Unfortunately, those that couldn't squeeze into Wednesday or Thursday night's packed performances of The King Must Dance Naked missed the most original theatrical performance of the semester. Co-sponsored by the African Students Association (ASA) and the Oberlin Student Theater Association (OSTA), the creativity of the African folk legend-styled performance met with positive audience reaction, despite its mostly inexperienced staff.
Narrated by a griot, a storyteller who entertains her audience with myths, the tale of Queen Odoson (college junior Adeola Oshodi) and the story of her offspring's destiny unfolds over two full acts, wonderfully colored with traditional African drumming and a chorus of almost chant-style female singers who fill in character's thoughts and actions along the side of the stage. Backed by a simple, well-crafted set and draped in colorful traditional African dressings, The King's actors really appeared as if they might have been a part of some Nigerian kingdom of the past.
Narrator and college first-year Dana Hayden relates the characters to her audience directly, actually weaving her myth as if it were a true African story-telling circle. The plot is simple, as most folklores and legends are, but the play flows through an interesting series of events, and the story was adapted well by college junior Ijeoma Anusionwu.
The story revolves around the Nigerian law that only one child of royalty, the son, can rise to power in his lifetime and become king. When Queen Odosun - a widow whose early years as a chambergirl were forgotton once she was accepted into royalty - gives birth to twins and must sacrifice, it is naturally assumed that she must offer her baby girl to the African gods. However, an oracle forwarns that if her daughter survives, she will one day rise to the throne. Queen Odosun acts accordingly, and shortly after, a mysterious rock washes ashore to where her son's remains were buried, and the townspeople take it as a sign and make offerings.
Through comic relief in college first-year Kofi Deh's Ololo, the town drunkard and musician, and college junior Christelene Jack's very well-acted King Omajuwa, Queen Odosun's now grown up daughter posing as a man, The King Must Dance Naked was nicely flushed out over two hours of good amateur acting, excellent drumming, and even a talent show of sorts where the chorus of women previously off-stage took over to entertain the king at her throne and conclude the first act. The energy of this scene in particular was very high, and only carried on through the second half where most of the plot revolves around the sudden disappearance of the oracle rock, which the people blame on their king.
Ultimately, the message of the play comes through when soothsayer and chief priest Afinotan, played by college junior Elihu Miles, says that the rock will only return if the king dances naked. By this time, the people are already under suspicion of whether King Omajuwa is who she says she is, and they have nearly lost faith without their oracle rock to make offerings to. In the final scene of the play, one whose suspense has been built up even through the title, Jack creates a powerful and passionate King Omajuwa, dancing for her pupils to save their spirits.
If only there were more productions like The King Must Dance Naked. The play was a far cry from traditional theater, in the Oberlin sense of term, but it met with success nonetheless. The cross-genres of myth and entertainment met in a setting of historical performance, and packed in two full crowds in the process. The King will be missed this weekend.
Copyright © 1998, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 126, Number 21, April 17, 1998
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