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Oluronbi, a musical.
It took me this long to grasp my thoughts on the outing.

And the reason is, shame to say, I wanted it to be good. I focused all my energy on the two points that fascinated me. Yinka Davies, whom I’ve longed for years now to see on stage, and the crisp close of the play which was the most ingenious thing, I did not expect it.

Oh, and a third: Oluronbi’s child on stage wearing only beads and a loinscloth. Well, a wrapper tied about her hips really - I thought that was brave, prude-moi!

Personally, I felt a greater depth could've been written into the Idiroko’s character or deity-ness. Make her trifling or vindictive if you must. After all, is it not natural, especially for such a generation, that a child is a gift of the gods? Is it not natural for them to die sometime? And is Idiroko not the god of fertility? And of course Idiroko’s man presented as the ageless town crier, a wasted twist.

Where is the lesson?
Ask the gods. They are approachable.
Don’t, they are backstabbing and trifling and deceptive.

In the absence of a timeline, (and this could've been written into a line or two of verse) it is hard to determine if the playwright means to favour Oluronbi's wisdom in seeking the gift of the fertility goddess or begin writing out the gods from the affairs of men as the was done with Olympus.

And for all this, I have not touched the technical aspects of the play. And this is because I haven't the skill to. Lights, sound, props and the draw of a star-studded cast. It must be said that Nigerian theatre still has a way to go in terms of discipline, dedication and flow even in the face of the heady challenges facing young artists

Teris. October 25, 2009

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