There is this notable axiom among Kegite Club members, which says “A mid joyous celebrations lie subtle danger”, It is a caution for man to be careful of what he does and never to allow the ebullient and happy moods to make him do what he will later regret in life.
This is one of the themes of the stage play, Lottery Ticket a play written in pidgin English by Ahmed Yerima, to be presented on Friday, 26th May 2023, courtesy of Final Year Students of the Creative Arts (Theatre) Department, University of Lagos.
The one-and-a-half-hour satire play, set in a buka (restaurant) directed by Mayowa Damilare (MD), with Irabor Isaac as the Technical Director, Stage Managed by Ajayi Pelumi, Olajide Praise as the Production Manager, Choreographer Olarinde Victor and Dr. Damilola Felix Emoruwa is the Supervisory Lecturer of the project.
Lottery Ticket x-rays man’s fervent quest for instant riches, the story depicts the life of Nigerians at the bottom rung of the ladder who see the lottery as means of getting huge sums of money to better their lives.
It also showcases a society that lacks the necessary palliatives to bailout the needy, aged, sick, and other vulnerable members of the society; thus making those who cannot fend for themselves to be at the mercy of the rich who fling things at them in the name of incentives.
It also reflects how the people have been pauperized to the extent that they cannot interrogate the rationale behind the lottery or if the cola drink is detrimental to their health. This malleability is one of the characteristics of depressed people, which makes the play fit to be presented anywhere across the globe.
The characters, Mama Lizi (Victory Ose), her landlord (Olarinde Victor), Baba Tailor (Eze Anthony), street urchin, Danger, (Sly), Lizi (Mohammed Habiba), Traffic Warden (Shittu Riliwan) and Sergent (Peter) meet at Mama Lizi’s buka only to discover that each person has bought a lottery ticket. Each of them hopes to win and has a different plan for the N1 million prize money.
If she wins, Mama Lizi would relocate to a suburb, and acquire a bigger buka space where she would operate and make a huge profit. The landlord, a retired civil servant, plans to marry Lizi and hopes to use the money to settle her dowry, set her up in a tailoring business, and buy her a secondhand sewing machine, aside from allowing the mother to continue to run her canteen in his house for free.
The sickly Baba Tailor dreams of using the money to settle his accumulated hospital bills, while Dagger, Lizi’s lover would leave Lagos for Abuja with his lover, where they would settle as husband and wife. All the characters have one plan or the other for the jackpot, but unfortunately, there has to be only one winner. Baba Tailor wins and while rejoicing that God has buttered his bread, as he would now be able to settle all his outstanding bills, he passes out and commotion ensues.
Harping on immediate reward, the play depicts how selfish, greedy, and self-centered the people are; planning to use the jackpot on things that would only benefit them. This again shows the level of our development and collective mindset that is geared towards the self at the expense of the general good of the people.
The play in a way interrogates the various lotteries and betting games now abound in the country and even makes some people believe that they can be rich overnight by playing them. This on its own is denting the psyche of some able-bodied youth towards hard work and making them to believe on luck and overnight wealth are possible.
The storyline is superb and topical, especially as the country is passing another phase in its nationhood, the recent elections and the inauguration of a new government about this time of staging the play. It projects some of our problems such as selective justice as it would be seen in the way the policeman handles the civilians and the way he handles the traffic warden. It mirrors our docility as a people when it comes to standing before uniform men and the law.
Presenting the play this time is very important as it hilariously tells us what we ought to have done as a people and the results of our failure to do the right things. The play is expected to take the audience to antithesis, changing their moods when Baba Tailor that supposed to be celebrating his winning passes out; turning joy into sorrow. Though he came out of it, it, however, warns the audience to exercise moderation in all things, even amid jollification as the Kegite Club earlier warned.
From the rehearsal monitored by Lagos Panorama, it’s a superlative performance, and the director no doubt is upping his ante. The cast interpreted their roles seamlessly; their miens gave the impression that they were telling their own stories. However, Baba Tailor (Eze Anthony) exhibited his ex-ordinary gift of interpreting his role. The naturalizing of his roles, and the empathy it induced, would hold the audience spellbound in their seats, trying to find out how the conflict so created would be resolved. This is another of Yerima’s stories of nation-building. The performance comes up at 4. pm on Friday 26th May 2023, at the Creative Arts Theatre, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.
