They say that a thing of beauty is a joy forever. To that, one can add that whether the said thing is transplanted from its comfort zone to a new location or not, it stays the same. Those who watched Odia Ofeimun's dance drama, Nigeria the Beautiful in Osogbo on August 22 may or may not agree with that.
On the way to Osogbo on August 22, someone said the Osun State capital has no nightlife. Perhaps that is true, perhaps not, but there was no hotel to be found on the Thursday before the last for those who did not make reservations ahead of the annual Osun Osogbo Festival that just ended and drew devotees and tourists from all over the world.
The mission was to watch the stage presentation of Nigeria the Beautiful by Hornbill House, written by Odia Ofeimun and directed by Felix Okolo. One did not hang around after the production, which started late into the night and ended at about 2.00 a.m. the next day, to find out whether the lack of nightlife assertion is true.
But one cannot forget that the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and many of the people from different walks of life in the hall watched the play to the very end. Nigeria the Beautiful, which held the first ever preview on March 16, 2011 at the MUSON Centre in Lagos, has played a couple of times at the same venue.
They say that a thing of beauty is a joy forever. To that, one can add that whether the said thing is transplanted from its comfort zone to a new location or not, it stays the same. Those who watched Odia Ofeimun's dance drama, Nigeria the Beautiful in Osogbo on August 22 may or may not agree with that.In fact, it will not be incorrect to state that although it has been staged at many other venues, including Abuja and Ibadan, it has become easy to associate it with MUSON's Agip Recital Hall.
So, apart from wanting to see again the dance drama, one naturally wondered how the cast and crew would transport the pomp that the play is known for, including the acting, dancing and colour to Osogbo.
From the look of things that night in Osogbo, the last two were easy; however, the first did not go very well, particularly when one considers the stellar performance by Efe Orhorha, Nissi George and the late Gogo Ombo at the sneak preview.
The set was, however, a spectacle to behold such that as soon as members of the audience walked into the hall primed for the event at Government House, Osogbo, each could not help but gawk in wonder. Those among them who had never seen the production soon had their wonder assuaged when the compere announced at about midnight that the play would now be staged. This was after performances from Adunni Nerfetiti and a host of others.
Paul Alomona and the other actors who had speaking lines had difficulty communicating with the audience. Most of the time, it came across as if they were projecting when they had microphones on their person and there was no longer need for that. Perhaps the equipment was the problem as half the time what most of the audience heard was static.
Although there are those who will swear that the microphones should be held culprit and not the actors, but it would seem like one or two even forgot their lines and the dancers had to save the day.
And how gracefully they danced to the music played live on stage by the musicians and how the audience got lost in the well choreographed and invigorating dance sequences. The foundation for the script is poems written by Ofeimun that tell the story of Nigeria from the Amalgamation of 1914 to the present-day.
It is a story of diversity, of unity against all odds and of a people who have seen it all. Intermingled with the poetry is dance from perhaps every part of the country.
For this production, the dancers do not only move to the music, they also dramatise for the audience some of the highpoints of Nigeria's history and the low points, too. The dancers move so fast that one gets the impression that when they go backstage to change into different attires, it is another set of dancers that mount the stage. For this production, the dancers have it but that is not to indicate that everyone did not do his or her part.
That is why when Governor Aregbesola said at the end that it had been a wonderful production, genuine shouts of approval and applause emanated from the audience. It is a play those who want to take in Nigeria's history in a hurry must see and if ever the Federal Government needed a play for the Centenary Celebration, Nigeria the Beautiful is that play.
