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We Lost a World: Personal Memories of a Departmental Fire and A

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We Lost a World: Personal Memories of a Departmental Fire and A The African e-Journals Project has digitized full text of articles of eleven social science and humanities journals. This item is from the digital archive maintained by Michigan State University Library. Find more at: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/africanjournals/ Available through a partnership with Scroll down to read the article. • Personal memories of a King's Horsemon directed by Segun OjftWuyi, Jean Genet's directed by Saidat departmental fire and a Odofin Nothing i* left of tha production recount of irreplaceable file* of these productions, thanks k> that fif«. Nothing wo* ipared, not the staff records and texts files either of such productions as Osofisan'* One* Upon Four Robbers I to start thinking about what! real water. I lost the playbill, pictures of 1978, Zulu Sofola's Song of a Maiden Do I start with personal effects The Raft particularly those of Wole 1979, each directed by its playwright; which went with the fire or Soytnito, Ralph Opara, Yemi Ujadu and lonetco's Exit the King directed by Femi departmental properties which %Q{JU Olusolo, the four members of the Fatabo 1979, Jean-Paul Sort's Lucifer and the Lord directed by Carroll Dawes, were in my care as Head of cost. The productionwas directedby Wole Soyinka. choreographed by Femi Fatoba in 1981, Department far the two years Femi Osofiscn's Aringindin and the immediately preceding the fire? offhecomerttonBt Nightwatchmeri directed by Sunbo I have been associated off and of my foundation as a theatre practitioner Marinho in 1989 and Wole Soyinka's on with the Department since before I left the country in 1964 to study The Road directed by Femi Osofisan in 1961 - the days of the School of Speech and Drama at the Central School 1 990, The Scoundrel Suberu an Drama. I was a member of Wole of Speech and Drama, London, England. adaptation of Moliere's Scapin by Soyinka's 1960 Masks out of Since my final(?) return to the country in Adelegba and Egbe was performed in which grew the Orisun 1 977 I have been in the Department as a 1986, directed by Dapo Adelugba Yinka Repertory. teacher. I have seen many students through Adede|i directed A flash in the Sun (an the Department. Almost all of them ensemble creation) which was the I remember my copies of pictures of graduated It is not the fact of their participation of the University of Ibadan some performances by Orisun; The Lion graduation which was affected by this fire in the programme marking the exhibition and the Jewel, 1964, The Trials of Brother but the process of their graduation in the of Treasuries of Ancient Nigeria in Jero 1963 both directed by Wole Soyinka actuality of the files of some of their very Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U S A. in himself. There were also pictures of our memorable productions. Garcia Lorca's 1982 Later the production toured performance of B. Holos' The Creation Blood Wedding directed by Lola Fani- Netherlands, Japan and W Germany in Myth. This was a dance drama kayode, Wole Soyinka's Death and the 1983 and in 1984 it was taken to the choreographed by Peggy Harper. There Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Apart were pictures of several revue sketches by from production files there were pictures Femi Wole Soyinka. More than the pictures from Fidelina Okwesa's Nonyelum, a were manuscripts with Wole Soyinka's Fatoba dance-drama co-choreographed by handwriting as he amended the scripts to Okwesa and Fatoba in 1978 and suit different performances during the heady repeated in 1 979 Most painful is that the days of political turmoil i n the then Western Editor's Note: As the University of Ibadon pictures and production files came from Region of Nigeria. Orisun's production of forges on with repair work on blocks of the premiere of most of the African plays J.P. Clark's The Raft (1963?) which was buildings which housed the Theatre Arts, mentioned above Philosophy and Arabic studies departments performed before Leopold Sedar Senghor destroyed entirely by a fire incident on the has particular memories. The younger night preceding 25thjanuary 1995, fatoba For the production of Alem members of Orisun, Tunji Oyelana, Jimi who with other colleagues lost their whole Mezgebe's PULSE directed by Bayo Solanke, Wale Ogunyemi, Femi (then personal libraries, recounts that the fire Oduneye in 1 9801 painted a big blazing Eddy) Fatoba, Betty Okotie (now Betty wiped out so many priceless documents, red pudenda on which one big human photographs, audio tapes, landmark Edewoh) Yewande Akibo (now Yewande eye was superimposed. This was at the