THISDAYonline

They left no one in doubt that African values can be sung on stage with maximum audience participation and enjoyment, much more than what we have on video. it was at the performance of Kola Ogunmola's adaptation of Amos Tutuola's The Palmwine Drinkard. Every-thing was finely tuned up to professional taste, from their orchestra to the choreography, lighting, acting and some other factors which constitute a good live performance on stage.

The theatre group is relatively unknown to the wider audience. They are in the learning process. They still need to tie up some loose knots in their performance. However, Oracles Repertory Theatre International successfully brought to life, Kola Ogunmola's dramatic presentation of Amos Tutuola's ideas in their command performance of the play at the Cinema Hall of Gateway Hotel, Abeokuta penultimate weekend.

The Palmwine Drinkard is reputed as the earliest indigenous African prose work in colonial Africa. This beautiful creation of pioneer novelist brought on stage, the drinkard in everyman and the struggle of man to discover and fulfil his destiny.

The story is centred on a palmwine drinkard, Emulanke, who in his quest to bring back his deceased palmwine tapper back to life embarked on an adventure to the land of the dead. He confronts numerous malevolent and benevolent forces fighting against or in support of his aim. He defeats both human and the supernatural in his quest. The plot of the play revolves round his adventures, the different spirits he came across and how he overcame them with his charms and common sense.

The audience had no problem in keeping up with the pace of the play as the suspense mounted up with each scene. The audience got to know at the very last scene, when everybody wanted to know what would happen to Emulanke and Alaba his tapper, that Emulanke was only dreaming and that Alaba the tapper died. What the audience were busy enjoying was only Emulanke's dream of his exploits in the land of the dead to bring back Alaba.

The play which is both rich in music and drama showcased the rich Yoruba traditional heritage of music and dancing. The orchestra did a singing job of co-ordinating the music with their traditional talking drums and sound systems while choreographers followed every beat of the drums. The dancing was richly flavoured, the steps were uniform while the singers sonorously. The play relies heavily in using Yoruba traditional songs, folklore, folk music, dance, etc. to convey its theatrical message.

Though the size of the stage apparently placed limitations to actions on stage, the actors and actresses creatively confied themselves to good use of the available space. Actors playing characters of the "the spirit world" didplaying them convincingly depicting the spirit world and the Yoruba pantheon plausibly. Their shrieks, hisses, augural weird sounds and body movements made the audience shrink in fear as if they were really encountering spirits in the spirit world.

The make-up and constumes too added to the success of the performance. They made creative and imaginative use of costumes depicting time, era, gender, race and such other features that differentiate characters on stage. From the palm leaves filling a sizeable part of the stage to depict the palm wine trees, to the baboon constume of the mysterious baboon, the stage designers shows good grasp of the arts of the theatre. Even the forces at conflict are depicted by the costumes. Wicked spirits have weird constumes and played in serene and simple constumes.

The lighting was also done creditably well. It was plotted such that it advances action on stage, creates suspense and establishes mood of scenes.

Among the distinguished audience present at the performance were, Bayo Odunleye, former Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria; Mr Festus Kehinde of Ogun State Television, a representative of the Deputy Governor of Ogun State among others.

Majority of the audience members who spoke with THISDAY after the performance adjudged it excellent.

Since coming into existent in 1999, the group has staged plays like Medicine for Love by James Ene Henshaw, Corpses Comedy by Kweku Wartemberg, Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka, Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels by Femi Osofisan, and Dance of the Sacred Feet by Ade Adeniyi Jnr.

The group, which comprises students of University of Ibadan from different departments has as their leader, Akintokun. A graduate of theatre Arts, he said the idea is to promote African culture and uphold her customs and traditional heritage through arts struck him like thunder. "That was how we started."

The group gainfully engaged itself while the ASUU strike lasts.