*Show runs April 7-10 at Terra Kulture Arena
Photo: Youth confronting elders on set Motherland the Musical: Francis Onwochei (left); Tosin Adeyemi and Julius Obende
‘Motherland the Musical is a prescient artistic performance piece. It bears out the true definition of art as a mirror of life, a mirror of society, an alternate life being played out on stage. It’s a play for the times, a performance piece for Nigeria right now. The Obidient Movement in the last election is easily encapsulated in the musical performance with uncanny reality, as though it was written for it, but not so. #EndSARS was actually the driver of the performance, upon which the Obidient Movement also plotted its trajectory. In all the performance points the way to the need to a healing, of country and its battered citizenry’
ALTHOUGH Bolanle Austen-Peters (BAP) Production always seeks new productions for its ever growing theatre audiences during major holidays, the last December 2022 outing of Motherland the Musical was about to change all that. Why? Virtually all the shows, twice a day, sold out. In fact, many wanted the show extended. Many wanted the auditorium packed beyond its capacity just so they could be accommodated in the 10-day show. Some families who travelled all the way from Abuha an Port Harcourt couldn’t see it for lack of space. But BAP Productions stuck to its legal limits and would not allow beyond the capacity of the ultra modern Terra Kulture Theatre Arena on Tiamiyu Savage Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. But that brought its own pressure, the reality of an encore of Motherland the Musical in the next major holiday – Easter! It starts showing today, Good Friday through the Easter weekend, from April 7 -10, 2023.
Now it’s here as promised, which is even timely, by all standards. A contentious election has just been had, with results that have split the country down the middle and left many wondering if the soul of Nigeria hasn’t been torn to shreds. Tribe has been pitted against tribe. Religion has been pitted against religion. And Nigeria and Nigerians reel under these fractious but avoidable tendencies. Where and when then should healing come? Who and what have the capacity to bring some sort of succour to Nigerians, who are hurting in these sharply divisive political moments? And is this the first time Nigeria is walking down this slippery road down a slope? What did those who had walked such treacherous path do to avoid being tipped over the brink and still retained their sanity? What lessons can we learn from them? That’s the niche of BAP’s Motherland the Musical, a musical that tells Nigeria’s fractious story from independence till now.
At this time of Christ’s sacrifice for humanity in a holiday encapsulated in Good Friday and Easter weekend, Motherland the Musical would seem the perfect performance artistry to start Nigeria’s healing process. Motherland the Musical mirrors the elections that have just been held. The youth are tired and frustrated with developments in the country they call their own, but which continues to alienate them – no development and everything seems to be in reverse gear. They then stand out boldly to confront their elders, who they believe have sold out their destiny for a mess of porridge. What then should they do to redeem their future that they see is being trashed on the altar of the greed of the elders, who have held on tenaciously to power? They decide to take the bull by the horns, but the old cunning that has retarded their development would not let them be.
Motherland the Musical is a prescient artistic performance piece. It bears out the true definition of art as a mirror of life, a mirror of society, an alternate life being played out on stage. It’s a play for the times, a performance piece for Nigeria right now. The Obidient Movement in the last election is easily encapsulated in the musical performance with uncanny reality, as though it was written for it, but not so. #EndSARS was actually the driver of the performance, upon which the Obidient Movement also plotted its trajectory. In all the performance points the way to the need to a healing, of country and its battered citizenry.
And so one of the young actors in it, Julius Obende asks the hardest question of all: “Is anyone ready to die? Is anyone ready to take a bullet for Nigeria? That’s the thing. That’s the stage we are in this country right now. Everybody is afraid to die; that’s the thing. But for a revolution to happen, it’s going to be blood, sweat and all. It’s going to be bloody. Blood will need to be spilled. Even at #EndSARS, blood was spilled; that was what triggered #EndSARS protests. It also ended in blood!”
Feisty. Unforgiving. That’s the temperament of the youth character that actor and director Julius Obende is playing in Motherland the Musical, directed by Bolanle Austen-Peters. The musical theatre opened on Friday night, December 23, 2022 and had a 10-day run till January 2, 2023.
This particular youth, played by Obende, does not see anything good in the old generation that allowed Nigeria to slide to the bottom of the barrel and almost beyond recognition and redemption. His anger is beyond assuaging by old people who he believes have run the country aground and plunged the youth into unimaginable suffering, with ‘japaing’ to other countries as the only chance at a decent life. Yet the old ones still want to continue ruling and ruining the country, a thought that gales him and his fellow youth.
The youth’s anger being expressed by Obende bubbles over from the play onto real life when he spoke from the production camp to our correspondent. Anything short of a revolution, he said, is not enough to change the stifling status quo, so young people, as the musical proposes, could take over the mantle of leadership. The elders, they contend, have failed to make progress, and have no business asking anyone for votes. Although he conceded that the old ones have been speaking up against the misrule that has characterised the country’s leadership, a new way, he argued, has to be found that is different from what has so far obtained to one that takes the country to a desired destination.
“At the point Nigeria is right now, we the youth don’t even want to hear anything from the old people, nothing,” he insisted, because young people believe it has been excuses all the way why things have not quite worked. “However, they weren’t all that docile; they were speaking out, but they were being kept shut, just the way we are being shut up now. There were the likes of Fela, Tai Solarin, Gani Fawehinmi; they were a thorn in the flesh of the powers-that-be back in their time. But they were shut down, too. It wasn’t that they totally kept quiet, which was what the old people in the musical – Chinedu (Francis Onwochei) and Hassana (Tosin Adeyemi) – are trying to tell us. So, we the youth need to understand that. We should try to hear from them and learn from their own stories, so we don’t make the same mistakes that they made, because this thing now is beyond just speaking out.”
With #EndSARS 2020 protests as springboard for Motherland the Musical, Obende said, “We wanted to tell a story that people can quickly connect with, and it’s a story about Nigerian youths, and #EndSARS played a huge part, military incursion and all that. #EndSARS contributed about 30% or so to the play structure.”
