Wahala is a farcical play written by Emmanuel Orisunmibare (EmmilySkillz). It was recently on show at the NuStreams Culture Centre, Ibadan, and was directed and produced by Stage Alive under the resident director, Emmanuel Orisunmibare.
A four-man play, its cast included rising actors, Adedigba Toluwalade (Twinkle-Boobsalairu), Oyejide Glory Chabod (Lookass), Akinyele Babatunde Tunde (General KDB), and Ajayi Margaret Aquela (Aminatu Ekelere).
In the opening act, the four actors danced to the platform stage. The stage background is an image of the Cocoa House skyscraper in Ibadan, shot from an angle of depression so that it felt like the actors were on the street leading to the building. The actors appeared lively and carefree in their dungarees, with the bib tied around their waist, as they went about their everyday work. They were cleaners but seemed to be content enough to have something doing in a nation where employment is scarce.
Then, a gunshot rattled them. They scampered off the stage in different directions.
The screen that served as the background brought up flashbacks from the 2020 #EndSARS protest, followed by a monologue rendered by Twinkle-Boobslairu that qualified as a spoken word on Soro` sóke (speaking up).
Perhaps, instead of the recourse to screen, a choral re-enactment of the #EndSARS tragedy would have sufficed to stir its memory because this is supposed to be a theatre; besides, the footage was too disturbing.
In the second act, the four actors returned on the stage. The mood was a little relaxed. They talked about their background and the life they had before they became cleaners.
Everyone thinks big of themselves. General KDB even claimed to be a general in his former life.
“Why are you here?” It was now the turn of Aminatu Ekelere to fill us in about her former life. This question rang connotatively as it implied the actors were in a prison.
Rightly so, it criticised the daily routine of 9-5ers who are the fuel to the capitalist machine they can’t be freed from.
Aminatu answered: “I lost my father at a young age . . .”
Hers almost became a mushy story that fraudulent people use to milk sympathy; it sounded a simplistic drivel that hinted at the frightening reality that most are just one tragedy away from crumbling.
But Twinkle-Boobsalairu’s over-acting drowned the attention the audience may want to give her and this also impeded the plot for a moment.
Wahala is a guerrilla theatre production where actors change props and set right on the stage, in front of the audience, making character switch seamless.
In the third act, the four actors played new roles. They wore garbs depicting Nigeria’s diverse ethnicities.
Lookas in a chieftain shirt and embroidered cap represented somewhere in the south, both Twinkle and General KDB in flowing babaringa, north; while Aminatu, in iro and buba, the south west.
Aminatu appeared to be the voice of reason amidst the cacophony and buffoonery on national issues. Only that from time to time, by a mere whisk of hand, they shut her up and relegated her to the background, showing how marginalised women are in Nigerian politics.
However, she exploded when she had had enough: “Will you shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Out there, they expect us to be doing something reasonable, trying to solve their problems, trying to end their suffering. Look at you; you have turned this house to rubbish!”
Over the course of the next acts, they played more roles highlighting the social malaise that besets Nigeria.
The fraud in familial and religious places were exposed showing that the woes of the country are beyond the political, that the pastor, alfa, babalawo are as complicit as politicians in our collective tragedy.
In the final act, the actors return once again in their dungarees—now to pack their load and leave for greener pastures, one by one. This scene dramatises the current outflux of young Nigerians—an act popularly known as japa—to the West.
This is why it is often said the place Nigerians feel happiest is at the airport—the moment they are about to board a plane away from the country, whether for a long or short spell.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
How Workplace Sexual Harassment Forces Many Out Of Their Dream Jobs
Despite several laws prohibiting sexual harassment in Nigeria, many victims are forced to quit their dream jobs while others suffer depression as a result of unsolicited sexual advances from colleagues. FAITH ADEOYE reports.
If you want to keep your job and excel in your career, you need to do as I say,” Janet Abegunde’s boss said to her one fateful day. Miss Abegunde, a 24-year-old accountant who had just gotten her first job in one of the new generation banks, said she fell into depression after her boss sexually harassed her.
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
- ASUU Extends Strike By 4 Weeks
- Forex Crisis: Fresh Facts Reveal NNPC’s $2.7bn Remittance To Its CBN Accounts In 6 Months
- Running Mate Fallout: Wike’s Group Meets In Abuja To Plot Next Move
- Single Faith Ticket: Babachir Lawal, Dogara Divide APC NWC
Terrorist attacks: Security forces have full freedom to end menace ― Buhari
and then