LIZA
this blatantly decadent, third-rate domestic circus! ...that smutty, ill-bred, foul-mouthed, uncouth, mangy,
grossly ribald, whipper-snapper of a chipmunk!
(Act I Sc III)
An excruciatingly acute sacroiliac muscle spasm
I am in no mood to be slobbered on!
nauseating, clay-walled gas chamber!
your adrenal glands... What will happen next? Psychosomatic breakdown!
Take your choice: peptic ulcer; ... obesity; dermatitis; neuralgia; ...insomnia;
cardiovascular...
You can't be that asinine. The grounds are ample and valid breach of faith; ... Incompatibility;...
Please let's not start a zoological seminar on the behavioural pattern of snakes!
(Act I Sc V)
Think of the boundless ecstasies of human freedom.
(Act II Sc III)
You've now become a depraved, no-good scoundrel with the tastes of s pig, obsessed with the putrescent values of a maggot!
(Act II Sc VI)
MALLAM GASKIYA
And aside from the fact that the present Leader of our party is so old-fashioned and autocratic about the risky implementation of his whimsical strategy, this whole mumbo-jumbo about military exercise in a political set-up is a sham.
(Act II Sc II)
OSAGIE
We can no longer afford to compromise the noble ideals of the National Liberation Party, with the abjectly myopic, not to say, old-fashioned authoritarian leadership of Rahman Lejoka-Brown.
(Act II Sc V)
These could probably be digested or taken good-humouredly as delightful bombast, but what can we make of the long chain of high-brow English diction with which the playwright appears to enjoy assailing or titillating us with? (As an aside, I confess that I consulted my Nokia cell phone's Merriam-Webster several times the first time I read this play.) Examples found unfamiliar by the generality of the NCE Part II English class are as follow:
Act I Sc I
1. Sikira 'prinks herself up'
2. A baritone and tenor croons lustily.
3. Major Lejoka-Brown is ' barrel-chested and hirsute'
4. The Major and Okonkwo sing 'in nostalgic insouciance'
5. They both laugh, slouching in the sette.
6. The Major 'capers threateningly towards Polycarp'
7. The Major 'starts prying open (an) envelope' and 'Winkles paper out of (it)'
8. Okonkwo 'chuckles incredulously'
9. The Major 'leads him coaxingly back to his seat'
Sc II
1. continuous heckling and catcalls punctuated by the ghoulish pounding of a demolition crane
2. Mama Rashida and Sikira 'primp themselves' in readiness for Alhaji Mustapha's entrance
3. Mustapha is wearing 'a bedraggled jumper that barely covers the top of a skimpy pair of Yoruba pantaloons. He is unshod: a rather mangy contrast to the saintly white, if threadbare, turban swathing his head and chin.
4. Mama Rashida herself is 'conservatively cocooned' in her clothing.
5. only his rump within
6. Sikira 'pirouettes drunkenly to flop on the settee'
Sc III
1. old matchet dangling waringly up there
2. trying hard to maintain her aplomb
3. utterly dumb-founded with shame at the topsy-turvy rascality in the living room
4. Stealthily Mama Rashida sidles to where the stack of cushions is.
5. Mama Rashida speaks [sepulchrally]
6. Sikira is 'dowdily-clad in her work-a-day clothes'
7. Mama Rashida [Pinioning Sikira's arms behind her]
8. Liza, 'With the self-assured calm of a sophisticate who wouldnt be lured into any form of female caterwauling
Sc IV
1. a girl-hawker who kneels, customarily, to rive off the orange rinds 'Nigerian style'. With casual expertise, Lejoka-Brown spits out the pips...
2. Okonkwo [guffaws]
3. Lejoka-Brown [peremptorily]
4. Lejoka-Brown 'seizes Polycarp by the scruff of the neck... lurches at Polycarp
Sc V
1. Lejoka-Brown throws his arms up in exaggerated declamation and croons
Expansively
2. Lejoka-Brown now waddles with clumsy gaiety towards Liza
3. Okonkwo with a wry smile
4. Lejoka-Brown, 'a toothy, Cheshire-cat grin parting his lips'
5. Lejoka- brown 'ogles critically at Liza's bosom'
6. They both look like awkward partners doing the tango
7. Lejoka-Brown ambles out to meet Okonkwo on the porch.
8. Lejoka-Brown starts guiltily, converting his rendition into an ad lib
9. Instantly the brash sound of raw sakara music complete with the languid
monotone of male solo, backed by a somnolent choral response, suffused
with drums, 'goje' and rattles, blasts forth, drowning the whole house.
