Tag: MUSON Centre

The staging of The Siege, a stage play by Sam Omatseye at the Muson Centre, Lagos, recently, has demonstrated the impetuosity and resilience of a people in the face of mounting pressure by their oppressors, writes Edozie Udeze

For a long time, the Muson Centre, Lagos, had not had it so good with the large turnout of thespians, stakeholders, and artistes who trooped in to watch the show.  It was The Siege, an epic play written by Sam Omatseye which premier performance was to usher the society into the inner workings of political and religious chess players who, through their inordinate activities often plunge the world into a state of abyss and confusion and retrogression.

The audience had waited eagerly to see this play that had gripped the society for a while.  It was the appearance of Charles Gordon a role played by Sam Quinn that first alerted and excited the people.  Quinn, a Briton had emerged with that  unmistakable arrogant posture and carriage of a typical British overlord.  As he bestrode the stage, dictating the pace on how to make Sudan and Africa see civilisation from his own point of view and bend to the whims of the British colonialists, the  Mahdi, standing in for the Sudanese people, refused to be so intimidated.

For a while it seemed the two would lock together into a combat.  The argument on both sides showed how much most people have come to use their own ideals to hoodwink the world.  But the idea presented so profusely by the playwright was to show a state in which ideological leanings and their attendant consequences have slowed world progress.  The Mahdi, speaking on behalf of his people couldn’t see the role of Gordon in the internal affairs of his country.  His sentiments further infuriated Gordon who, in his own world views had elected himself the policeman of the world.  It was more in marshalling out these arguments, laced with plenty of venoms and racial hatred that the play succeeded in elucidating the sympathy of the audience.

In it, the people could see the fallacy of imperialism, the high handedness of a people who went round imposing themselves on others, insisting that the cultural, moral and social values of Africa were at their lowest ebb and therefore should be substituted with those of the English.

The loyalty of the Ansar, the foot soldiers of the Mahdi and the Khalifa who later took over from him, proved very relevant till date.  They proved that their own beliefs could not be allowed to fizzle out, giving rise to the idiocy of the impostors, the invaders.  It was that tug of war, that innate trust in what was theirs that propelled the play on.  It so energized it, giving it the kind of blend common with most epic plays that the suspense also became heightened and somewhat elitist.

It was made a director’s play in some sense because Wole Oguntokun who handled it, brought all the elements of the theatricals to make it tick.  The role of Aminatu, the romantic damsel that became the centre of attraction to both Gordon and the Mahdi indeed helped to embellish and soften the play.  The romantic scenarios and escapades of a maiden hooked in between two important and stubborn men of history demonstrated that a world without the role women play continues to be incomplete, indeed incongruous.  At a point it seemed the core of the argument and the squabble was who to take over Aminatu or whose love live for her was the most poignant and effectual.  It was in seeing the scenes, the topical sequences of her place in the set up that one could fathom where the pendulum tilted to.

In the play, there is the beauty of a colourful setting, a situation that clearly depicted the Sudan of the past.  But this is not totally different from the Sudan of today or the British of tomorrow.  In some respect, it was proper to glimpse through the problems of the world divided along the East and the West.  And with the death of Gordon in the hands of the Sudanese and the arrival of Kitchener to avenge the death of his compatriot, it was obvious that the British would never let go.

The desecration and denigration that followed showed some level of irresponsibility, but then the English would always prove that they can never be overawed by whatever circumstances.  Must Kitchener mutilate or even exhume the skull of the Madhi to prove his superiority or his personal hatred towards the natives?  The level of bizarre and absurdity this displayed and the manner in which the director of the play orchestrated it, further gave clear scenario to the intentions of the playwright.  Must an imperialist overwhelm his subjects even to the point of incurring public blame and submerging his own integrity?  Must Kitchener had to wait for the Queen of England to order him to be a bit more civil and prudent?

All these combined to keep the audience spellbound.  Like it is said in theatre circle it is the audience that show the depth or profundity of a play through their reactions and attention while it is on stage.  The attitude of the audience, most of whom had not watched an epic in a long while helped to give unquestionable approval to the play.  However, many scenes were not clearly spelt out.  As the Madhi finally joined his ancestors, most people could not fathom what led to his death.  As Aminatu rocked him and nursed his physical and inner wounds and torments, he suddenly succumbed to death, why?  A lot of scenes have to be made clearer in order to properly situate the import of this play that has come to join in re-establishing a sane society; a sombre ambiance for the total progress of mankind.

Like Omatseye himself explained, he wrote it to re-visit an important event in the history of mankind.  And this is a history that has to be made relevant on stage for posterity and for humanity.

Come July 24th, all roads will lead to the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, where The Siege, a political play hinging on the ideological differences that define world politics today will be staged. Written by Sam Omatseye, poet, novelist and essayist, the play forms part of the 80th birthday celebrations of Professor Wole Soyinka as it also highlights the dangers and implications of allegiances to faiths in a polarised global village. Edozie Udeze reports

“I Shall not leave this town even if its spears from your primitive hands cut me down.  My room’s candles flare my courage as a matador against the glooms of night and cruel belief.  Let them know from their baleful corners that I hide nothing.  I am British and glow with the pride and barrel of my country.  My Lord once shed his blood to free savages, including you and yours, who now lay siege to serve an aimless god.  And even though Gladstone leaves me in harm, I am an imperial martyr and will not leave this spoil of the Lord to a sneering native.”

With these words uttered with grave pride and unbridled stubbornness by Charles Gordon of the British Empire who refused to vacate Sudan after so much entreaties and persuasion, Sam Omatseye  opens a new chapter not only in his life as a writer, but as he successfully takes the world into a historical play that represents both the old and the modern world where the insidious divide between religion and politics, if not properly handled will soon tear many societies to shreds.

