When Akin Olayiwola, a young avant-garde lecturer of theater with the performing arts department decided to establish a performing troupe on campus, it seemed the long-dreamed independence for out-of-class theater had come at last. And when I got a wind that he was going to stage a play at the mini campus auditorium of the university in Ago-Iwoye, the 'theater man' in me leapt for an unprecedented joy; the joy that at long last, the culture
of extra-curricular theater was at its dawn at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU). My joy had a reason.
Some years back as a freshman on campus, I was overwhelmed with the ambition of making a mark with my Go
d-given talent
as a theater artiste. This was despite the fact that there was yet to be a theater arts department in the university; furthermore that I was studying Mass Communication, the curriculum of which had no room for anything like theater.
Largely because of my ambition, I was easily drawn to anything and anyone that had a facelook of theater. Along the line, I met two other undergrads who shared my zeal; Femi Sanyaolu and Oreofe Williams who were both students in the English studies department. At that time -like I said-, there was nothing like theater on any of the campuses that constituted the OOU, save for the compulsory theater workshop taken by 2nd year students of the English department as a two-unit course. This definitely sustained the interest
of both Femi and Williams.
The three of us pulled resources together and started a 'professional' theater troupe on campus. We raised a team of equally talented artistes from other departments and faculties in the university, and together commenced a 'campus theater revolution'. Our overriding objective was to always give a dose of dramas, songs, dances and other genres of theatrics to the university community, thereby adding to the fun that proverbially make 'school-life, the best'. We sort of wanted to
enact on our own campus, what had more or less became a culture in OAU, UI, UNILAG and the rest o
f them.
From the pittance that made our respective individual pocket money, we raised funds to print posters, tickets and run aggressive awareness for our assiduously-rehearsed theatrics. We observed sleepless nights rehearsing our programs, all in spite of our primary assignment of going for classes...that means our studies really suffered.
As far as our colleagues outside theater and the arts in general were concerned, we were a group of frustrated campus clowns without any sense of 'BIG-BOYism' that had engulfed the average Nigerian student. This was because on most occasions, we went round campus on costumes -both antiquated and the tattered ones- creating awareness. Our friends could not come to term with our so-strong a zeal and 'blind' involvement in theater. I recollect with nostalgia on one occasion when we were running awareness for the popular EFUNSETAN ANIWURA play, written by the erudite Prof. Akinwunmi Isola. Because of the setting and plot of the play, some of us (playing the roles of slaves in the story) had to adore the costumes of slaves, which our costumeer designed from local bean-sacs.
Incidentally, one Bolaji Fakeye-Lawal, who was a famed 'fine boy' on campus, was to play the role of Itawuyi, the lead slave in the play. As such, he was supposed to wear the slaves' costumes all around the campus.
Before setting out for the awareness, we all saw BJ (as he was popularly called) quite all right in our midst preparing for the awareness, but on getting to campus, we realized that BJ was 'missing'! We therefore concluded, unanimously that BJ was definitely too timid to tour the campus with us on a 'tattered apo-ewa (bean-sac)'. The incident really showed how 'blinded' some of us were to the 'shame' of campus theater.
But like an 'abiku' who turned the village priest to a liar, our efforts at bringing students out of their various hostels to see our plays proved futile. Not even our digitally separated colour posters could do the magic as our theatrics were often presented before almost-empty auditoriums.
Save for productions like 'the festival of rain' and 'never again', no other play of ours could record a full-auditorium attendance!
We rolled out all weapons in our arsenal to make students see why going to the theater was productive, but it seemed we were hewing corn into a basket without a base. Even some of our artistes were discouraged that they left the troupe running after 'waka-pass' roles in Nollywood movies.
Why are things not working right for us? Perhaps it was because there was yet to be a theater arts department in the school, we'd thought.
So, when the university started a diploma course in performing arts, we heaved a sigh of relief. And truly, the departmental plays usually attracted high and encouraging turn-out. May be this was what motivated Mr. Akin Olayiwola, whom we fondly call 'Broda Akin' to start a troupe, independent of his department to engage in both on and off-campus commercial productions. Pronto, he had started rehearsing 'dance of a sacred foot', an ultramodern stage play for presentation on campus.
Learning about the plan in the pipe gave me and some other colleagues a respite. We hoped the dawn had finally come. Our expectation was hinged on the fact that broad Akin was a lecturer and with his acumen, he should be able to attract a full-auditorium audience for his play.
How wrong we were proved when even Broda Akin could not command a full-auditorium for his play, despite a 4-day repeated show! Who blames him? Students in OOU prefer unproductive frivolities to educative and informative theater! It pains me to the marrow each time I meet colleagues from Ife, Ibadan or Lag telling me of their theatrical exploits in their various campuses. I keep wondering whether the time would ever come in OOU when OOUites would start to appreciate and encourage literary efforts like stage plays... I dream of a time when theater-going would be a fad ahead of disco parties in OOU.