Act II Sc I
1. addled failures (eggs!) are laid to rest in the basket to her left
2. Enter Sikira in her new undergarment, looking quite natty, chic, sensually prim
3. Mama Rashida resumes her chore
4. Liza hands her the dress she has just completed ' a dainty, smartly cut artifice'
Sc II
1. A gavel is struck calling the house to order.
2. Lejoka-Brown is rocking back and forth agitatedly on his chair, his eyes riveted acrimoniously on Mallam Gaskiya.
Sc III
1. Sikira is now wearing a tight-fitting, micro-mini snippet of a dress. Other attributes of this: a saucily low neckline exposing much of her back, and a sumptuous sweep of her 'frontal undulations'.
2. spicily skimpy dress
3. Liza is half slumped over her sewing-machine, convulsed with laughter at this unabashed caricaturing of Lejoka-Brown and his political antics.
4. Lejoka-Brown 'Indicates the tight Capri pants Liza is wearing.'
5. and the force of the attack sends her careening across the living room.
Sc IV
1. He hoists up Mallam Gaskiya's arm in a jaunty of amity
2. grins genially
3. BBC correspondent scuttles away from window and cowers in a kneeling position
4. raises the glass in toast, facing the squad of dust-encrusted, glum-faced guest, and intones expansively
Sc V
1. One Member [a rotund portly fellow]
2. She exits in a huff
3. He freezes, gawking at Liza and Lejoka-Brown. With exaggerated smacking of the lips, Lejoka-Brown starts pecking at Liza's ear-lobe.
Other 'new words' slightly less jaw-breaking and, in fact, useful in building up good diction and usage among students are : 'irks' , 'aghast', 'chagrin' , 'caustically' , 'buddy' , 'impetuous decision', 'impish delight', 'bowed glumly' and 'a shoeblack'
Despite these rather unflattering observations, it has to be admitted that language is actually one of the strong points of Ola Rotimi. He captures the English pidgin more accurately than a number of his contemporaries (like Cyprian Ekwensi in Jagua Nana or Wloe Soyinka in The Road) Ola Rotimi was evidently very close to the grassroots. In addition, he has absolute mastery of the English language and appears to have some knowledge of Arabic. The stage directions taken together make the play assume the complexion of a powerfully desriptive short story. The linguistic miscegnation accurately reflects the reality of the urban Nigerian language situation. All the characters speak the language appropriate to their class and background. They speak very naturally, with lots of realistic digressions and interjections that create strong make-believe:
LEJOKA-BROWN: I'm directing the campaigns...
[Barks out an after-thought at SIKIRA]
Are you there? Stout beer, woman -- stout beer. Two.
[To Okonkwo]
Stout beer is good for the heart! Dem say. Now, I'm
directing my party campaigns myself. How?
Speech mannerisms as 'Are you there?'nd 'No more no less' (Madam Ajanaku) apart from generating humour, help in characterization. Ajanaku's pidgin-language-of-the-illiterate is realistically created (Act II Sc. V)
However, but htis is by the way, there is an unusually high numbe rof rditorial infelicities: exists for exits (pp 13, 29, 42, 43) waitng Mama Rashida as waitng Rashida (p.9) missing 'c' in cablegram (p.8) what does she known (p.5) Lekoja-Brown (p. vii) should have explain (p.9) memoria ceremonies (p. 15) bitting for biting (p.21) sturned (p. 36) sunsheaths for unsheaths (p. 37) drawing his work out (p.39) die cow (p. 66)
Theatrical Competence
There is no doubt that Ola Rotimi is a very theatrically competent playwright. His professional qualifications are in this field and it shows in skillful way he generates an atmosphere of comedy rigth from the beginning of the play till the end. The play opens with a spectacular procession accompanied with music. Sikira is then introduced pulling faces as she eats an orange 'listlessly'. Immediately after this, the amusingly contrasting Lejoka-Brown and Okonkwo actually drill-march in, singing and jesting. Ex-serviceman Lejoka-Brown pops up comically at the mention of his name. He then goes into full military morning exercises. The atmosphere of humour and levity is palpable.