production programmes and posters that Johnson) and Dele Oti were all involved in money can by no means replace. request of the director. The painting was the building of the set. The show was lit by Opposite picture, of a / 969 Arts Theatre one of the prominent stage props and it Wale Ogunyemi.The picture of the set by production handbill, is representative of the was conspiciously displayed on the table itself on stage looked like it was sitting on lost antiques. of the lead character played by Ayo African Quarterly on the Arts VtLVNOi Akinwale. The painting attracted a lot of graduate students) were lost in the fire. As world were also there from Dovstoyevski attention and controversy and Mr. Head of Department for two years, the to D. O. Fagunwa. There were recorded Oduneye always transferred the burden sitting arrangement in my office was such performances of Duro Ladipo, discs of of explaining or interpreting the painting that each time I looked up I saw the glazed Ebenezer Obey, Ayinla Omowura and to me. It wasn't that he didn't know the pictures of those who ran the Department Haruna Ishola. There I also lived with symbolism of the painting in the context of before me except that of Femi Osofisan some of my own creations, the many the play, afterall he commissioned it. The who was yet to provide us with his canvasses with which I conversed while fact is that he just wanted to put the joke picture. Geoffrey Axworthy, the first Head creating images on them. I lost my world on me. The difficult part is that the said of the School of Drama; the Nobel Laureate of manuscripts and journals. I was not painting attracted attention from female Wole Soyinka, the first Nigerian Head of sure at what point I started crying after I members of the play's audience than it Department followed byj. A. Adedeji, the saw the wreck of what oniy the previous did from males. This persisted even more longest serving Head of Department (so day, housed the pride <-i.id wealth of my after the production when Mr. Oduneye far) and Dapo Adelugba. Each time I academic, literary and artistic being. put the painting in his office purely as a looked up at those pictures I felt inspired work of art, out of its original symbolic particularly by the faces of Axworthy and A few weeks before the fire, (another context. Soyinka and I told myself that I will make departmental teacher) Dr. Lanre Bamidele myself worthy of stepping into the shoes had come to my office to ask me some Osofisan's Midnight Hotel was they left behind. I first experienced real questions about a student or so, then he directed by the playwright in 1982. The theatre through Soyinka and knew looked at a section of my library. He was cast include Tunde Laniyan and Ayo Axworthy at Ibadan but he later became delightedly surprised to see some books Akinwale. In 1988 Adelugba directed the principal of my college during my last he knew would help in some paper he Soyinka's Opera Wonyosi; in 1990 two years in college in London. was writing or planning to write. He there Waiting for Anini by Kunle Famoriyo was and then asked if he could use my library. directed by the playwright; in 1991 All those pictures were destroyed Of course I said he could. He too lost part Osofisan directed his Farewell to a by the fire. I can only carry them in my of that world. So did the mature students Cannibal Rage. It was later presented to memory. I remember always telling and other lecturers. I remember sitting at Ibrahim Babangida on the occasion of his students not to damage departmental the bottom of the tree in front of the Arts official visit to Oyo State. The occasion of property, telling them of the importance of Theatre watching colleagues in the that performance at the cultural centre, legacies for coming generations. Legacies Philosophy department pick up remnants Mokola, Ibadan afforded me the of all B.A. long essays and other artistic of their lives from the wreck, and listening opportunity of seeing men and women of projects which were ever undertaken in to people lamenting, cursing, some asking the State Security at work. They ranged the Department constituted reference questions directed at nobody in particular. from the very intelligent to the utterly materials housed in the departmental stupid. Most of them tried to disguise library. We lostthem all. So were playtexts Some went into the story of how the while some openly flaunted their identity from all over the world, covering fire was first noticed and how the whenJideMalomoand I were rehearsing generations from the times of the Pharaohs. University's fire department had been the students at the Cultural Centre. Some summoned but could not do anything were so officious that they went as far as Of course I lost the whole world.
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