ktravula – a travelogue!

Magic in Becoming: A Stage Review

by Chukwuemeka Ofoegbu

 

IMG_6013Like a pilgrim at the start of a pilgrimage, I sit in silent reverence, taking in the beautiful stage decor, the all female band fully clad in white and the crowd of excited people chatting as they fill the seats. We are at MUSON Centre’s Agip Recital Hall where the one-time performance of Títílọpẹ́ Ṣónúgà’s Becoming is about to begin. I can tell we all had individual expectations for the night yet somehow we share a communal belief that it will be far from the ordinary.

A few minutes pass before Títílọpẹ́, resplendent in white, walks onto the stage to our warm applause. Teary-eyed she talks a little about her childhood and some of the events that led to this night. The single stage light dims placing us in the right mood for what is to follow. She opens with a piece which questions a history that seems to have shaped society’s expectations of the female child. This is the first in a series of thirteen pieces of a whole poem. Títílọpẹ́ urges us to imagine a world where the girl child isn’t told how to behave. A world where she is adored just as she is the day she’s born, “…and the world is still hers”.

IMG_6016“…(H)eartbreak was just a tongue twisting word”. Her next piece talks about the innocent defiance with which the coming of age girl takes on life, a time before the girl child knows the meaning of a heartbreak, a time she is still bursting with optimism.

In her next piece we listen to events that might occur in the girl child’s life that would mar her. She explores how, growing up, we are taught to be conscious of our sexuality too early as a tool to safeguard us from the evil of strangers. Then she asks what happens when the evil is perpetrated by “…someone we smile that smile only reserved for those we call family, those we love”? What then? It is only when she walks off the stage at this point that I realise she has in the subtlest of manners talked about rape. We are all still in pensive silence when Ọmọlará takes to the stage to sing Asa’s Moving On.

IMG_6021Títílọpẹ́ talks about healing in her fourth piece, advising us against covering up the wounds till they fester and rot but to rather open them up. “Speaking is an act of survival”, she encourages talking about such harrowing experiences as a way of getting past them. She then closes saying once we’re done opening up, we should leave it be and walk away from it. Falana then takes the stage for another powerful musical interlude.

Musical siren Ruby Gyang takes the stage during one of the musical interludes. Ruby tells us how to handle breakups singing her popular song Okay. We sing along, some of us caught in fits of laughter as she brings the comedy while passing across the heavy message of stacking the bullshit and tossing it out the window cause it doesn’t matter.

IMG_6042By the time Títílọpẹ́ delivers the next piece the white outfit has transformed into a stunning pink variation which seems to mark the end of innocence and the birth of passion, strength, love and insight. Now she bears a message for us the men. With rapt attention I listen as Títílọpẹ́ tells us the men “the woman is working and if she finds you working too she just might let you love her”. The message of appreciation for the woman resonates loudly and we nod in agreement, all the while applauding.

Títílọpẹ́’s next few pieces inspire us to new beginnings reminding us that “…even nowhere is a place” and “rock bottom is a perfect location for rebuilding”. Right now I feel she’s speaking directly to me.

She speaks about the issue of following our dreams but having a safety net in place first. How our parents would say, “be anything you want to be but don’t ask me for money”. Títílọpẹ́ identifies with the fear and doubt that hold us back from our dreams and natural inclinations. She also teaches us how to identify the right kind of love saying, “love is kind”.

Fálànà returns before the final piece, this time, however, without her guitar. Backed by the talented all female band she sings a powerful musical number. When she is through I can’t help but notice she’s been completely bare-footed the entire time.

IMG_6027The final piece arrives teaching us to be great, overcoming the seemingly impossible odds we face and being greater than we ever think we will be. With these words, Títílọpẹ́ brings her poem to an end and I’m one of the first to fly out of my seat, applauding like a lunatic.

As the night comes to a musical close, the five-woman cast sing onto the stage the words “I am becoming” one by one, while the ladies of the all female band each play their musical instruments to their names for one of the most heart warming vote of thanks I have experienced.

However, it is truly the icing on the cake when, after loud cheers and a gentle nudge from her cast mates, Títílọpẹ́ takes the microphone one last time to, herself, sing the words “I am becoming” much to my excitement and a standing ovation from the audience.

Society’s expectations of a woman, rape, innocent defiance, healing, strength, breakup, closure and rebirth are many. Títílọpẹ́ employs skill and wit to address these in the many pieces of her whole poem, leaving me with a lot to ruminate over, with musical accompaniment ranging from double bass to piano, guitar and vocals. Her words take flight like magic in the night.

IMG_6062I would be remiss if I fail to mention the importance of the musical interludes which followed each poem. The soulful Ọmọlará, the entertaining Deborah Ohiri, the uniquely talented Fálànà and the siren, comedic, Ruby Gyang, each of them bearing messages in their music reiterating those in Títílọpẹ́’s pieces.

Títílọpẹ́’s Becoming reminds me why she is easily considered a master of her craft. And although the cast of the show might have taken a bow tonight, their words will linger in my heart and mind for many days to come. It truly was a magical experience, and, from this writer, congratulations are in order. Thank you Títílọpẹ́ Ṣónúgà for a night I will not forget in a long while.

