With Tuti, Yerima interrogates double standards of Man

John Bunyan, the English cleric and author, must have taken his time to study the conducts of men in their private and public lives, and observing that both, for many-a-man, is disparate. It is, perhaps, in his surprise that he said most people are: ‘Saint abroad and a devil at home.’

Ahmed Yerima, the playwright, goes a step further to bring out the real messages of this phrase with Tuti, a stage play that shows how a man seeks for forgiveness for his secret act. Presented by Theatre on the Mainland (TOM), the play opens with Tuti’s father (Amuda Johnson), a lawyer, soliloquising and sauntering in his lounge. He reminisces over his youthful adventures and while still regretting some of his actions, he suffers an asthmatic attack. As he struggles for breath the daughter (Helen Udo) enters and gives him his inhaler.

Tuti’s father recovers and blames the daughter for not letting him to die. He wishes to join his late wife in the land of no return, where he will forget the pains and shame that has befallen him and his family. Trying to make her father forget his past, Tuti, in strong words, tells her father that he killed her mother (the wife), through his licentious and devil-may-care attitude. She blames him for making her (Tuti, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN) to develop thick skin for men; an attitude that makes her treat her husband a little above house help.

While the argument lasts, Tuti’s father reveals a vow with God, which he has not been able to keep. Pressing him further, he discloses how stole church money to lead a flamboyant lifestyle and maintain a woman he loved so much.Recalling how her mother complained of not being loved and died suffering from the shame brought by her father, who as the church treasurer, converted part of the church money for personal use, Tuti slaps her father.

She compels him to tell her who the woman was. But just then, the sickly man begins another story in a story. He uncovers that the woman he stole the money to maintain is Tuti. He explains that part of the money was used to fund Tuti’s education and gaudy lifestyle abroad. Knowing that she is that woman the father loves so much, Tuti regrets hitting her father and blames the mother for being naïve.

Not wanting the father to continue living under the burden of guilt and shame, Tuti, now a wealthy and popular lawyer, pays off the debt.Gladdened that the trying period is over, Tuti’s father strolls out of the house and is knocked down by a hit-and-run-driver.

The play, a window into the rotten underbelly of the church, reveals men’s double standard when it comes to the things of God. It showcases the politics, intrigues, hypocrisy, greed, unhealthy rivalry and thievery going on the church.

Though showing his competitors that he was up to the game, Tuti’s father did what he did out of love for his family, as he never wanted his only daughter and child, to feel like a dark horse among the children of his competitors.Despite the well-crafted story, the director in interpreting the play seems to have forgotten that he was presenting it to a live theatre, he made the play long, running into one and half hours. There should have been some music, especially allowing the duet — father and daughter — to dance as scripted.

Seeing this would have calmed the emotion raised. He made the play hard, especially the way Tuti expresses herself; in words and body language.Though Tuti and the father, showed mastery of their lines, giving their words life by shedding tears where necessary, which drew emotions, the duet, however, overdramatised their roles, making the scenes unnecessarily long and at times, repetitive and boring.

Also, for Tuti shouting back at her father and going to the extent of slapping him because he mentioned his affairs with another woman tells that the play was not written for the typical African audience, who believes so much in polygamy and the African society is not against it.Showing other attributes of wannabe — wife asking the husband to take care of the children while she’s away, daughter drinking and smoking with the father, and as well dancing tango with the father — the play is a contrast of happenings in the real African society. It is also a departure from the Christian norm.

However, the characters are real when it comes to modern society and a reflection of what some people are passing through in their private lives. It is in this regard that Bunyan’s description of some people being Saints abroad (outside their homes) and a devil at home coming true.