The characters come clear as caricaturistic exaggerations. Polycarp's dressing is amusingly ludicrous. The characters regularly make use of amusing exclamations and ideophones. Probably unintended, almost every prayer in this play, whether traditional (p. 25) Arabic (p. 27) or Catholic (p. 26) is humorous (pages cited in the absence of lines) Pert and sarcastic Sikira generates a kind of branded interest and humour. Note her, ' Who is Allah bringing-o?' in Act I Sc. I. Her naivety, the near-dramatic-irony and the intonation in this example all combine to create irresistible humour. When she later throws all self-control to the winds during the quarrel with Liza and lets out a string of animal imagery, the hilarity becomes rib-cracking.
The comic tempo is sustained all through, through Lejoka-Brown's amusing utterances (p.6) his inaccuracies ( Belgian bullets in his thigh then belly) his incogruities (pp 8&9) exaggerations (p. 56) his anger whenever corned and transferred aggresiion (pp. 10, 11, airport scane) consternations (especially, again, the airport scene) tantrums (p. 36) wild gesticulations then his rawness and half-education (pp. 35, 37, 39, 42, 43). Then, there are Alhaji Mustapha's sanctimonious gimmics and narration of his decision to refrain from fighting against the demolition squad (p. 16) There is also Liza's sarcasm (pp. 22, 37)
The play is action-packed in a studied and deliberate way. The several dramatic bits show careful craftsmanship..Sikira's pertness is not demonstrated in words alone; she actually spits on stage in disgust and drops a pouffe hard to cause distress. Mama Rashida, surprised by Liza, actually freezes dramatically, halting her 'half-attempt to blow her smoke-harassed nose into the raised lower lip of her wrapper'. There is Lejoka-Brown's attempt to hold Liza as she storms past in the final scene. He bumps his foot against a chair and hops to a settee. Then there is, of course, his crazy war dance, his mock attack on an imaginary army into which he forces a bewildered Liza. There are several other dramatic actions. There is Mama Rashida's abortive furtive arrangement of the living room while Liza's back was turned. There are squawking chicken, an over-active shoe-shiner, an orange girl who becomes dumbfounded as Okonkwo uses her to illustrate a special kissing technique.
It would be noticed too how, very deftly, the conversation between Liza and Sikira goes on naturally as the latter tries a new dress on her. When Sikira talks of women forming a party, she goes on to demonstrate it, tearing off a poster from the wall and marching and singing. After Lejoka-Brown dramatically sneaks in on Sikira a real physical fight ensures between him and Liza. There is a news conference complete with flashing cameras, which ends in a hold-up. The play is, thus, full of action, both elaborate and minute. Everything is taken in by the playwright's whollistic cinematic eye.
Finally, there are the dramatic ends of a number of the scenes. At the end of Act II Sc. II, a spotlight focuses on a Sikira who has not been part of the recent action as she sarcastically echoes Lejoka-Beown, 'You're different', as if she were some kind of Chorus. The play ends in a similar dramatic fashion with Lejoka-Brown sighing out, 'The world has come to an end' as lights fade. There is the dramatic revelation to Liza of Mama Rashida as co-wife at the end of Act I Sc. III. Also, at the end of Act I Sc. V, the quarelling couple stand eye-ball to eye-ball and Liza hisses out, 'We shall see!'. These dramatic endings show Ola Rotimi as a sharp and witty dramatist.
Themes
The major theme of this play, of course, is the inappropriateness of the phenomenon of soldiers aiming to transform into statemen on retirement in African politics. But the question of the enslavement and illtreatment of women is alaos broachd (especially through Sikira) A swipe is also taken at Islamic conservatism just as the mania for titles in the Nigerian polity is moch-heriocally presented (Act I Sc. IV) There is the noncommital presentation of the demolition of illegal structures.
Students are, however, advised to concentrate in their study of this play, on issues of style, as already stressed in class.
Lessons 8 & 9
THE WIVES' REVOLT -- J.P. CLARK
Coming to this play from Ola Rotimi's action-packed sensational farce, this equally farcical comedy is, however, more a drama of mental pictures than it is an imitation of significant action. Like a radio play, it depends quite heavily on 'the extension of our sense of hearing' (Mclluhan) than on the exercise of our sense of seeing. Ideally, theatre is an audio-visual medium. The female protest march in the penultimate scene would definitely have been more dramatic and as such more effective had it been staged before our very eyes. Knowing the theatrical difficulties this would entail, however, the playwright reports the event through a character, Koko. The sounds of protest, it would be obvious, would have to be carried or broadcast to the audience mechanically. Possibly because of the inadequacies of such broadcast medium, the playwright makes Koko recite to us the words of the protest chant.