The play is the story of Charles Gordon, a British army general who finds himself in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan and the Madhi of Sudan who, along with his numerous foot soldiers, oppose the role of the British in trying to hoodwink and capture the soul of the country.  It is a horrible and protracted stand-off that pitches the West against Africa, a situation that is very rampant at the moment.

How does one man’s belief be a yardstick to measure the other person’s attitude to life, to his environment and how he decides to order or run his own affairs?  It shows how the bigotry of the West, essentially America and Britain and some others of their ilk have come to aggravate rather than solve the problems of the world, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.

With Gordon in Khartoum to entrench the ideals of the British and make the Madhi and his people come to terms with his own beliefs and ideologies and philosophies, the never-ending hatred and suspicion between the developed worlds and the third world countries continues to thicken.  While each side tries to justify reasons for the prolonged stand-off, the people suffer and the tensions in their minds reach points of crescendo.

Through a two-dimensional theatrical dialogue full of didactic appeal and import, Omatseye dissects the central theme of the story.  It is centred entirely on the inflamed creative spirit of a restless playwright who thinks profoundly to give his society enough to chew; enough to remember in order to allow people be who they are in whatever fold or norm that best suits them.

The Siege comes at a time when the polarisation of societies and the ideological steam in the world is at its peak and people from across all corners of the global world no longer think as one on how to preserve the earth.  Now they think of how to despoil it, creating theatres of confusion, wars, hatred, avarice, racism, ruinations, pride, ego, idiocy and such horrible tendencies that often tear the world apart.

This is the context within which the play is set.  Theatre is the soul of a society.  All the indices of life patterns, all the issues that propel man to be who he is, to do what he prefers have been brought to bear in this work.  As it goes on stage on July 24th at The Muson Centre Lagos as part of Professor Wole Soyinka’s 80th birthday celebrations, the beauty it portends has to be poignant and pungent in the lives of thespians.  Theatre owes it a duty to portray a society at war with itself.  It has to showcase and project and indeed promote the ideals of the past, its numerous mistakes and errors to be able to make for a better society, peopled by reasonable citizens, ready, eager for dialogue and also amenable to corrective ideals.

Through the face-to-face confrontation between Gordon and the Madhi, the world is able to glimpse through the volatile nature of the two worlds as they struggle against each other.  Why would Gordon defy Gladstone, his Prime Minister to remain in Khartoum?  What is the essence of that sort of disobedience when the owners of the land do not need you around them?

“Yes, my Lord will meet your Lord in blood.  I am the Madhi, sent from heaven to redeem my land from the distress of your belief.  Charles Gordon, son of a white god.  I know him not, neither do I know you but Sudan, our ancestral right.  It enshrines our cries, ensnares you for daring to leave.  This siege should yield nothing but peace, if you abandon your pride and your measly soldiers of empire.  We shall forgive you the ruins and your epitaph of shreds and bloodshed.  These ten months exhort my patience which is a superior virtue by your Lord and mine.  But even gods chasten the rut of dead feet.  (Therefore) be careful, I am running out of time.”

By sounding this stern warning, the Madhi indeed makes it explicitly clear that neither ideological intimidation, nor the imposing presence of the imperialist would make him and his people bend to the heavy yoke of the invaders.

The playwright took his time to invite seasoned British actors to give real and convincing interpretations to the lines.  In doing so, he explains that the reality of a play lies deeply in its ability to convey its messages and import within a proper theatrical setting.

Omatseye situates part of the play in this form: “In his last days, Gordon in his usual stubbornness was caught in a web of dilemma.  You can call it a David-Goliath kind of complex.  Surrounded by Sudanese soldiers he did not care whether Britain sent a reinforcement of soldiers or not.  He was a soldier to the end.  But it all shows the kind of complexity we now find in Libya, in Iraq, in the menacing escapades of Boko Haram, Osama Bin Laden and so on.  Many people have died, some have been displaced and totally traumatised…  Therefore, the detachment of time will free us from enough prejudices in examining the dynamics of today’s events.”  And then upon that however is how will history judge those who inflamed the world in order to fulfill their individual or collective idiosyncrasies?

Directed by Wole Oguntokun, one of the foremost contemporary stage directors in the industry, the idea is meant to add total professionalism in the way these theatrical elements are defined.  This is why he says that, “it still puzzles me why Gordon should remain in Khartoum against the orders of his Prime Minister, Gladstone.  Why did he stay?  Was it due to pride, egotism or his own soldiery bravery?  Indeed, the play will help to broaden our knowledge of some events that have come to shape our lives.  The idea is for people to be open minded about life itself and not try to impose their belief systems on others.  Whether Christian or Muslim or moderate or liberal, each side must not say that what the other side says or believes in has no substance.  Book Haram should not say Western education has no value.  There are parts of Nigeria that believe that Western education has meaning.  Therefore, it is a play that has a lesson for the whole world.”

Among the actors are Sam Quinn who plays Charles Gordon, Angus Scott-Miller who plays Captain Milliband, John Glynn whose role is to explain the place of Lord Kitchener and Paul Garayo who doubles as Philip and Jacob in the play.  The role of Umar, one of the bravest of the Madhi’s soldiers is played by Bimbo Olorunmola.

Glynn confesses that what he would take away from the experience of the play is the ambiguities surrounding beliefs.  “It shows us that no one has all the answers to the problems of the society and never should one person stick his ideas down the throat of the next.  People should also try to avoid fanaticism of any sort.”

In his own reaction, Quinn says he is in love with the poetic nuances and texture of the play.   “Above all, it opens our eyes to the realities of our individual and collective roles as peoples of the world.  When the audience see both the white and the black on stage arguing these issues, pinpointing their differences, to me it will make for a better society, for a better world.”  And here, really, lies the whole beauty of The Siege.