PEACE OF THE GRAVE YARD- A POLITICAL SATIRE THAT MIRRORS NIGERIA
For the command performance of the much-hyped Black Image's Peace of the Grave Yard, the heavens were made to applaud endlessly to a scintillating performance, as the entire crowd at the Agip Recital Hall, Muson Centre, Lagos on Friday August 1st, 2008 remained "whaowed" by the extra- ordinary peace of show, unparallel dialogue delivery, all embedded in the powerful satirical story line which made the crowd to yearn for more and more.
From Funke Egbemode (Sunday Editor, Sun Newspaper) whose narrative prowess and exceptional delivery ability looks magical as the Narrator, to Yinka Davies the self-styled “Yeye Oge” character on stage, to General Dan Baba, a perfect imitator of the then despotic maximum ruler (Gen Sanni Abacha) in the toga of Gen. Chabaska, not leaving the unrelenting composure of Ameze Giwa-Giwa whose role as informant depicted the Sycophants during the dark days of Abacha, with the powerful angelic voice of Nkan Eledua whose intermittent intervention reminded us all that we are all going to sing in heaven, indeed, they all blew the crowd off their feet.
And as if all these were not enough, the play a political satire that dwells on the need for unity in Nigeria, yet it lampoon heavily but comically past corrupt and despotic leaders, and all such devices that tends to place our society on a retrogression gear, but ore importantly, the fulcrum of the play is for us to see the need for a new Nigeria, where hopes and aspirations of millions of people can be met making use of our own God-given natural resources.
After the show, participants at the show showered encomium on the organisers of the event, lauding the performance that made them stay glued to their chairs even when its seems late. “The idea of bringing in celebrities to act on stage is a worth-while one, thereby using it as a strategic campaign of bringing back stage production to the fore burner of the entertainment industry in Nigeria. The Celebrity Theatre Initiative (CTI) of the Black Image Production is indeed a unique idea that is going to further strengthen creativity in Nigeria” says Bolaji Adedeji an elated guest at the event. Bimbo Oloruntoba was caught laughing endlessly, she has this to say "I have not laughed in recent time the way I did today, this guys are just too much, a lot of meaning and lessons to derive, yet we are laughing off our sorrows,It is indeed a place to be and a must-see play, thank God I didn't miss it" the petite looking Adekune Ajasin University Student averred.
That is the dream of Ola Thompson Tabi, the Executive Producer of the play and the Managing Director of Black Image. “We want to appreciate the support of everybody that has made it happened and we wish to say that we are not resting yet, we have a lot in the kitty of Black Image to still offer. Arrangement is in top gear for us to be in Ghana to celebrate 2008 Nigeria's Independence in Accra and stage the Peace of the Grave Yard. We shall be working with celebrities in Ghana to make this happen.”
The Stage Play was sponsored by NESCAFE and proudly supported by ZMIRAGE Multimedia, ZMC, Digi Print, Virgin Outdoor Ltd, The SUN, MBI, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Box Office, Cadbury, Efizzi, Galaxy TV etc
Alayande Stephen T.
Media Executive
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