This is not to say that there are no very dramatic episodes in the play. The penultimate scene, in fact, is where the play truly comes alive for the first time, especially with the physical fight between Okoro and his wife. There is also the very effective visual of Okoro in the fourth Movement carrying a baby on his back. The problem here, however, would be how to make the baby act and cry according to script, except, again, we would have to resort to the use of a mechanical medium. One cannot help imagining that the play would have been a lot more effective if the playwright had adopted an Athol-Fugard-style narrative monologue interspersed with illustrative skits, a simulation of the television documentary. With the number of folkloric songs in this play (an asset) it would also have been possible for the playwright to adopt the Anansesem motif. As it is, however, the playwright relies heavily on dialogue which easily becomes unnatural as he forces in extraneous reference after extraneous reference without due regard for conversational coherence. This is the only way our playwright is able to bring in so many themes in such a short play. A list of the themes, which are mostly verbally-asserted rather than enacted, is given below, after an enunciation of the major one.
Major Theme: Need for Female-Gender Respect
The primary theme is the unsavoury consequences of the traditional condonation of gender discrimination in African societies. The events here reenacted are true history but have, ofcourse, been creatively remoulded to succinctly convey the social lessons intended. An oil company had given monetary compensation to the Erhuwaren community for the despoilment of their land through oil exploration. The money was shared into three parts: one part to the elders, one part to the males and the third part to the females. The females, led by the wives, felt that the sharing was unfair, since all the elders were males (females, no matter how old they become are not admisable to the elders council) They protested this inequity so stridently in a public meeting. that when three men testified before the elders that their wives had started turning into goats to harass law-abiding townfolk, they were believed. Rather than appease the aggrieved women, therefore, the town rulership responded by banning all goats (a domestic animal mostly owned by women while men owned pigs) from the town. The women, therefore, decided to march in protest through a number of Ughievwen clan towns and ended up in Eyara, a traditional rival town in the creation of Udje satiric songs. While the protest lasted, the men had to do all the domestic work, including childcare. In the end, the men learnt the importance of the role of women in society and agreed to share the compensation equally with the womenfolk and, in addition, pay compensation to them. The obnoxious law was also repealed.
The story teaches that women are indispensible in society and ought to be treated with respect. The dialogues of Koko and her male-chauvinistic husband help to place in pejorative light a lot of the traditional African attitudes to women and women affairs. Early and polygamous marriages are implicity criticized (IV, pp. 26 & 36)) That the women are accused of withcraft is significant since this is the same manner in which women in African societies are unjustly targeted during witch-hunts. The listing of female chores in Movement III show the subordination of women in society. Although the fire-making and water-fetching difficulties of Okoro and Idama are farcical, they do illustrate the importance of women in the African home. Their inevitability is make most clear when Okoro asks the crying baby he is backing if it wants to be breast-fed. and proceeds to rave at the poor child accusing it of failing to realize that 'those with full breasts' have walked out of town ((IV, p. 26) (These instances, also, however, show that there is need for basic survival skills among men in African societies) The continuous reference to old girls (an attempt by the playwright to translate the pejorative 'emetogbe') indicates that there is a high rate of divorce in the society. Koko is used to very effectively describe and upbraid the injustice of African divorce, which discountenances all the contributions the wife has made to the building of the home as she is usually sent parking without alimony (V, p.51) In fact, her bride price has to be refunded by her family! . Adultery attracts for the female threat of death by cutlass (V, p. 41) while it is condoned for males (II, p.12) The norm in African matrimony appears to be discontentment, bickering and recriminations (IV, p. 25). The in-laws do not help matters, being given to unconditional negative regard and expectations (III) These various examples and issues should be brought up and exhaustively treated during group study discussions, drawing, especially, on traditional experience.
