Ikechi’s Covenant: Reviving theatre culture

“I know that by now you would see me though judgmental eyes. The woman that tore [his] family apart …. Ikechi was a wounded man. …. I was always there to listen. It was one of those times, in the cool of the evening I asked him the question ….”

Immediately Ikechi told Aweke (dramatised by Maryann Chinonso Amakor) the secret to his power, he became powerless to her, the warriors who came to gouge out his eyes and her brother: Akpambo (Stanley Okeke), who master-minded his downfall.

Sounds like a familiar story? Ikechi’s Covenant ‘“is a Igbo traditional stage— [a 450 to 500-seater hall]—play of the biblical story of Samson … told creatively to mirror societal issues as love, loyalty, betrayal, … told via drama, songs and dance.’ It is a story where Ebube (Paul Nnadiekwe), Ikechi’s brother won a war that Ikechi—the mighty warrior—couldn’t win.

Does knowing the climax, end immediately turn you off? ‘A study found that when audiences knew the ending of a story, they reported lower levels of emotional arousal and engagement … boredom and disengagement,’ says an Artificial Intelligent (A.I) software, I consulted. The audience didn’t get bored. A stroll showed them still glued. I could hear them sigh: ‘Awwwnn!’ to the Ebube’s love conversation with Ndidi and act like they were characters by talking back (‘you no well’, ‘’think’ kini’) to Ikechi, when he said: ‘do you ever still think of me?’ to Ndidi, the now pregnant wife of Ebube. (And if the audience loved it, cased closed).

The twists, narration, new tensions, type of dialogue, use of both technology/A.I screen background, contemporary music and dance, the romantic lines and dare I say, maybe, not informing them it was an adaptation got them glued. Twists included a (thematic) crafted contemporary and traditional dance, to shift a little the story’s tone and challenge the audience’s expectations. It was so well sold, that one would believe the biblical Samson danced Egwu Ota and Atilogwu both traditional Igbo dances in regards his courting Delilah (Aweke), alongside tango which appealed to the audience.

It extended into a love scene on how Ikechi stupidly lost a courageous would-be wife (Ndidi) to his brother Ebube. (Yes, yes! He won the number one war any man would want to win: ‘the heart of a woman!’ A Nigerian woman for that matter!!) She had done all she could to win Ikechi’s heart. In fact, she had won it, only for Itoro then Aweke (both from enemy camp of Ogbeguru village) to snatch it. The question: ‘would a fight happen between the brothers?’ must have lingered in the audience’s mind. They needed to stay tuned.

This approach to captivating the audience in ‘cinema [and] theatre culture’ sectors (that according to Temisan Ikomi (the director, writer and Papa Ikechi): ‘[have] dropped [in attendance] and have been struggling post-Covid’) required investigation, thus questions to both him and Tobenna Amechi the producer via his outfit: Wise Visuals.

There are several approaches and theories to passing a message in a drama. How much of it, did you use and which?

Temisan Ikomi: [To tell the] story [I] changed the setting, names, monologues, every day dialogues, dance, songs and language, so that it can appeal to young and old.

Tell about fusing western to traditional?

Temisan Ikomi: To make it relatable. As Africans we believe in stories … have a communal life. [As regards Western influences], I believe that the world is changing. We can represent Africa, put Western vices like the songs and instrumentation with African undertones … because we have a younger generation so that as [we] sell the African culture … we have to add music they can recognise—electronic music—so it [appeals to] both the [older generation] who are deep into culture, ancestry, to carry everybody along.

Is it norm or something you invented?

Temisan Ikomi: There’s no idea that is absolute new. I won’t say I invented it but is something that…came from watching musicals—African and Western. When it comes to art, there’s always a fusion. An example: we see Ankara [and] our local Aso-oke in New York Fashion Week. The world is embracing the African culture and putting it on the global stage. [In art] there are no rules anymore, the lines are blurred. People are beginning to invent new things. People are beginning to have collaboration with Afrobeat and Rock music/pop. To tell our stories to [a wider global audience], we need to have more innovative ways… without losing our Africanism.

Why produce this play?

Tobenna Amechi: I have been in theatre [for a long time.] …. dance, acted, music videos. Under Alien Nation, as a member, we produced Ikechi’s Covenant, Mad King; The Minister’s Wife. I have worked with artistes like Nikki Laoye and Tim Godfrey. So, it’s easy to want to produce this as a form of business and African content is gaining popularity in midstream media.

What is play’s theme? ‘Family [and] wisdom [as] divorce [and] domestic violence rates [are] so high. People making bad choices in relationships/marriages/[lifestyle]. Many things in the story have to do with [the ills of] society, says Timi Ikomi.

In your view, can the sitting capacity bring in the necessary return on investment (ROI)?

Tobenna Amechi: Yes, it can, if filled multiple times.

Are there not bigger sitting capacity halls than Tera Kulture?

Temisan Ikomi: [With the] venues with a higher capacity … that sits like a thousand people and making it cheaper, the math doesn’t [add up.] There are actors, set design, dancers, etc to pay. It’s better to do a Tera Kulture which has decent sitting arrangement, premium tickets and gives [its own dedicated: tv] screens, sound, light, set [systems], location where middle and upper class live as against going for a larger capacity that you have bring the sounds, screens, set. We sampled a lot of venues, and this just seems wise to do.

How long did it take to train for this particular performance?

