Ebo Whyte’s latest production, Forbidden, is a masterpiece of a Trojan Horse. Before it gets very
far, the production shoots itself in the foot with the same tropes that allude
to Ebo Whyte being referred to as the ‘Tyler Perry of Ghana’, ie, you’re sure
to be preached at, you get an annoying break out into song at every damn corner
(Hey, look! This table is red! Let’s sing about it!), a plot that often seems
absentminded, but you also get great actors, a riveting beginning, a creative
use of interludes (gotta love the use of the human furniture) and that is where
it ends.
Plot
synopsis:
‘Bad boy;’ Kwaku Kodua aka Junior wants to marry
Church Girl to please his parents. What makes Junior ‘bad’? Don’t worry, he
hasn’t murdered anyone, neither does he have psychotic fantasies to do so. He
just loves to enjoy his alcohol, smoke the occasional joint, and basically have
every day conversation and soak in life while he lives it. His love interest,
on the other hand, Hilda, speaks in naïve parables, is so ‘good’ she doesn’t
have human emotions and is exactly the reason why overzealous Christians might
resemble hypnotized zombies.
But despite the preachy tone Ebo Whyte can’t seem to
dissociate from his theatre, the conflict presented is intriguing! How will
little Miss Goody Two Shoes and sexy, Knight in devil’s armour court? How will
their relationship develop? With two such ‘opposing forces’, which force will
win over the other? The classic case of Good versus Evil, a trope that never
tires because humanity is OBSSESSED with all the mysteries that lie in that
very charged space.
So obviously being a human caught under that spell,
the conflict thoroughly intrigued me. I had picked sides and bet on the good
girl to go not just bad but dangerously baad (say it with a twang). In this, I
say a huge Kudos to the scriptwriter. Previous conflicts in Ebo Whyte
productions are mostly as riveting. They may not make me sit on the edge of my
seat, but I’m definitely eager to watch how it pans out.
And that’s where the Trojan horse opens its secret
latch and our senses are ambushed, never to come back, panting hard on the
beach after an incredulous slap and you no longer know what your name is.
[Spoiler
alert in case you didn’t catch it and are hoping Ebo Whyte will bring it back
again before his December Festival of plays] : The perfectly good tale
moves to higher levels of intrigue with little Miss Churchy surprising him on
their wedding night. She teaches her worldly husband not a few, but a lot of things about lovemaking he
didn’t know, so much that it scares him out of their honeymoon bed. He shivers
with a joint on the balcony, not sure whether he had just been violated or not,
when his ‘crife’ wife comes to join him. Turns out she smokes Mary Jane like
she IS Mary Jane. And not only that, she knows where to get the good stuff
(Jamaican accent thrown into the bargain).
Thus the plot thickens. How does little Miss Churchy turn in to badgal
Riri in one night? My excitement level here was at its peak. Having won over
90% of my skepticism, I believed the play was going to take me to a fantastic
crescendo where I would be left screaming my applause like a mad woman.
But then it dropped. It dropped so hard my bottom
still aches from the pain. Hilda launched into a long unbelievable tale about
falling on hard times, being a prostitute in Ghana, then dealing in cocaine,
she ends up in prison in the USA for drug trafficking, is giving a second chance
in the States, and somehow she comes back to Ghana and has to ‘hustle on the
streets’ and blah blah blah. A convoluted back story so stuffed to death the
turkey rotted before it was cooked. The scriptwriter, in an attempt to explain
the groundbreaking crescendo he brought his audience to, couldn’t live up to
the peak he had created and sold us some mishmash as though we were 7 yr olds
listening to an Ananse story.
Why
Forbidden is not what Ghanaian theatre
needs right now
1.
It is Preachy. And not in the most
innovative ways. Theatre is escapism. It is about delving into human nature as
expressed in the newest, oddest, interesting ways the artist can interpret
human life for his\her audience. I do not want to be reminded at every turn of
a word, or story plot, or actor’s gesture that I have to be ‘a good Christian sister’.
Even if that is your aim, sneak it up on me with some pizzazz. Don’t preach it
at me. I can go to church for that.
2.
Am I the only one who feels like my
intelligence was underrated when I watched this play? See the Ananse story
above. C’mon! I’m at least a little
bit smarter than that!
3.
Ebo Whyte productions are
unarguably the biggest theatre productions in the country. Yet for such a massive
command of the Ghanaian Theatre scene, Ebo Whyte productions do not rouse a
healthy competition to encourage others to break artistic boundaries, to move
from the box of being locally relevant, yet globally irrelevant. That is what art
should be about, no? To break rules, to discover new ways of talking about old
things, and to elevate human thought.
But a disclaimer must be added here. Ebo Whyte is
simply a product of his society, something each and every one of us is without
it ever being our fault. It happens simply because we are born into society and come to meet its
strictures. Ghanaian society is a conservative religious society and this, most
times, can serve as chains which stifle creativity. Faced with this inevitable challenge, a
Ghanaian artist must teach himself or herself to acknowledge this societal
obstacle, and try to break free from it. Only then will our artistic wings soar
so high even the sun cannot stop us.
Other
news on the theatre scene:
1. The
Accra Theatre Workshop run by Elisabeth Sutherland, granddaughter of renowned
playwright and Ghanaian icon Efua Sutherland, is a space you should watch out
for. I have seen the push in artistic boundaries with this young lady’s
productions and learnt a few things about experimental theatre in the process!
Follow them on twitter @accratheatre for updates on the upcoming productions.
2. The
Heritage Theatre Series production, Wogbej3ke:
The Birth of a Nation, showed last weekend at the national theatre. Twitter
was agog with praise at this production which did an excellent job of merging
dance, theatre, poetry and music to tell the relevant story of Ghana’s history.
A much more lively option than the boring history books if you ask me.
Hopefully, by popular request, it will show again soon!
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