Death is a debt that every one must pay. Though the how and when, unlike debts owed a bank or some magnanimous benefactor, we may not know. Yet, we still must pay. And the why, for sure, is different from one debtor to another. However, there can be nothing as dispiriting as knowing that you are going to die, as well as the manner and time of death.
For Kenule Saro Wiwa, the Nigerian writer, theatre producer, and environmentalist, it was a mixture of all, as re-enacted in Adinoyi Ojo Onukaba's play ‘The Killing Swamp', where the playwright, using his creative licence, digs dramatically into the final moments of the late Ogoni activist's life.
The play, directed by Chidi Ukwu, was staged in Abuja on Saturday, November 13, by an Abuja-based theatre company, Arojah Royal Theatre. It was to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of that execution, spearheaded by the then military ruler, Sani Abacha, an act that was widely condemned by the international community.
Patrick Otoro is Ken Saro Wiwa
The audience in Abuja, largely populated by members of the international community, was held spellbound by the delivery and interpretation of Patrick Otoro, who played the role of Kenule.
"The performance was so real that I felt like I was witnessing the exact incident as it happened... Kenule is a very strong character and the actor succeeded in arresting the audience," said Yoash, an Isreali in the audience.
He revealed that it was his first time watching a stage play since arriving Nigeria; and added that the lady sitting beside him was close to tears and murmuring repeatedly: "Did they really did that to him?"
Otoro, who endured the passing away of his father just days before, put up such a heart rendering performance. He could be described as a veteran of Adinoyi Onukaba's plays, having at various times produced, directed, or acted in some of the playwright's pieces. Among Otoro's earlier involvement in Onukaba's plays, are: ‘A Resting Place', ‘Tower of Babel', and ‘Her Majesty's Visit'.
"It's a great honour been given the responsibility of re-enacting the lifetime of such a great personality like Saro Wiwa. I am glad, however, that I did not disappoint. This will no doubt remain for me as one of the highest point of my active career as a theatre practitioner," he said of playing the lead in ‘The Killing Swamp'.
Other players in the four-man cast play were: Jibrin Ahmed as Major; Ikponmwonsa Gold; Seun Odukoya; and Adetutu Adebambo, who played Asabe in the first and second performances respectively.
Gaming with death
Though a dramatic imagination of the playwright, the last moments of the late Ken Saro Wiwa, as depicted onstage, moved the audience to tears. Kenule engaged in what Major refers to in the play as ‘buying time' with various demands.
The highpoint of the play was the late discovery by Kenule that his cousin is the Major who has been assigned to carry out his execution. This revelation was followed up by a long drawn argument about the real reasons behind his predicament, the foundation set up in the name of Bera's father, and the possibility that money must have exchanged hands. Having failed to talk him out of avenging his father's death, Kenule gave up his antics and orders Bera (Major) to carry out the execution, saying, "Go on, do what you are here to do."
The play opens and ends at a clearing in the bush, where Kenule and the Ogoni eight are executed. It employs a flashback at some point to re-enact the meeting of Asabe and Kenule at an audition and then the court scene, which had both players switching roles. The same technique was employed in the court tribunal scene, where Major assumed the role of the judge.
‘The Killing Swamp' offers fresh insight into the Niger Delta issue, especially as it relates to the intrigues behind the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa. The playwright, however, in his wisdom, employs humour in his treatment of some of the most salient issues in the play.
Commenting on the production, the playwright, Adinoyi Onukaba, praised the high quality of work put into the production by the actors and director.
"While it is right to say this is my play, what you have seen here today is beyond me. It is the interpretation of the director and his artists. You don't always have much influence on how your play is produced. Once the book leaves your hand and goes into the hand of a director, he gives it whatever interpretation that suites him, and in this case, I must say that the director, Chidi Ukwu, is very good and has done a good job."
Monday, November 22, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Baba Segi’s house of misfits - Olushola Ojikutu
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives
By Lola Shoneyin
245pp; Cassava Republic Press
Lola Shoneyin’s debut novel, ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ offers a critical look at the Nigerian polygamous household. And quite like Abimbola Adunni Adelakun’s ‘Under the Brown Rusted Roof’, the novel bares the age-old matrimonial arrangement - warts and all.
The novel chronicles the marital life of Bolanle and the challenges she faces as the youngest and educated wife of Baba Segi’s four wives. It explores the psychological metamorphosis of Bolanle, in the midst of rivals who are made insecure by the same qualities that charm their husband.
