from her grief because she doesn’t feel for their lost daughter as much as Kene does. Iya Folake doesn’t like this accusation and picks a fight with Iya Kareem, asking her to not ruin her daughter’s marriage.
While struggling to overcome his guilt, meet deadlines and deal with overbearing parent in-laws, Oluchi Odii (as Jane Opara), the young client comes in to announce she is pregnant. Alhaji walks in on them, speaking in hushed tones, and he suspects something fishy going on. He wittingly advises Kene about his “transactional relationship” with his clients.
When Folake returns from her long absence, she meets her father and his wives at loggerheads. Alhaji is accused of being selfish and deceitful by all his wives, and this leaves folk devastated all the more. When she gets the chance alone with her husband, she tries to find out why he has been unable to meet his deadline. A negative response from the Kene forces Folake to call in Jane to Kene’s shock and the rest of the family.
Written and directed by the critically acclaimed Kelvinmary Ndukwe, the play is packed full of more than a helping of morals with measures of humour and wit. As with all balanced diet, a bit of everything makes the plate healthier: the concept of humour felt through the course of the play, deft movement from anti-climax to climax proves Ndukwe’s nettle despite the challenges that come with theatre production.
“Theatre is not easy to produce in Nigeria, and that is a major challenge facing this aspect of the art. When I got this opportunity from Terra Kulture, I didn’t just want people to come and laugh, because I am not a fan of comedy. However, I wanted to talk about forgiveness. It’s not every sin that can be, but we shouldn’t ask what we can’t give either. We should know that tolerance is everything in marriage”.
Night Food also explores infidelity in marriage as Folake is found guilty of the sin she has accused Kene of. In turn, she stands in the position of the accused when she also makes her own confessions which reveals that she had strayed off the virtuous mark. The script is very entertaining and worth bantering over. All soundtrack of the production are original pieces. The play is billed to show on the 8th, 22nd and 29th of September at the Terra Kulture Theatre Arena, Victoria Island, Lagos.