The National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos has been busy since the season began. With the staging of Hertitude, a play written and produced and directed by Kesiena Obue, theatre lovers have been trooping to the cinema halls of the Theatre to have fun. In this interview with Edozie Udeze, Obue, the playwright, explains why she chose hertitude instead of attitude to situate a play which brings out some of the ills of social media, fake lifestyle, lies and more by many young girls nowadays. The play revolves around three sisters and night clubs in a society on the fast lane
THE title of the play is Hertitude. It is a title carefully chosen by the playwright, Kesiena Obue, to situate in proper and clearer ways the attitude of most young girls towards their social lives and responsibilities these days. The play is on stage at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, at the moment to celebrate the yuletide. It is a play that showcases fake life styles, social norms that show how truth and realism have suddenly gone down the drain due to the roles of social media in the society.
Not only that Obue wrote the story, she also produced and directed it for the stage. But why would she be the one person who wrote a story, produced and directed? “Well, that is how I found myself”, she responded with quick precision, smiling. “Hertitude is like attitude”, she began in a very professional manner. “I decided to have hertitude because I told the story from the eyes of three sisters (women). That was why I changed it to hertitude. So, instead of the regular attitude, it is now hertitude. It is about these three sisters. I used them as a mirror to the society. It therefore talks about societal ills, parental care or lack of it. it is about abuse, social media fake attitude, lies, pretences and all. It talks about cheating, now from the angle of a woman. because now it is not only man cheating, but women equally cheat, yes they also cheat. They cheat a lot”.
In the play a particular character demonstrate the role to the fullest to open areas where women cheat a lot. From the angle of a woman, the playwright handles the issue more precisely. It is clear that women also do the bad things well and even better than men. Obue said, “the woman physically attacked her husband. This shows that women abuse men too, for the attack was big and effective. So, the play is about the society, it is about what we live with from time to time”.
In her characteristic way as an artiste, Obue took the story holistically, trying to inculcate so many other issues pertaining to hertitude to make the play stick. “Yes, I took the issues holistically but I took the case of a night club in Lagos. It has a lot of music and dance to blend with it. This is so because most of the issues happened in a night club. You have those hot sexy girls parading all over the place. That also demonstrates the sort of life lived by many girls these days”.
Being a very observant artiste keen on the issues of the society, Obue has been able to record, and document some of these happenings that resulted to hertitude. “Let’s say I am a very observant person”, she says in response. “I am just very observant of the society. This has helped me to follow these stages of development keenly. This has shown in my work. I let the society inform my works and this is what we have in this play”. The play itself shows the three sisters in a very brazen way, trying to outwit each other in the race to show class.
For these young women, life is no longer detected by sound morals or what mama or papa told you not to do. You live life to the fullest, not minding what tomorrow portends. Tomorrow, to them, will take care of itself. Life is meant for the moment, for the time being, whether for good or bad. Obue said: “Yet not every woman today is on the fast lane or lives the life of falsehood. There are many good, honest and trustworthy women out there. Some take this feminism thing a little too serious. It may not augur or sound well for many a woman. It can be a turn-off to men, some men who may like to develop interest in the woman or so. In fact, some women do not even understand what feminism is all about. So they use it as a mere weapon. So to them it is just a weapon, a weapon of attack, you see”.
So as an artiste, Obue uses these to zero into these sensitive areas. It is so deep and educative that the play itself somewhat becomes a clearer mirror for those who want to learn, those who want to preach to effect some positive changes in the society. “The quality of a good wife for me, is relative. Yes, it is relative. For what may be good qualities to you, may not be for the next person. What a man may see in one woman and it becomes desirable to him may not be necessarily so for the other man. There is no central quality issue to determine what a woman possesses to win her man over. If you are in a relationship and it is not working, you should know why it is not working. Then you begin to work on it to make it work or fail if you so wish”.
However, if you want a relationship to work, all you do is to go the extra mile to make it work. “So for me, submission is all about upbringing; how your mother taught you at home. If you are raised in a home where your mother is submissive, of course you will grow up to be submissive. But if you are raised in a home where your mother is a tyrant, of course you will grow up to resemble your mother. It is an individual thing. The lesson about hertitude therefore lies on the issue of morals. People, women mostly must begin to reappraise their attitude to life. Most often, people try to justify their actions, yet it might not be the best way to live. When we see life from different perspective, we may not see any good in it”.
Obue is a total artiste, someone who believes strongly that the stage and the appropriate plays can be used to portray some ills. These ills when properly projected can go a long way to register in people’s minds. When this happens, changes for the good of all can easily take place. Hertitude therefore demonstrates on stage how people gradually begin to acquire bad habits. It is a systemic thing, often informed by peer group. Often too, people want to develop this sense of bandwagon of let’s follow them. Then before long bad habits begin to set in. But parents have a lot to do for if you teach a child the way to go, he or she may not depart from it even when the pressure becomes too unbearable.
A graduate of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Obue studied Theatre Arts in one of the best traditions which has helped her so early to carve a niche for herself. “University of Ibadan prepared me well for this”, she said in order to justify the rich content of Hertitude. “Before you condemn someone, look inward yourself to see if you are also hundred percent perfect”.
“Oh yes, I was even writing before I got to U. I. However the U. I. environment, the teachers, the programmes and all, helped me to be what I am today. At U. I. I was able to hone the craft, my ability to perfect my act of playwriting. So when you have great teachers like those who taught me, you have no choice but to be good in what you do. I had wonderful teachers of theatre who took their time to teach us total theatre”.
Obue believes the play will go places. “We have been on now for two weeks. We will do more for the New Year and we hope with time the message will stick, it will permeate the society. The reception has been good so far”. She concluded.
In the meantime, the Theatre has been busy with so many theatre and musical shows for the yuletide. In spite of the slow nature of the economy, artistes, art lovers, promoters, still have time to go to the Theatre. It is so amazing to see these people troop out to savour shows. This is what the season is all about. The cinema halls also help to make the shows appealing. They have been renovated for the season.
Leave a Reply