Bolanle displays an unsettling naivety even when confronted with threats such as poisoning. The one-up Bolanle’s co-wives can boast is their fecundity, and they use it well; as after two years, Bolanle’s belly remains “as flat as a pauper’s footstool.”
This underachievement in the sight of her husband and his wives ensures that her place in her husband’s house remains insecure. And the significance of this is illustrated with the analogy of the armchairs. Bolanle is denied having her own armchair in the family living room, until she is swollen with child.
However, Bolanle does eventually fulfil the prediction of her senior wives; she turns out to be a harbinger of misfortune in a house which before her time had breathed deep of untold secrets and a traditional understanding.
One quality that sets ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ above many novels of its ilk is the voice and language Shoneyin adopts - one rarely used by Nigerian authors. Weaving a tapestry from different points of view, the plot unfolds; equally employing an almost verbatim transliteration of traditional Yoruba expressions like Iya tope’s description of her daughters: “They have eyes in their stomachs”, which translates in Yoruba parlance as ‘Oju Inu’ (perceptiveness).
Shoneyin also exhibites dexterity in striking a balance in character development. Though the novel is based on the experiences of Bolanle, the other characters are given an equal voice, which makes them no less valuable to the plot.
The author displays a willingness to explore some thought provoking ideas such as the dual existence of good and evil in the same being. Babe Segi is both a rogue and a knight. He is quick to point Bolanle out as “the barren wife” but just as quick to be philosophical in his disappointment: “When you buy guavas, you cannot open every single one for rottenness. And where you find rottenness you do not always throw the guava away; you bite around the rot and hope it will quench your craving.”
However, what the novel enjoys in structure it lacks in vocabulary application, as the author in a slightly pedantic manner employs elevated vocabulary where only the basic is needed. If Shoneyin had maintained a third person narrative the following statement may have been appropriate “What would Teacher say, If he saw me here heaving like a pursued duiker?” Problem is, Shoneyin wrote this statement while adopting the voice of Baba Segi, an uneducated businessman living in a semi rural town.
The work ‘duiker’, which means antelope, is unfamiliar at best in an African setting, even to the educated. Many such language inconsistencies freckle Shoneyin’s narrative. One gets the impression that the novel is set in an earlier time; therefore, it is also rather anachronistic that Iya Femi cites Bantu, a contemporary African musician. The author seems irrevocably caught between a pastoral imagination and foreign civilisation.
Shoneyin makes suggestions and allows the reader’s imagination to run riot without subsequent guidance. One major cop-out is the implied lesbianism of Iya Segi. Readers are led down an intriguing route when they read Iya Segi: “I could not stop looking at her – everything about her fascinated me. I was awash with lust.” But the author declines to pursue this, Shoneyin missing the opportunity to widen the novel’s plot and make it less predictable.
Despite attempts to create an emotive personality in Bolanle, one cannot summon empathy for her because she is not real. Everything about her character seems fictional - her unrelenting naivety, her fascination with unusual crockery, the drawn-out effect of a childhood ordeal and her choice of a spouse. Bolanle fails to resonate; and quite frankly, save for a few characters; the Alao family is a house of misfits.
Baba Segi is perhaps the most rounded and intriguing character of the novel. We get to know him better than we do any of his wives. And rather than fault his decision at the novel’s conclusion, we applaud it because we know and appreciate his personality. It is such descriptions as the following that make him so: “Baba Segi was open ended, he could never keep things in. his senses were connected to his gut and anything that did not agree with him had a way of speeding up his digestive system. Bad smells, bad news and the sight of anything repulsive had an immediate expulsive effect: what went in through his mouth recently shot out through his mouth, and what had settled in sped through his intestines and out of his rear end.”
The conclusion is one of the best parts of the novel though a few loose ends remain in the exploration of the wives’s long-held secrets and the emotions behind them. One had also hoped that Iya Tope would evolve in the household beyond a single outburst.
Nonetheless, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives is a book which elucidates the intricacies inherent in the typical polygamous Nigerian home. And the wonderful use of language and grammar, save for a few editing oversights, ensure that it is an enjoyable read. Lola Shoneyin possesses a strong adventurous voice and is representative of the new crop of female writers who will undoubtedly play an important part in promoting Nigerian literature.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
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