The plot of The Gods Are Strange appears deceptively simple: a community in crisis seeks the help of the gods, only to receive a shocking directive. Instead of choosing the most able-bodied men, the gods call upon a warrior, a blind boy, and a dancer to solve their problems. Amidst the community's questioning of the gods' wisdom in selecting this trinity, Bukola Ayinde urges the play's cast, production team, and audience to reflect on the central role of unlikely individuals in a community's salvation, and to consider the implications of the negative conceptualizations we carry about people living with disabilities on the fate and future of our society.
As an activist and advocate for a more inclusive Nigeria, Ayinde has observed the hushed quality of public dialogue as it relates to people living with disabilities. The foundation of her work is inspired by her experience as the mother of a child living with cerebral palsy and her struggle to provide her daughter with the same social, educational and cultural opportunities that " children without disabilities have. In her own words, she describes the creation of the play as a platform to:
"depict the mind of [Nigerian] society as [she has experienced it]... I want everyone to know that no matter who you are, you have been given a gift that the world needs, and [that] we need to respect each other. We need to include everyone, and we need to work in unity for the good of our community."
The first step we took staging this play was to find ideal partners, focusing on critical parameters such as the availability of quality facilities and access to a willing cast. Fortunately, we found two partners that fit our criteria, located in geographically significant areas—in the North (Plateau State) and South (Ogun State) of Nigeria. First, we have the Corona Secondary School in AGBARA, a private school located in a small industrial town at the border of Ogun and Lagos States, with which we have cultivated a long and fruitful relationship around German cultural and language education within our PASCH programmes.
Thankfully, the leadership of the school welcomed the project with open arms and assigned both the drama teacher, Mr Akintade, and the German language teacher, Ms Emiola, as our primary liaisons for the production. When asked about his perspective on the involvement of the students in the staging of The Gods Are Strange, the drama teacher had this to say:
“We are excited for this new dimension of our relationship with the Goethe-Institut. Children being who they are, are particularly interested in anything that has to do with creative work, particularly theatre-related activities or visual arts and the likes. Furthermore, the story is one that I so much reckon with. I'm in agreement with the entire concept of the play because it explores the life of an average child. Its peculiar setting gives an account of the diverse categories of learners through the mirror of an artist.”
To ensure a world-class production, we enlisted the help of KININSO Koncepts, a renowned theatrical production company in Nigeria focused on using performance as a catalyst for social re-orientation and transformation. And for over six weeks, the KININSO team, consisting of directors of drama, dance and music, a cinematographer, and a set designer, has facilitated rehearsals with the students every Friday. The director of drama, Mr Nnamdi Agbo, and the dance and music director, Mr Michael Ajimati, have effectively organised the energy and interest of over 40 students through the fusion of games and guided character explorations. Given the subject matter of the play, the director of drama was inspired to also challenge perceptions around gendered roles in casting. For example, in his casting of female students in the roles of chiefs and warriors, he had this to say:
“So I thought to myself, ‘Why don't I make these chiefs women,’ and when that happened, I was really impressed with them because they carried it with all sense of royal and confident elegance. I even asked one of them, ‘Have you ever acted before?’ The world is opening up, and we as human beings need to open up and give opportunities to everybody, right? So, the girls have been pretty interesting. I've seen guys act as chiefs and as kings. Me now coming to a space where a woman is now taking that role and seeing that she's actually doing it was really the right choice.”
This is the first time both directors are working on a play with significant subject matter around disability, and to our pleasant surprise, we discovered that a more inclusive dance training practice was already being forged by the dance and music director, inspired by a previous experience teaching a student with a disability:
“When I was in university there was a particular group I was teaching Atilogwu—which is a local dance. The dance has a slow pace and a very fast movement. Whenever we did this fast movement, there was this lady usually complaining that it was too fast. She thought I was doing it intentionally. I never knew she was a special child and needed special attention; it was until later on, when we were done with the whole project that I discovered. Since then, I have it in my subconscious that I need to be sensitive. I need to be present to understand that the way we assimilate things or the way we learn is different from each other, and everyone needs attention to make them feel inclusive.”
Student actors from different grades and cultural backgrounds have come together for this production, and it is particularly heartening to see a disabled student playing the role of the leader of the village dancers. In our conversations with the cast members, many have cited her as an inspiration for them to trust in their abilities more and see beyond status quo conceptions around people living with disabilities.
Also, for many of the students in the cast, this production marks their first time acting on stage, and their enthusiasm during rehearsals has been palpable. We were quite curious to learn more from the female students who have been cast as chiefs and asked them about their experience embodying such roles. One student had a particularly interesting take on her role:
“So when the director said I’ll be the female chief, I was shocked because I've never seen a woman as a chief in movies or on television. It has always been men as chiefs. And so, first of all, it was very hard for me to get into the role, and I was getting very frustrated. But then the director asked me to think about any powerful women who I knew, and I thought about my mother. And Mr Nnamdi then said now just act like your mother. That way I was able to connect with the role as a chief. And now I realise that as a woman, I can actually do anything I desire.”
Our second partner is Jardin Learning Garden, an inclusive and lush outdoor garden located in the rocky and green city of Jos, Plateau State. In this production, the cast and crew are a mix of teenagers and young adults from the local community, led by Mr James Joseph, a Lecturer of Arts and Theatre at the University of Jos. Despite the distance between Plateau State and Lagos limiting our in-person engagement, we have been able to connect with the production team over Zoom sessions and have fallen in love with the outdoor facility they will be using as a backdrop for the play.
Over the past year, we have been in dialogue with Janet Fadin, the founder and proprietor of Jardin Learning Garden, around pathways of collaboration. The staging of The Gods Are Strange presented the perfect opportunity. We are inspired by the mission of the space, which, in the words of the founder, was created to:
“serve as a library for community residents to come to read and promote literacy. Authors get to use the space and collaborate with us for book readings. We've also had events around the conservation of the environment. We particularly love working with people with disabilities within the space, promoting literacy and the reading culture."
During a Zoom session with the cast and crew, one member's experience stood out to us—the actor portraying the blind boy:
"In my mind, I was trying to connect with the blind boy character of the play by putting myself in his shoes. I love that part of acting as the blind boy. When I see a blind person passing through, I try to study them more and then get into them. I used to underrate people with disabilities, but from what the play has taught me, I realised God did not make a mistake by making someone blind because he knows that everybody has a role to play in the world."
Mr James Joseph the drama director, has this to say about the play and the process of directing it:
“One of the things I find interesting is that the play is a fascinating performance that has all the elements of modernism mixed together in an epic setting. I think the author outdid herself because the book is worth the journey. She went beyond the usual writing to look at the needs and major concerns of our day-to-day activities in society, which is the problem of inclusion. During the course of the rehearsal, I worked on the psychology of each cast member. I gave them room to pour themselves out, show me their temperaments, and their reactions to life. It took us a month to rehearse, but it was worth it as I used the mentoring technique of directing in which I became a friend to each of them. As their friend, I try to employ each of them to bring out what they have. I believe we can give not only the best but more than that. We cannot wait to show our community what we have to offer!”
Our team is excited to invite our local and global community to attend both live performances of The Gods Are Strange, taking place in Jos on the 21st of April, and in Agbara on the 5th of May. Whether you join us in person or through live-streaming, we hope this production will play a part in fostering greater openness and trust towards people with disabilities in our Nigerian community.
Written by the AGBO ILÉ Team