Other Themes (Not dramatically demonstrated and as such ephemeral and journalistic in value):
1. Oil explorational devastation of the land: Koko makes reference to land turned-up into pits and mounds 'like a place oil companies have passed through in search of new fields' (II) Pollution of the waters mean that the imported iced fish has replaced the natural fresh fish even among traditional fishing societies (II) Despite the despoilation, the oil money goes to Nigerian capitals far from the oil fields (II, VI) The compensations paid to the local communities are so little they cannot build schools or roads (p.60) and, as we see in this play, often cause tragic splits. Prof. G.G. Darah who specializes in the oral literature of this area, in a conversation, points out the unfortunate case of an Urhobo clan where a four-million-Naira compensation led to the beheading of the traditional ruler and bitter internicine conflict.
2. Currupt acquisition of traditional honorary titles (II, IV, p.33)
3. Unhygeinic preparation of garri (a staple food)
4. Filthiness of Lagos
5. Superstition (II, IV, p.33)
6. Domestic issues
Language
The language of this play is highly figurative. The playwright puts in the mouths of his rural characters a lot of striking similes appropriately drawn from the local flora and fauna:
1. Ants are aptly descibed as able to move big objects, though mute, while flies (women in this context) despite all their noise cannot move anything (II, p. 11)
2. Okoro says he wont be picked up by the tail like some wet rat out of a sewer (II, p12)
3. Okoro describes the fish in his mouth as 'soft as water-yam in oil'(II, p. 3))
Other examples are:
4. 'what they fed their guests on couldn't fill the belly of an eel' (IV, p. 34)
5. 'walking like a hen that has just laid' (V, p.38)
6. 'hotter than pepper taken by the Ijaw with palm wine' (V, p.41)
7. 'Words break in your mouth as an unripe banana (V, p.48)
There are other striking usages as when Okoro says the females if they protest to the capital would be 'snuffed out as so many spluttering candles' (II, p.15) and a few queer ones as 'watch your mouth' (II) , 'Nobody called you a tell-tale' (II) and Koko who reportedly 'bobs' while serving the husband water (II, p. 14)
Editorial
Koko is erroneously presented as Idama in page 44 and as Okoro in page 46.
Lesson 10
THEATRE AND DRAMA IN EDUCATION -- Adumbrated from Umukoro's text recommended above.
By 'Drama in Education' we mean the utilization of the techniques of drama, teacher-synoptic play scripts or student-improvisations in the reinforcement of formal (School) and informal (Social) education. We will use the term drama in this note as referential both to drama and to theatre, for convenience. Education is any process utilized by a community or society to socialize her citizens with the aim of generating relatively permanent positive alteration of perception and conduct. In 'Drama in Education', learners are made to act in little skits aimed at illustrating a taught concept. The concept could be in any discipline, such as Physics, Chemistry or English Language. Many language situational drills, for example, come within this classification. In short, as Umukoro aptly puts it, 'It is a method of teaching where students are made to act roles'
From this definition, it would be clear that one of the primary functions of Drama in Education is the aiding of the learning of other subjects. At the informal level, drama's encouragement of improvisation enhances learners' skills for survival. This is especially the case where a teacher makes stadents discuss the roles acted by them, the reasons for their actions and the consequences, after their presentations. A third function of drama in Education is its development of the sense of imagination and creativity. This sense is enhanced naturally as learners exercise it in the reproduction of examplars of life. This also leads to intellectual development as whatever is learnt is cognized at a much deeper and experiential level. Experience, it is often said, is the best teacher. The need to memorize speeches would also lead to the strenghtening of the powers of concentration, which is part of intellectual development. A fifth function is the building of confidence, effective social communication and better inter-personal relations in students as they take part in the collaborative exercises. This is closely linked with drama production's usefulness in developing tolerance, co-operation and general emotional stability due to participants' exposure to team work and its fruits.
It is for this reason too that participation is seen to enhance students' planning and evaluation skills. This is possibly a separate and sixth function. Umukoro makes the point that drama in Education teaches us about our culture and social values. This is probably a seventh function, the hesitation here being only that drama in Education would serve in this role only for specific subjects such as Religious Studies, Social Studies, Literature and so on. It is in this light that one also sees a possibly eighth function: that of language development. Not only would students' lexis be expanded, verbal fluency and enhanced self-expression would naturally follow. Ninth and finally, Drama in Education enhances psychomotoric development. Not only does action speak louder than words, practice, it is commonly acknowledged, makes perfect. When theories are enacted physically the psychomotoric domain is exercised and the learned experience retained in the long-term memory.
ANNOUNCEMENT
CA scores would be available by next week on this site. Regrets are hereby sincerely expressed for the delay.