Review
The one-and-a-half virtual engagement with Prof Wole Soyinka, mostly muffled for the audience at the back of the auditorium, was meant to prepare the audience for the visually-arresting guerilla musical titled “The Wheels of Justice.” The new play written by the revered Nobel Laureate was directed by Tunde Awosanmi to an audience gathered in commemoration of Pyrates’ Confraternity’s 70th anniversary at the Agip Hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan Lagos.
Starting with the narrator technique, the biographical drama captures the humanistic framework upon which Pyrates’ Confraternity was founded at the University of Ibadan where Soyinka was an undergraduate student. Through the plot development, the misconstrued role of Soyinka as a catalyst for campus cultism was carefully demystified. Without the knowledge of history, many have blamed Soyinka for the ruthless phenomenon in many campuses. Whereas the play demonstrates how Pyrates’ Confraternity was formed as a response to corruption, oppressive regimes, elitist structures and abuse of human rights.
In the directorial interpretation of the play, the entire Confraternity is portrayed as a guerilla force in disguise using activism in the form of sieges, rallies, charity causes, Lectures Series, Town Hall Meetings, Street Kids’ Project and gyrating sessions.
The Wheels of Justice is yet another brilliant interplay of sarcasm and satire by the playwright to address socio-political as well as cultural issues in our contemporary society. Although the drama is set in colonial Nigeria, a parallel is seen in the subject matters raised then and now in the polity.
Awosanmi, in his directorial note observed that the author has not only created Pyrates as characters and inserted them into the plot of the drama but has clarified the major strategy of the Pyrates- protest.
With a set design executed by master fine artist, Olu Ajayi who also doubled as the event’s moderator, the performance was a renaissance of sorts in its technical interpretation. Instead of using the usual digital backdrop adopted by most musical productions, the one-tier stage design was a convenient multi-scenic production that gave the audience a befitting spectacle. The constant ant-like motion of the Pyrates on stage through the stairs and downstage is illustrative of their action against injustice of the time.
However, a major challenge with this stage design is the constraint of replicating this visual dynamics in an actual guerilla theatre performance. Instead of replicating this, a rare degree of ingenuity would be used to excite the audience.
Aside from the few anti-climatic lengths of the songs infused with the drama, the performance conveyed the youthful vigour and the spirit of brotherhood permeating the Pyrates. The auditorium echoed with the sound of drums as a handful of the audience sang along to some of the songs.
In consonance with its obvious thematic preoccupation, The Wheels of Justice is a dramatic exhibition of comradeship- the kind required to ward off oppression and build a great nation.
-Written by Yinka Olatunbosun, a culture journalist.