__Chucks_______

Emeka is a retiring bibliophile and a blue-moon writer. His hobbies include reading books as research material on how to write and daydreaming about actually writing. He enjoys good music and poetry. He also studies medicine.

Magic in Becoming: A Stage Review was published on November 8th, 2015, with the tags , , , , , , under the Drama, Literature, Poetry category. There are currently 5 comments on this article so far.

Deji Toye on Segun Adefila’s “A Dance…”

Writer and friend, Deji Toye, takes on my latest review of Segun Adefila’s production of A Dance of the Forest and produces something fine and beautiful – a wide and robust review of not just the work itself and the genius of its creator but the director’s work in particular, and his influences. An excerpt:

Adefila’s discipline could produce a revue on the point of a pin. Then, as a director, he has that propensity to strip a script to its bare essence and recast it in a mould all his own. A director who pushes the directorial licence farther than most, for him, a constant Brechtian jolt of his audiences to see through the seductive entertainments of the show into their own shocking reality is almost an obligation. And to achieve this, that stand-up comic trick of ‘something happened on the way to the theatre’ is an artistic reality. 

More here.

Deji Toye on Segun Adefila’s “A Dance…” was published on July 22nd, 2014, with the tags , , , , , under the Uncategorized category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Lagos Theatre Festival

The British Council today announced details of the 2nd edition of the Lagos Theatre Festival, the largest ever outdoor theatre festival to take place in the city which will run from 28 February to 2 March 2014.  Part theatrical experience, part real life and part city journey, the festival will transform historic Freedom Park, a public space born out of the ruins of a colonial prison and reconstructed to preserve the history and cultural heritage of Nigeria.

Look Left Look Right, a Multi award-winning interactive theatre company based in the UK will premiere their new production Make We Waka a collaboration with Nigerian performers that invites the audience to take part in an intimate promenade performance, exploring the hidden corners of the space. Using an audio guide, participants will delve into the world of the Park and the stories it has to tell.

More here.

Lagos Theatre Festival was published on January 30th, 2014, with the tags , , , , under the Art, Literature category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

The Coloured Museum

A play to commemorate the Black History Month was staged at the Dunham Hall Theatre at the weekend. I was there to see the last show on Sunday on recommendation from friends who had seen it days before and had been impressed. The play, a series of short skits and vignettes, explores the many dimensions of being black in America.

From the problem of identity to the challenge of belonging, from the choices of hairstyle to family life, homosexuality, single motherhood, movie portrayal/stereotypes among many others, the play takes on everything inviting the audience to laugh, and then ponder. I overhead one of the performers explaining that it’s called “The Coloured Museum” because each skit represents an exhibit in the imaginary museum of racial relics. This gives the performance some perspective.

My favourite, Git on Board, was a satirical take on the middle passage, where passengers were admonished by a chatty flight attendant to “fasten their shackles” at all times, and endeavour to keep their drums and different tongues silent during the flight in order to prevent a mutiny. At the end of their trip, there awaited them a very promising future but not after about 300 years of hardship. The reward included a star-studded cultural evolution that included Aretha Franklin, basketball, a complex culture, and hip-hop. The play is hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t seen it so I won’t even try. It’s even more difficult because taking pictures of any of the acting scenes was prohibited from the start. I can say this though: it was an amazing performance by a cast of students. It stirred up the playwright in me.

The Coloured Museum was written by George C. Wolfe and directed by Kathryn Bentley.

The Coloured Museum was published on March 1st, 2011, with the tags , , , , under the Art, Fun, Uncategorized category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Africa Night – A Celebration of Cultures

Away from the news of uprisings and unrests in parts of the continent, students and faculty of my university gathered on campus on Saturday to feast and celebrate what unites us all: the beauty of music, the graciousness of fashion, the excitement of dance, and the great pleasure of diversity. It was the annual Africa Night event which took place at the Meridian Ballroom. I was the host, along with Jacob Moorleghen, a volunteer from the S.P.E.A.C club – a charming co-host.

Written as a play of two friends from two countries travelling round the continent discovering places, people, food, artifacts and events, the show centred around showing the audience what they would usually not see on the news about Africa and its various people. A continent of (now) fifty-five countries is something that no one would be confident enough to claim to know without some sort of guidance, and the patience to explore. Jake was the American filmmaker, and I was his resource. A little tension of the “otherness” is added, and the drama of discovery begins. We went from Kenya to South Africa, to Congo and to Ghana, and to Nigeria, touching on sites of historical and economic significance along the way in other parts of the continent. The script was written by Julaine Fowlin and supported by a wonderful cast of students and other volunteers.

I am passionate about things like this – theatre, and such opportunities for social interaction and intervention, and I am very happy that it went very well. More than just the pleasure of bringing the beautiful aspects of the continent’s cultures to the appreciation of the most diverse audience, there is also a joy of being in company of such young people who hold the key to the next generation. It was a great night, and I thank the students for inviting/involving me.

Africa Night – A Celebration of Cultures was published on February 28th, 2011, with the tags , , , , under the adventures, Art, Fun category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.