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A Wakaa down the West End

By Sinem Bilen-Onabanjo
23 July 2016   |   4:15 am
Boy likes girl, girl likes boy; then comes courtship, marriage and a happy ending. Not so soon though. As a famed man of theatre observed four centuries ago, “The course of true love never did run smooth.”
Wakaa!

Wakaa!

Boy likes girl, girl likes boy; then comes courtship, marriage and a happy ending. Not so soon though. As a famed man of theatre observed four centuries ago, “The course of true love never did run smooth.” Such is the case of Tosan and Kike’s love which is at the heart of “Wakaa the Musical”.

With its stellar Christmas debut on home turf, Terra Kuture in Victoria Island, Lagos – also the base for Bolanle Austen-Peters productions, Wakaa the Musical attracted 10,000 people over twelve shows in Lagos.

The five-day run at Shaw Theatre may is a giant step for Nigerian theatre as Wakaa! is the first Nigerian musical to debut in London. A fitting feather in Austen-Peters’s cap who has been at the forefront of the Nigerian theatre revolution since 2005, with over 70 plays staged at Terra Kulture in the last decade.

“A play about the trials, successes and experiences of young graduates from varied backgrounds,” “Wakaa the Musical” is based on a simple premise: the highs and lows of a group of friends after they strike a wager at graduation, with Tosan and Kike’s story at its core.

As is his wont, scriptwriter Tunde Babalola lends his golden touch and turns a simple story into an enchanting tale. With Austen-Peters’s artistic vision and Ayo Ajayi’s direction, the music – a selection of some of the top Nigerian hits of the last few years from D’Banj and Don Jazzy’s final collaboration “Oliver Twist” to Asa’s “Bibanke” alongside Fela Kuti classics such as “Lady” – adds the final touch. What follows is two hours of great storytelling, Naija-style. A tale of love and parting, political ambition and corruption, truth and deception – told with plenty of humour, and part social commentary occasionally throwing light on to the nooks and crannies of the Nigerian society.

“There is tendency for us to feel that everybody is corrupt in Nigeria but we are not, so what I was trying to do was to juxtapose what people perceive to be the case and what the majority of us want,” said Bolanle Austen-Peters in an interview earlier this week with the BBC. Tosan shines as a beacon of hope for Nigeria’s future, poised and dignified against the corrupt old guard personified by his uncle, the “fantastically corrupt” Otunba Sagay.

It is not only the old guard Tosan takes on, however, as another young man serves as a foil for the protagonist – the flamboyant and flagrant Rex, with his insatiable hunger for wealth and his get-rich schemes. Rex’s tale is one many in Nigeria are familiar with as the Austen-Peters addresses the prominent issues such as immigration through his story. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Rex heads to London, often considered a mythical land whose streets are paved with gold, and soon overstays his visa with dire consequences.

The women are not spared from social commentary either: We have Kike, on the one hand, the pampered, over indulged daughter of a wealthy Nigerian whose aim is to marry well and live in luxury; and on the other hands there is Ngozi, a socially conscious humanitarian and a medical doctor, who wants to give back to the society.

The leads, Patick Diabuah and Nengi Adoki are measured and well-paired in their scenes; however the real show-stealers come from Jolomi Amuka as Rex and Dolapo Sijuwade as his catfishing love interest, who truly shine in brief but gloriously entertaining scenes. And the true doyen of Nigerian acting is of course none other than Bimbo Manuel as Otunba Sagay. There are very few actors in Nigerian theatre who can command the stage with such dexterity as he does, both with his presence and his rumbling voice. The true worth of the veteran is most evident when he conveys a whole sentence in a single Nigerian interjection, “ehen”.

Choreography switches from pulsating gyrations of traditional dancing to more subtle references to modern day dance moves such as “Shoki” and “Shakiti Bobo” while costumes by Tatiana Vintu, Clement Effanga, and the leading lady of Nigerian high fashion Lanre Da Silva Ajayi, can rival any high society Nigerian wedding party in glitz and glamour.

If the aim is to defy the one-dimensional narrative of Nigeria that makes the headlines, “Wakaa the Musical” proves a fantastic feat in showcasing the essence of a nation beyond the stereotypes.

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