Lets break some tables.
The young and glib student sits in front of me in the Board Room of my Ikoyi office. I am trying to write my final year project on the influence of dance drama and the musical on cultural expression and I’ve been asked to speak to you and Bolanle Austen Peters, she says.
Ok, I’m listening. I want to see its influence, the statistics, attendee ticket sales then the concepts and all its effects on cultural expressions.
What is cultural expression? I ask, feeling the anger well in me.
She tried to explain, but I didn’t get it.
I think your topic is laced with ambiguity, I say to her. I think you are lucky to be born in this age and to belong to a generation that applies adaptive knowledge unlike mine who work with knowledge in a highly regulated template
So, when you say cultural expression, that is filled with ambiguity.
What expression, which culture, what are you trying to say or prove?
If I were in your shoes, you would not end the influence of dance and musicals on cultural expression but must pull it down to its impact on quantifiable and measurable indices like job creation, infrastructural development, tourism, hospitality and then conclude by trying to show us how theatre using the genre of your study could increase its paltry share of the much-heralded N3trillion valuation of the Entertainment Industry.
So why me and Bolanle, I ask. Why did your lecturer choose me and Bolanle. She gave me an answer most people would say; because nothing is happening in theatre outside Lagos
I screamed this is a fallacy. It is also a fallacy strengthened by the premier role Lagos plays in the commercial and artistic life of Nigeria. Because it has the market, the infrastructure and much more importantly the media does not mean that richer things are not happening out there. This fallacy is the new turn in a shallow-minded aggregation of superiority in the arts to not only Lagos but to the Yoruba tribe.
This argument drew parallels between Prof Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe. It pushed a debate that, although it has been muted, needs to be thrown open again, especially with this young generation, as represented by this obviously intelligent young lady seated in front of me who is already being misguided.
I lean in – sending you to Bolanle and myself is a lazy approach to your very beautiful work. As it would only state the obvious and would give you an average result.
There is nothing new Bolanle will tell you and myself.
Her Saro and Waka were watersheds in Nigerian theatre as they signposted the rebirth of theatre on such a huge commercial and technically accepted forms. For me, it was the third coming of theatre. The first two are what I would call the Hubert Ogunde era which terminated with Festac 77.
The second era will be the Nigerian International Bank-led resurgence which brought theatre to Nigerians annually. This is not to say that productions were not happening between these eras or during these eras but in my estimation they did not capture the imagination of mainstream audiences like these ones which led the way.
Now, almost 100% of mainstream attention-grabbing productions in this era happened in Lagos, hence the blackness that has bedeviled theatre in other parts of the Country. The Ife/Ibadan connection also thrived and contributing to the myth that the Yorubas ‘owned’ theatre.
The great efforts of the aforementioned Soyinka and other such leading lights of the Ife/Ibadan movement plus the huge commercialization of theatre in Lagos have now contributed very succinctly to giving the Yorubas the seeming appendage of ‘owning’ theatre which has led to this lecturer telling his student that theatre is Lagos so go to Bolanle and Edgar and do your research.
This is a concept that must be corrected. The fact that the Yorubas have been brilliant in documenting their rich trajectory in theatre does not mean that ‘nothing’ is happening elsewhere. The Yourbas have been able to funnel their rich traditions and culture into theatre, their dance, and their traditional ethos and have used the University system to entrench this to the detriment of other cultures. This is not their fault o, its just their ability to understand the richness and sturdy nature of their cultural ethos and then flow it through such a powerful medium as theatre which has now given them a great and brilliant advantage over others.
You see works like Langbodo emerging as a legendary addition to Festac 77 and other such great yourba literary giants all pushing classical works adapted to brilliant plays and cementing their leading role as theatre evolves. But it would be a great disservice to other ethnic groupings if we don’t try and look beyond the south-west. The Ijaws, the Efiks, the Ibos, the Nupes, the Igbira, fulanis and the rest are doing phenomenal works. All we need do is just stop being lazy and look beyond Yorubaland and see the phenomenal work that is going on in the hinterland
Yibo Koko’s Seki dance for one is a rich kaleidoscope of enthralling performance
We have traversed as Duke of Shomolu. We have gone hinterland and have seen dance in Benin, Warri, Uyo, and Abuja and have marvelled at the dexterity of Fulani storytelling, the wondrous magic of Itsekiri and Ijaw dance, the deep drama that is the Fulani ensemble and also marvelled at the sanguity of the Nupe culture in our Ladi Kwali. People like Prof Yerima, Dr Erojikwe and a host of others are doing great work out there, harnessing talent, telling beautiful stories and capturing the imagination of the people and audiences.
This lecturer just had to tell this very inquisitive, obviously brilliant girl to go see the wedding festivals in Sokoto or go watch the burial ceremonies in Taraba or listen to poetry in Igalla land and better contextualize the origin of varied dance forms that permeate the Nigerian stratosphere. It is for this reason and more that we decided to bring in six professors in different spheres of theatre to give us plays from all over the country. The University of Ilorin, Ahmadu Bello, UNN and a host of others will be presenting plays drawn from their cultural milieu as we force a peek into stuff outside the Yoruba colony.
Theatre has a life outside Lagos and the Yoruba enclave, and the life is rich and thriving; it just has to be better sold.
Come and beat me.
