By Japhet Alakam

For millions of theater  starved enthusiasts in and around Lagos, the relative peace reigning in Nigeria as a result of the peaceful conduct of the presidential election and the great sacrifice made by President Goodluck in conceding defeat after he lost to the eventual winner, Gen. Buhari afforded them the opportunity to visit many event centres for relaxation.

*A cultural performance by the National Troupe of Nigeria

And as expected, the National Theatre Iganmu, the nations culture home was one of the places and in line with its tradition of staging quality productions during festive periods, the National troupe of Nigeria provided them with the landing space with a superlative and colourful  performance of Spectacle, a four part musical folk theatre production with the infusion of comedy that  received spontaneous applause from the audience.

The Cinema Hall 2 of the National Theatre Iganmu, venue of the event was filled to the brim as people from all walks of life, especially children took over all the seats in the place, leaving many standing throughout the duration of the show.

Conducive atmosphere

Though, the new artistic director, Akin Adejuwon said he wasn’t surprised by the massive turnout, but that can be attributed to the conducive atmosphere and the rebirth of theatre production by the new artistic director. And as would be expected, the audience were not disappointed as they enjoyed every bit of what can be described as a  potpourri of performances by the National troupe.

It was a novel idea and concept of creativity meant to fuse the different artistic elements in performance, that is, the unity of the elements of the African performative stage on the wholesome representation of Nigeria’s diverse cultural heritage through music, songs, dance, narrative, masquerades and chants.

The first show opened with the rendition of folksongs from various parts of the country by artistes of the National Troupe who were joined by some guest singers and instrumentalists. They rendered Zam Zam Zam, an Igbo song, followed by Itsekiri and Efik songs before Emmanuel Adejumo, one of the sons of ace comedian, Moses Olaiya Adejumo (Baba Sala) who goes by the stage name Boy Sala mounted the stage with his oversized glasses and rendered a love song from his forthcoming album, ‘Testimony’, which was dedicated to all lovers in the world.  It was a love song that brought four dancers who dramatised it behind him.

When Boy Sala’s performance ended, Frank Ifogbe Okiemute and his wife, Chioma took to the stage with an electrifying contemporary dance of  Bette Midler’s ‘From A Distance’. It was charming and entertaining, a song that made many to remember some forgotten scenes in their life and  the compere Shaibu Husseini had to sound a note of warning to the audience not to try what the couple did on stage at home if they don’t want any medical emergency.

Next was the second part  titled ‘Ifenkiliti’ (Spectacle) which featured dancers from the country’s various ethnic nationalities dressed in colourful costumes abandoning themselves to Terpsichore, the Greek god of dance. It also featured the dance by a parade of masquerades with the ‘ancestors’ also taking turns to entertain the audience. Lagos’ popular Eyo, Adanma, the Igbo male masquerade that dresses like a woman and another one from Enugu were fantastic.

The next part featured contemporary music, solo performances, duets, group performances, musical parody and traditional music ensemble. Three men and a woman parodied songs including the late Ayinla Omowura’s ‘Iyawo’ and a track by Musiliu Haruna Isola while another set of dancers did Kiss Daniel’s ‘Woju’. Another member of the troupe, Funmi Abe performed ‘Owo’ highlighting the importance of money in the lives of human beings. The session ended with a choral performance of songs highlighting unity.

Choral performance

The night ended with ‘Ajodun’ (Celebration), an abridged version of their interesting dance-drama, ‘Ajoyo’ that the Troupe toured three states with last year.

The appearance of the comedian, Malam Spencer, with his ribs-cracking jokes on Nigerian stereotypes added flavour to the night.  In this transition period of change, the ‘Spectacle’ wasn’t all about entertainment, rather a reminder to all Nigerians that though, there are differences amongst us but that shouldn’t stop us from inhabiting the same space.

Earlier in his opening statements, Mr. Adejuwon who wasn’t surprised by the massive turnout for the event, stated that it was because the audience included mainly traditional customers of the NTN, who are always eager to watch any performance by the troupe. An indication that Nigeria is moving forward.

The artistic director, restating the bias for traditional displays by the NTN, said: “According to the tradition, we shall continue to improve the contents of the National Troupe. We will always find something to educate, inform and entertain at the NTN” he said, informing that the troupe, since he took over its administration late last year, had deployed traditional contents in its performances.