By LAJU ARENYEKA

Thirty seconds – that’s how long it took for Steve to find himself in the land of Oni, where he moved from being mistaken as a spy to becoming the hero of the land. It was in that time that he was transformed from an arrogant, selfish drunk to someone who accepted the love of the saviour.

For this character, it was thirty seconds of real time, and thirty days of dream time. But for the thousands of Covenant University students who watched the play, an hour and thirty minutes quite described the drama night experience. However, for the cast and crew of the drama, Thirty seconds, work began many months ago.

Cast and crew of 30 Seconds

The Vice-Chancellor of Covenant University, Prof. Aize Obayan, commended the Covenant University Theatre Group on what she referred to as “21st Century theatre; a mixture of traditional African theatre, technical skills and creativity as well as Information and Communication Technology.”

A playwright, Jerry C. Keme puts it thus: “Inspiration for the play came to me a few months ago, when I began to ask myself, ‘what really happens when we dream?’ I started asking a lot of questions about it, and our team believed that a script could come out of it. So, the co-playwright, Akin Akinrinade and I  put our ideas together, and came up with the play.”

Akinrinade, on his part said: “The idea is that in an attempt to change a man, God will go to any length. So in the play, we tried to create a hypothetical world; a dream world that lasts for thirty seconds in real time, but for thirty days in dream time. The transformation in dream time affected the reality of the principal character, but the twist came when he refused to leave the dream world at the right time and he died. But he died transformed, with Christ.”

An unusual script, acted out an impressive blend of versatile actors, clad in corresponding costumes as well as a generous use of music, props, dance and special sound effects gave the audience a remarkable experience. The audience included stakeholders in the Nollywood movie industry, Veteran Yoruba actor, Yemi Sodimu among others.

Funto Akinoluwa, a final year student recounted his experience to Quadlife: “It was a lot of fun, and I learnt a lot from the drama. Even though I would have graduated by then, I won’t miss next year’s drama night for anything.”

Bayo Adesanya, who played Steve in the drama, best described his character, as well as the essence of the play: “It was about a character who didn’t believe in God, but who had an experience in the form a dream that changed his entire life. The basic theme of the piece is God. He owns everything. He is the creator of life, and that’s what we tried to portray.”