History as drama:
A brief review of Ola Rotimi’s OVONRAMWEN NOGBAISI
By Enebeli Japhet Chukwuma
Published on SUNDAY VANGUARD, August 26, 2007, Page 46 on the festival of drama performance by the Department of Theatre Arts, Delta State University, Abraka.
Recently, the Department of Theatre Arts, Delta State University, had a stage performance of late Ola Rotimi’s historical drama, Ovonramwen Nogbaisi. This dramatic bulletin provides an insight of that stage moment.
In Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, Ola Rotimi displays the beauty of tradition and the high drama of conflicting cultures through a medley of articulate language and strong dramaturgy. The play depicts the pride and deity of the “Obaship” of the Benin race at a very crucial period in the Kingdom’s history.
An entertaining and educative play, Ovonramwen Nogbaisi shows the resplendence of Bini culture, the power of the Oba, the ambition of the British traders as well as the conquests and trials of Benin and her royalty.
Play Synopsis:
Colonial masters driven by their thirst for breakthroughs in the transatlantic trade exploits especially in the delta trade strip and contempt for the tradition of the “natives” went into Benin against all warnings barring aliens from entering the land for a period of time. They were faced with the law and tradition of the Bini people. In a bid to protect the holy “Ague” festival now being contaminated by the white intruders, Bini warriors killed them putting the kingdom and the government of Britain on collision course.
In retaliation, the British launched a fatal and punitive expeditionary action that saw the collapse of the once domineering empire leading to unimaginable human and material loss. It’s the darkest moment of the Benin Empire which was then ruled by the revered god-king himself Ovonramwen Nogbaisi.
