Moremi in RSV mode

I have decided to dedicate all my available resources to appreciating and critically appraising every work of art I am privileged to see, from Drama to Dance, Music, Poetry, Television and Film. These are core genres that confronts us boldly and I sincerely appreciate the exceeding progress so far. On the 1st of march 2009 I had the honours of seeing Ayo Arigbagbu and Crown troupe's abridged version of Moremi which they titled Moremi RSV.

The performance opened with the sonorous voices of the sensational Nefertiti as their soulful voices rent the air. This was a prelude to the documentary piece titled Bariga Boy - a topic for another day. Some talented kids thrilled the audience with the Apeja dance before the play opened.

The play centers round Queen Moremi Ajasoro,  a figure of high significance in the history of the Yoruba's of southwest Nigeria. She hailed from Ile ife, a town that was being incessantly attacked by the adjoining Ugbo (not to be confused with the Igbo people).

The story of Moremi, a beautiful woman of the ancient Ile-Ife in Osun State, predates the pre-colonial era. Her people were being subjected to constant raiding by the Ugbos, as a punishment by their gods for some evil. After several sacrifices were made to appease their god and abate the raiding failed, Moremi in an altruistic act, decided to allow herself to be captured by their oppressors in order to learn their secret.

Bidding farewell to her people, she went to the river goddess, promising to sacrifice to her if her plot turned out successful. Due to her beauty and intelligence, she was given to the king for a wife in her land of captivity.

On discovering that their invaders whom they (the Ifes) thought to be gods were humans, she escaped back to her people to leak the secret of their victory. As the Ugbos came back to attack them as usual, the Ifes put forward a counter-attack and defeated them. To make true her promise, she returned to the river goddess, who demanded for nothing else but her only son, Olurogbo. Bereaved, she had no other choice than to consent.

Segun Adefila daunted the flames of convention by launching into the avante-Gard world of post-modernism . Segun Adefila's interpretation of Moremi is best described in Martin Irvine's definition of postmodernism; 

'a cultural, intellectual, or artistic state lacking a clear central hierarchy or organizing principle and embodying text, in a way that is often indistinguishable from a parody of itself. It has given rise to charges of fraud's complexity, contradiction, ambiguity, diversity, interconnectedness or interference with reality'

It takes artistic courage and a great amount of creative energy to subvert an historical piece such as Moremi and I must say, that is a feat in  itself. In Adefila's evocative performance, hip-hop, reggae, jazz and soul were blended with other traditional forms like percussion and local drums.The Ifa priest consults the oracle via the Internet while the warriors make phone calls to their gods requesting for more arms and at some point they run out of credit. 

The audience found interesting the infusion of contemporary songs into the play. Olu-orogbo woos his lover singing 'Fall in love' by D'banj and instead of dying in the end resurrects and finds himself in the magnificent city of new York in the United States of America dancing to hip-hop music.The praise singer to the king ends his chant with the popular hip-hop tune by DJ zeez;

...orie .....

orie ..........

o fokasibe

Warrior movements have been replaced with popular dance-styles such as alanta,yahooze and some pop and lock moves. Some Fuji Accapela was rendered in the course of the play.

The theme and bane of Arigbagbu's play was however not sacrificed for Adefila's post-modernist ideas. The audience could decipher the travails of the Ife people and Moremi's misadventure and latter victory.

The post modernist twist also included use of costumes as Moremi had on a pair of glasses,Obatala re-incarnates as a doctor chauffeured in ambulance with his stethoscope . I love the conversion of the Igbo (A tribe in Nigeria) to Igbo (Indian hemp) a clever play on words-the same Igbo becomes the archilles heel that destroyed the Igbo empire - a Fela piece would done some good to the interpretation of this inclusion.

Crown troupe's theatre is an example of culture adapting to simulation, theatre and the visual media becoming undifferentiated equivalent forms, simulation and real-time media substituting for the real.The big question however is this; should Adefila substitute his guerrilla and total theatre approach for a different post modernist concept? I saw actors battling with the delivery of lines and the interpretation of language. Should a post-modernist convert attempt to marry realism and absurd ism? I would have adored a full-fledged total theatre approach to Moremi RSV.

We should have seen a full exploration of mime, music and dance in the realization of Arigbabu's play script. There was just a little bit of spectacle here and there and sparks of electrifying moments.

Once I saw a post-modernist interpretation of OBA KOSO, play on the legendary Oyo king, warrior and magician at the University of Ibadan Arts Theatre. Sango appeared in suit and his two warriors were clad in camouflage military outfits with their machine guns and sophisticated weapons.Sango would spit fire from his mouth but this sango has a remote control with which he dished out fire and brimstone. His wives were smartly clad in trendy outfits while the plot and theme of the were driven through the music of Fela and Lagbaja.

For some reason Adefila suspended his practical theory of electrifying performances, which were always interlaced with music, dance, mime and rich poetry for some mixture of elegant delivery of lines. I found some adlibs and improvisation tending towards slapstick, the emphatic piont is that, we saw less of Crown troupe's blueprint of an all round performnace. The performance could have passed as a splendid Moremi musical and dance drama. They would have explored more popular songs, more dance performances for the warrior scenes and a clearly dosmeticated style of speaking.

I wanted to be wowed with the use of more contemporary costumes,light design,props and musical instruments - i saw half measures. I just wanted a clean departure from previous versions of the Moremi material but that didn't resonate. What ever happened to crown troupe's unique style of dazzling its audience with dance routines and witty delivery of lines blended with upbeat and tempo riddled music? I am sure the audience kept looking out for that connection between the old and the new,which is what I think post-modernism is all about. 

Overall the audience got a dose of a new form beckoning for attention; the absurd theatre in post-mordern fashion. The performance was moderately satisfactory with raging applause from the audience when the right connection was made. In their usual mode Crown troupe brought on their special technique involving quality music rendition,interesting dance patterns and mime. It is surely the begining of better days for the theatre,saying to the African Theatre:

''lets take the new media to the theatre,lets bring the old wine and pour it in the new wine,mix it with some other new wine brands so that the deadly theatre can come alive''. 

Kudos crown troupe!