Etila Play: A brilliant chemistry between directing and stage design

Last month, I was at Kogi State University, Ayingba, North Central, Nigeria. Like expected, various shows and activities were on during my 72 hours stay at the prestigious citadel of learning. The one organized by the theatre art department caught my attention. I have always been a theatre person,so I found it very easy to watch a play, talked to some of the crew and audience before leaving that day.

The play which was titled “Etila,” was directed by Emmanuel Adejo ( 400L student of the Theatre Arts Department) was held at Theatre Arts Hall on the 12th of June, 2019, just like expected , a vast majority of the cast and crew were in the same level, no wonder they brought their A game to play in the less than one hour stage play. The play which was slated for 5:30 pm didn’t begin until about two hours later nevertheless the audience still waited to watch the play

In the play, Etila (played by Uyonwu Innocent) , a traveling musician stumbles on a kingdom where music is banned and is a taboo. He falls in love with the Princess( played by Racheal Olajide Bisoye) of the kingdom and he is forced to stay, he is soon arrested because of his music and sentenced to death. The power of music comes to play when he plays his flute for the last time and the spirit of the kingdom in the form of creatures come out and rescues Etila. He journeys off with his princess.

The brilliant story remind you of the complexities of love, how the world moves around it and would never be able to do without it. Etila’s set design was also a thing of joy as the set designer brought to fore too many symbolisms. While the setting has an agrarian object, yet the set design make sure it adequately represented the Igala tradition and culture with the way the items were arranged on stage. From the pot, stool, hoes, etc. The epic setting is hugely reflected. The set designer of Etila, Valentine Ojochegbe Onogu, brings his artistic Ingenuity to bear on this play. A well experienced theatre person. Prior before this play, he had already work with the director on stage play production like “Naira Opera,” (2018), “Sacrilege,” (2019), in the former, he was the assistant director while in the latter he was the set designer.

Their various collaborative plays greatly helped Valentine in designing the set to suit the play. While it is known that a set designer collaborates with the director to bring the play to life, when the chemistry between them is awesome, we have a stage play like Etila, no wonder, the performance was rewarded with a standing ovation that night.

Emmanuel Adejo is a brilliant writer and director, Ojochegbe Onogu is also a smart set designer, their collaboration is something I look forward to, perhaps, they can take it outside the stage. For now, a brilliant union has been made.