Tuesday, December 22, 2020

The Drama of the #EndSARS Protests

The Drama of the #EndSARS Protests

The enactments of the melodramatic scenarios of the #ENDSARS protests from Lagos to Abuja and ending up in Delta State are going to be featured in a live performance on stage with the action choreography by one of the best action choreographers in the Nigerian film industry.

My "Sleepless Night" of 2002 dramatised the June 12 protests of 1993 featuring the outstanding actor, Funso Alabi of blessed memory and dramatic choreography by Segun Adefila and the Crown Troupe of Africa.

It was cosponsored by the French Cultural Centre in Lagos, Otunba Dele Momodu and my United Artists For Human Development (UAHD).

This new stage drama will be full of histrionics.

I am the writer, producer and director. And I have completed casting for the historic roles of heroic protesters, Aisha Yesufu and DJ Switch. 

The following is an excerpt from the drama written in verse.

We are marching with our bare feet.

As we stomp on the street.

The echoes of our screams rent the skies 

In A Decade of Tongues.


Bekederemo! 

What are you going to tell Achebe and Okara?

What are you going to tell Saro-Wiwa?

Tell them the truth, the bitter truth

We have eaten the sour grapes of wrath.

Sour grapes of the wrath the earth.

We have bitten our tongues as we gnash our teeth.

 Even The Masquerade of Ngbilebiri has stopped dancing. 

As our mothers' singing has turned to mourning.

Who can dance to the Song of a Goat? 

In the hysteria of Nigeria.


Bekederemo!

Bekederemo!!

Bekederemo!!!


- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima


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