When Made in Nigeria poetry show thrilled Enugu

The Made In Nigeria show, a poetry for theatre show written and produced by ace Nigerian performance poet, Dike Chukwumerije, stormed the Coal City on Saturday, March 25, 2017, to a standing ovation. The show, which is currently on tour, had been staged in Abuja and Lagos to equally rave reviews, before turning its sights on the capital of Nigeria’s former Eastern Region.

Mr Ken Ike Okere, Zonal Director of Radio Nigeria, Enugu, enthused afterwards, “Enugu is sated! There is no doubt: Dike is perhaps Nigeria’s most impactful contemporary poet. About 400 regular people paying for a poetry show in the quiet town of Enugu! I see an awakening east of the Niger.”

Also present in the audience was Greg Mbajiorgu, a senior lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a pioneer in the art of solo theatre, who referred to the show as “simply amazing.”

Mitterand Okorie, a lecturer from the Abia State University Uturu, who had travelled into Enugu to see the show despite having seen it once already in Abuja, observed that: ‘The real essence of wealth, the Igbo would say, was that one’s own family and kin are able to partake of it. I’ve silently hoped that Dike brought the show home, and home he brought it. One hour after the start, there was nowhere to park!”

Mrs Comfort Ezegbulam, who got a ticket to the show as a mother’s day gift from her daughter, was overjoyed, referring to the show as “my best moment this year.”

Amarachi Attamah, an Enugu-based radio and television presenter, said: “Dike Chukwumerije took us through a journey of self-reflections. He rubbed our history on our faces and hearts. He took us through a journey of self-questioning and reflections. The Made In Nigeria show was a touch of everything arts. It was just amazing. Echoes of old time songs and adverts and dances and dresses and memories rented the expanse of the filled hall.”

The 24-member cast, including dancers, actors, stage hands, rolled into Enugu with tangible excitement the day before the event. Jingles on the Enugu airwaves, and the airwaves of other major cities in the region, guaranteed that all roads led to the event center, where the show was billed to hold.  The expectation was so high, the venue was virtually filled up by 3.30pm, ahead of the 4pm start time. And, despite the logistical challenges that delayed the opening acts for 45 minutes, the audience stayed glued to its seat, with some people even deferring bathroom breaks for fear of missing a second of the gripping performances.

Essentially a one-man performance poetry show, beautifully enhanced by a supporting cast of dancers and dramatists, Dike Chukwumerije’s Made In Nigeria took the Enugu audience on a heart-warming ride from the amalgamation of the country in 1914, up till modern times, each era brought alive by period-appropriate costumes, music and dance. But it was the poignant poetry that had the audience gasping out loud, with Chukwumerije belting it out like a master performer.

He began the show with the story of amalgamation, telling it from the perspective of an old man trying to explain the circumstances of his birth. Watching the poet become the character he was portraying was awe-inspiring. Then there were the great quotations from nationalists, such as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, among others, spanning the decades between 1920 and 1960; then a great love story set in the 1960s, painfully disrupted by the civil unrest of that period.

The 1970s was summarised in the story of two lovers fighting to stay together despite ethnic differences. In the 1980s, the poet had the audience in stitches as, through the eyes of a mother praying for her son, he x-rayed a myriad of social problems. In the ‘90s, we were reminded through the poem aptly titled ‘Aluta!’ of the student’s union struggles of the era. The evening ended with a poem, beautifully set to music, dedicated to Herbert Macauley, in which the Poet charged the audience to ‘keep marching on!’At this the audience, young and old, rose to their feet in applause with the overwhelming feeling being one of sadness that the production had come to an end.

In continuation of its tour, the Made In Nigeria show is expected to berth next in the ancient city of Benin, precisely at the University of Benin, Ugbowo Campus in May.