A playwright feels fulfilled when his output meets the obligation of theatre practice.
For Prof Saint Emmanuel Tsavnav Gbilekaa, who was away for eight years from the university to serve as Chief of Staff to former Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, it was a home of sorts coming being in the theatre, watching the performance of one of his plays.
The play Bishop Bassey was performed by the 300 level students of the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Abuja, Open Air Theatre, Gwagwalada, on February 23. It was a Practical Class Workshop performance, which focused on unemployment – an issue that desires urgent attention by the political class.
Bassey, a university graduate, has been unemployed for about five years. He resorts to creating a job for himself through the use of the knowledge acquired from the university, being a Theatre Arts graduate. He sets up a church along with his friend Dede, but as the church thrives, Bassey double-crosses Dede and decides to keep all the proceedings from the church offerings to himself and his wife.
He is, however, killed by assassins. The wife survives because she was not at home when the killers came. However, the playwright ends the play without giving us a clue as to what happened to the wife after the demise of the husband.
Did she continue with the church business or she closed it? Perhaps Prof Gbilekaa, like our foremost playwright and poet, Prof J. P. Clark Bekeredemo, may provide his audience with a triology.
Director of the play, Roseline Yacim, said: ”The choice of the play was informed by the simplicity in language and the contemporaneity of the theme.
“We decided on a very simple script but with relevant meaning to the audience. Bassey’s creative idea should be seen as an inspiration. We are not saying people should follow suit by establishing churches because of offering collection but I can tell you that these things are really happening. So, we decided to echo the playwright’s voice by turning the written text into a performance text.”
One can attest to the thrill the audience had with the one-hour production. From the beginning of the play to the end, the audience had a fun-filled evening with active participation. The rancorous laughter especially with the entrance of some of the actors like the Usher played by Natasha Daudu due to her unique back view, costumed in a black tight fitting trouser and black jacket laced with a camisole on a pair of high-heeled shoes.
This gave her naturally endowed back view to the audience each time she goes to pick the offering basket. The main character, Bishop Bassey played by Anthony Lawrence also gave the audience the transformation they never expected.
From being an unemployed graduate wearing a pair of shorts and a faded tee-shirt in his first appearance, then in the following scene, transformed to a man of God in an immaculate white suit and white shoes preaching on a pulpit with so much energy as he gyrates from one part of the stage to another in the church scene.
The costuming of Sister Kehinde, which is a blue lace ‘buba’ and ‘iro’ with a blue ‘gele’, played by Kemi Babafemi, who is also of the Yoruba race, was another unique type-casting with the delivery of lines in the Yoruba accent.
The costume of the orchestra and choir was another beauty to behold. The orchestras dressed in white shirts and black trouser with a bow tie made out of the costume of the choir.
The songs used in the performance were creations of the students, though with familiar tunes. The creativity exhibited by these students gave one a promising future for the arts as these budding artists in the near future will be stars in their own right if they keep up with the spirit of what was showcased at the performance.
The ochestra also performed the same role as the chorus in Greek plays as passive observers, commenting and anticipating the action of the principal characters without intervention.
The lighting effect was quite unique. However, I was thrilled with the effect of using light to divide the stage, where we have the Managing Director with his Secretary in the same scene, but a demarcation showing two offices with the use of some lighting effect. One would have expected a partitioning to show the two offices but the demarcation was clearly carried out by the lecturers in Lighting and Design, Dr. Adakole Oklobia and Mr. Segun Abodunrin.
One thing I noticed again was the ‘Red Carpet’ style mounted as the audience was being interviewed after the performance. When I inquired further, I was told the Theatre Manager who also directed the play, said she is on a mission to engineer the audience to the Open Air Theatre, and to achieve this, the audience will need to air their views about each performance.
First, what they expect for the night. Secondly, what is their preference in terms of genres in theatre performances? All these the theatre manager would translate into action by improving on the performances.
This performance of Bishop Bassey at the Open Air Theatre was a remount and not a premiere, according to the playwright.
The playwright said: “Well, if you want me to answer that question, I will say half and half. In the first instance, you write a play and a director picks it up, it either suits you or may not suit you because as a director, he or she gives you the stage version of your work.
“So, the director is the stage author of your work. For this play, she adds, she edits and all those kind of things. That is, you own the text script while the director gives you the performance script.
theatre, trying to identify with those who think they have been marginalized and how they can be awakened to project a certain consciousness, an ideology so they can confront their own social reality and conquer it.
“Rather, they begin to oppress you. They all turn around you. In other words, they are like leeches, they are like parasites, they parasite on you. They think they are the ones that made you what you are and so they suck you.
“I have no regrets whatsoever though if you are not careful you come back with nothing, just like I have come back with nothing. Yes, let me also say that even though I was in constant contact with my colleagues, I missed them in terms of scholastic disputations and ideological debates.
“You know the university community is an interesting one. They know a lot and yet know nothing or very little about the outside world, buried in their libraries and laboratories in pursuit of parochial knowledge in the name of research”.