Temisan Ikomi: Took about a month and a half. Because that I had done this way back years ago, I knew what I was going to do. Main actors [are] professionals; some have never been on stage. Some are thespians, having done stage [performances] and films. Donald Akubudike at audio visuals said: ‘we actually do prep before a show, do several rehearsals, and our consoles have the ability to save this preset…’

How has the journey been for the audience?

When we do a show of this nature, we want to catch everybody—middle class, upper class. We have a certain demographic, both young and old. [Our targets are] art enthusiasts … willing to pay the premium. We are trying to build a community who come to watch stage plays but they aren’t cheap.

Before Akweke, am sure Ikechi’s (Austin Onuoha) romantic used lines like: ‘[can a beau of a goddess roam my village without being harassed by a warrior like myself, even if I will fail?]’ to Itoro (his first wife from Ogbeguru village, who like Samson’s first was from the enemy’s camp) and ‘how long could I resist [the] scent [of] my rare forest flower?’ to Ndidi, for his line: ‘is it possible for a spirit to walk in the daylight among human beings?’, to Akweke and her response: ‘(Impressed and smitten) Haaaa! Achu nwayi!!! This is how you catch all these ‘small-small’ village girls’ to her blushing and Miss Universe cat walk (to which the audience commented on: ‘see steps o’), indicates he was a man who also used what he had to gain other things unnecessary for living. In society today, we have the ‘Some Mothers Do Have Them.’ They use what they are blessed with for the wrong things.

Ikechi doesn’t strike me as someone who can handle responsibilities—Ndidi (a dark-skinned beau) in my own opinion, is sent to by Chineke to help Ikechi so that he could focus on his assignment but he chose to focus on praise to himself. Society too now has a growing ‘I better pass my neighbor’ syndrome. Many want to show off once they have some measure of affluence. He like some show a case of misplaced priorities, which is why you will see a man leave a good woman not just in films—like: ‘Waiting to Exhale’, where Bernadine Harris (Angela Basset) got dumped by her now rich husband, John Harris Sr. (Michael Beach) for another woman—but in real life.

We might not blame Ikechi. He seemed ok at first. What could have gone wrong that lead him becoming a drunk etc, that ultimately lead to him marrying (light skinned) women which lead to his death? It is noticed that while his parents knew he had become a drunk and womanizer, they didn’t warn him. He had gone too far, before they did. Even Ebube his own brother, was paying more attention to getting Ndidi.

Society today is having more parents too busy to pay the needed attention to the development of their children. Some have left it to teachers. Some will call a teacher to complain of the behavior of their own children and ask the teacher to caution the child. That is supposed to be the other way round. As regards Ebube main scheme, the writer is trying to alert us to sibling rivalry. While the reports on this are few in the media, it does occur.

Some may have societal issues, borrowed from the West (which once ditched for the proper things will improve) but not the next netizens parents aka Generation Alpha ( those born between 2006 and 2025), secondary school students that I teach presently, that one would have thought they wouldn’t listen to advice. Yes, it took some time to bring them around. They are tapping into wisdom from their teachers. The other day, while collating exam scripts in the hall, some of the girls in Senior Secondary came in to study for their next paper and they took the initiative to start a conversation on how they should conduct themselves as adults and how to relate the proper way with the opposite sex especially in regards to marriage. The boys on the other hand, after they let the mouths of the girls get them into trouble with discipline, are seeking to know how to respond intelligently. Some have even joined camps like the IQed NG Career and Basketball Camp to learn how to create their own C.Vs and are sharing them to find holiday apprentice jobs with companies. Some are building electric cars and are seeking finance to further better them.

For entertainment product sales alone, we need our culture to evolve. To think that international choreographers like: Paula Abdul, invented the very popular 1980s Running Man dance used in the Coming to America film. From there, artistes like Janet Jackson, MC Hammer, Bobby, etc have created their version and sold it back to us. Paula studied hours of African dances including a 1977 performance by one of Fela Kuti’s female dancers. Nigerian dramatists/choreographers need to do similar. Some of the students are perfecting fusing their native dance to contemporary to form a new dance as part of their cultural art assignment so that they can use it for drama etc. Imagine seeing contemporary Egwu Ota and Atilogwu dances.

‘Drama is a powerful tool for [global, national], cultural development, raise awareness about important issues, and used in a subtle way to alert people about opportunities [in this case Africa]’ says A.I. ‘The Roland Emmerich directed film: 2012, produced in (2009) [is an example.] The film’s plot involves a global catastrophe that destroys most of the world. Africa was the place that survived.’ Based on this, I think IKechi and Co. should have gone further on the theme since today’s theme globally is: Artificial Intelligence and individual/national commercial gain. Nigeria via its culture, etc is not left out. Nice if the theme was: Get Wisdom (from A.I adoption.)

I asked A.I, ‘since when has the popularization of [Africa as an emerging profit-making economy] been told by the media’, it said: ‘the idea … has being gaining traction over the past two decades’—the late 1990s. It also said that in: ‘2007, The Economist published a special report on Africa. The film came out in 2009. Adeoye Abodunrin, a key speaker at 2023’s Innovation Series said, something in the line of these: Nigeria needs to capitalise on A.I and control its narrative. If we don’t get in now, we have ourselves to blame. Nigerian drama has its work cut out for it.

I hope to see more of our dances modified and incorporated into our stage plays as well as our drama alerting to more opportunities soon.

(Audience was at a respectful amount. It didn’t fill the arena for the third play on Sunday but maybe, they did for the first two and fourth. The Fourth, I noticed had more in waiting while the third was still on).