BY PRISCA SAM-DURU, THEATRE REVIEW

Recent command performance of Budiso, a play written by Fred Agbeyegbe, one of Nigeria’s theatre Icon and first recipient of the Living Legend Series Award by National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) was a play among plays.

Budiso which was written by Agbayegbe in 1986 and performed at the National Theatre Iganmu Lagos last week in honour of the lawyer cum playwright’s 76th birthday, was directed by Segun Adefila and produced by the Chairman of National Association of Nigerian Artists, (ANTAP )Lagos State chapter, Mufu Onifade.

The Command performance which rounded off the evening of celebration wholly dedicated to the playwright, opened with a song on rays of hope led by quintessential singer, dancer and actress, Mawuyon Ogun along side a group of about thirty individuals both old and young dressed in different attires ranging from casual, religious, military to traditional.

The play is satirical and ridicules the military government that ruled Nigeria prior to democracy.

It begins in the apartment of SO, a chief justice of the Federation who became a chief puppet to the military regime, with a takeover of government by the military and also fell out of favour during another coup. At the end, he was rejected by both the military junta and the Bar Association.

The cast of the play Budiso

The style of military governance as witnessed years back in the whole of Africa is portrayed through the drama with particular focus on the Gen Mohammadu Buhari and Late Tunde Idiagbon’s regime.

It was revealed in the course of the play that everyone in Budiso Nation lost their freedom to life and speech; and in fact lost the right to every thing including the right to die when its time.

The play also amplified the forceful nature of promulgating decrees without consulting the judiciary or any other council while scenes depicting revolt of some human right and activists groups were used to represent the incessant activism that took place during the various military rules.

The combination of both pidgin English which is the language of the military and standard English, made for easy comprehension and turned out to be an additional source of fun to the excited audience.

Featuring most frequently was an interplay of words without action, portraying people in authority which appeared the reason for Agbeyegbe’s use of grandiloquent words for some of the actors during their unfruitful meetings, dialogue and decision-making processes.

Also, the exaggerated language and vocabulary used by the lawyers in the play were a caricature of those in the learned profession who though learned, put up a show of shame in the wake of national crisis which the nation has had full dose.

The play as humourous as it turned out, brought out inherent problems in the polity, thereby communicating messages of loyalty, corruption, ambition, religious double standard, power tussle, governance, and military rule.

In general, the thematic concern in Budiso, is the misuse of power by the military junta that took over governance, as it highlighted its mode of inhuman, insensitive, forceful, aggressive and selfish governance.