THE choice of the play, The Gods Have Spoken by Taiye Adeola by Department of Dramatic Arts for the year, 2023 convocation play of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife was informed by the need to keep to its tradition of performance that have all the trappings of total theatre of acting, singing and dancing. The audience is thus entertained and edified without any dull moment.
To sustain this tradition, the opera (musical drama) is a political satire that deploys folk, contemporary and classical musical idioms to lampoon the political polemic of transition in Nigeria and African polity. The metaphor of the oracle choosing, the descendants of slave to succeed, Oba Adeteru of Apera and the resistance by the tyrannical king is symptomatic of the manipulation of the electoral process, political banditry and buffoonery that normally characterise the seasonal elections in Nigeria and Africa.
The sit-tight syndrome of creating a political dynasty through enthronement of cronies and ‘godsons’ against the wish of the people is characterised in Oba Adeteru’s intrigues of striving to change what has been destined by the gods. The voice of the people which is the voice of God resonated in the divination of Ogunlakin that picked the heir to the throne among the downtrodden to the amazement of the king and the prince who believed they are born to rule. The consequences of despising the gods to sustain the political dynasty of Oba Adeteru, unfolds in the calamities that befall the innocent people of Apera. Subsequent revolt and the upstaging of the usurpers is a warning signals to tyrants with the mindset of suppressing the choice of people with power of incumbency.
Directed by Toyin Ogundeji, realization of the musical drama on stage with embedded messages of obsession with power, tyranny, oppression and repercussion entails rigorous rehearsals to perfect the renditions of musical dialogue,thematic songs backed up with danceable rhythm in instrumentation and well choreographed dance steps. This played out in the performance of the play on December, 7, 2023 at Oduduwa Hall. To act out the musical drama, actors and actresses with skills in acting, singing and dancing were carefully chosen in the course of the rehearsals. The performance idioms of acting, singing, dancing and mime in characterisation kept the audience that include the Vice Chancellor Prof. Adebayo Simeon Bamire and other management staff of the university at the edge of their seats without any dull moment.
Rendition of the dialogues in music chorused with thematic songs and rhythmic beat brings out the artistry of the king and chiefs in the art of acting, singing and dancing simultaneously to the delight of the audience. The pot – pourri of songs, dances and characterisation reincarnates the days of modern Yoruba travelling theatre when lines are sang before the domestication of the western convention of dialogue drama. It also reminiscence, the dexterity of the actors of the Italian operatic drama in artistry of the arts of the theatre the practitioners of the period combine the attributes of dancer, singer, acrobat, low comedian, mime and pantomimist, together with incredible agility of mind and body.
While the projection was reinforced with cordless microphone, there were few cases of weak projection overshadowed with razzmatazz of songs and dances. This was just as the sole rendition of Adetoye that could be likened to a church hymn lowered the tempo, but picked up with aggressive movement and fast tempo of the scenes of revolt and war. Intermittent narration of the narrator with good diction and picturisation sustained the sequence of the story. Ethralling scenario of acting, singing and dancing at the Oduduwa Hall is enhanced with good costuming and make – up of the cultural characters for cultural flavour. The well illuminated dramatic universe was embellished with realistic royal setting with a throne and suggestive location of the Ogun shrine and the forest.
- Lawal is of the Department of Dramatic Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
