Featured Article: The Theatre And Drama In Ayakoromo Olorogun Masquerade Festival In Burutu

Featured Article: The Theatre And Drama In Ayakoromo Olorogun Masquerade Festival In Burutu

'Ebikabowei Kedikumo'

African traditional drama and theatre brings together diverse elements of entertainment and communication such as songs and music, dance, ritual, mask, costumes and make-up. The Ayakoromo Olorogun masquerade festival illustrates this assertion. The series of events marking the festival are laced with spectacle. The elements which enhance dramatic entertainment in this festival include mask, costumes, make-up, dance, songs and music, rituals, props and active audience participation. The theatrical nature of the festival stems from the fact that the festival integrates all the trappings of what may be considered as African theatre. These theatrical elements make it possible for the performer (s) to use his creative imagination and resources of his body to effect an artistic communication. The various performances during the festival show that the Ayakoromo people have relatively kept their artistic heritage.

A Theatrical quality of the festival is the preparation involved. As in modern conception of theatre practice, the performers consciously prepare themselves to showcase their  artistic ingenuity. There is a period of rehearsals, assembling or building of all  necessary props, costumes and other paraphernalia. There is so much at stake for the Okosuotu masquerade cult and as cultural ambassadors, they must ensure an exhilarating performance. The Olorogun masquerade performances are therefore not accidental. They are prepared with dates, periods, time schedule and venues for performance. They are arranged or organized right from the pre-performance stage to the post performance stage. Such organization involves different sacrifices, rehearsals of songs, dance steps, instrumentations and movements.  It also involves taking care of costumes, properties and stage control. The river bank at the Ozubou playground, where Olorogun  "Beni Akoro" act takes place is thoroughly cleaned up of bottles , sharp woods and other objects that could inflict injury on the human body. This is the spot where the Olorogun masquerade dramatically  attempts to join the water people by submerging himself like a submarine.

When Olorogun submerges in water, the frantic effort to  rescue the Olorogun masquerade by members of the Okosuotu masquerade cult is a piece of dramatic entertainment. Of course, nobody would want to commit suicide because he wants to impress the community as a masked performer. He (the masquerade) is merely acting out a script written by his group and himself. Whatever the masquerade does during the festival is purely for entertainment. The audience knows all these pieces of information and attends with the hope of watching the performance accordingly.

The whole Ayakoromo community and more particularly, the Ozubou playground (the arena stage), the bank of the river (Shoreline stage) and the river itself  (aquatic stage) are the various spots where the various dramatic performances take place. At the Ozubou playground, there is the costumes room and the green room combined in the Owu - ware (masquerade house). The Owu - ware is a make-shift room for changing costumes and for the masquerades to rest after every performance. The orchestra is also situated at the Ozubou playground. It is fenced round with bamboo poles or wood and has a platform that accommodates all the drummers and the Awe players. During  the masquerade dance performances, the members of the Okosuotu masquerade cult usually form two lines in front of the orchestra, singing, dancing and acting as the chorus.

Music is produced through the playing of the drums, the Awe and the rendition of songs. These are the means of communication and expression which create the dramatic scenes and regulate the movements of the masquerades. The songs propel the dramatic action and highlight the dangerous nature of the Olorogun masquerade.  The songs also challenge the masquerade to demonstrate his power and urge the masquerade relentlessly on to continue with the performance.

I must commend the role of the audience or spectators in this fun-filled celebration. They boost the festival by organizing their own activities and performances in the form of beach carnival/parties, candle light night show, sporting activities, war boat performances and boat regattas, family quiz and so on. The audience joins the performances through singing, running, dancing and carrying out simple enactments. This active participation of the audience is a key to the success of the festival. The audience is needed for theatre to be complete because there is no essence of theatre without an audience.

During the performance, some of the audience members out of excitement give the masquerades money. This is a general conventional means of expressing aesthetic satisfaction at performances among the ljaws. No admission fee is charged for the show. So it is the money given willfully by members of the audience to the be performers in appreciation of the performance (which may be compared with the box office fee in modern theatre) that is used in acquiring, maintaining and redecorating masks/headpieces and costumes for the future by the masquerade cult.

Furthermore, characterization which involves role playing is used. In the ritual performances, the priest of Ozubo, the Olorogun wives, members of the Okosuotu masquerade cult, the Akasuo priest and others who participate directly or indirectly in the ritual performances are seen as actors and actresses. They are  impersonators representing the relevant ancestors, divinities or water spirits.

The costumes or regalia of the Olorogun masquerade designed by members of the Okosuotu cult are not mandatory on normal everyday occasion. They are worn only during the festival period just like the special costumes worn during dramatic presentation in modern theatre. With these costumes, the role played by the individual in the Olorogun mask has ritual implication. The wearing of the Olorogun headpiece or mask and the cloth that covers the performer (which is a disguise technique), serve as an indicator of the role played. He acts and assumes a divine role during the festival, representing the water spirit and is seen by the audience as an embodiment of the progenitor or water spirit usually presented. The Olorogun masquerade is a principal actor, the main character or protagonist and the life-wire of the festival. All other performers are acting for or on behalf of the Olorogun masquerade.

The Olorogun masquerade also holds as hand prop a small machete and dances to the rhythm of music produced at the orçhestra. He is generally restless and moves up and down the whole community stage while the audience follows from all sides and calls his praise name  Alabenikolokolokolo.This establishes the fact that there is an actor and an audience that is conscious and this is the essence of theatre and drama.

All the costumes, movements, dances and props together with the panegyric chant of Alabenikolokolokolo are the  determining factors that the person behind the Olorogun mask is an açtor impersonating the water spirits. The members of the audience on the other hand are active collaborators because they know that a human being not a spirit is behind the mask. The pretense by the audience not to know the secrets of the masquerade is what l refer to as a ritual theatrical convention that allows for aesthetic distance. Thus, the involvement of make- believe is not in doubt in the Olorogun masquerade festival.

Further to this, possession or trance which is a moment of higher degree of role-playing is also present. At that point in Olorogun performance when the performer reaches a state of spiritual ecstasy in which it is assumed that he does not control anymore his actions, the character being impersonated is believed to have taken over the acting. The fact that possession, including other aspects of ritual festival or religious drama have been found to be of profound interest and use in modern theatre points to it's theatricality and dramatic relevance in the Olorogun masquerade festival.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that the dramatic and theatrical quality of the Ayakoromo Olorogun masquerade festival cannot be doubted since all the basic ingredients of theatre viz, what is performed, the performer, the venue and the audience are inçorporated in the festival. The masquerades have costumes as dramatists do and the performances are scheduled at certain dates, periods of time and venue just as dramatists perform in theatres.

The Olorogun masquerade performs through the main and inner streets of the town thereby presenting the whole community as the acting stage. The masquerade dance performances take place at the Ozubou playground, an arena specially marked out by  the people for performance. Indeed, the Ayakoromo Olorogun festival presents a series of events  that are theatrical and this reinforces the common values and creative capabilities of the Ayakoromo people. From all the theatrical and dramatic qualities observed, one strongly believes that the Ayakoromo people have aspects of tradition that are dramatic and theatrical.  No matter  how much Euro-centric mentality adversely refers to the festival as non-dramatic, the fact remains that it is an aspect of African traditional drama and theatre. I want to conclude with S. E. Ododo's warning that "it will be misleading to maintain that theatrical experience that does not conform to  Western theatre canon is no theatre. A theatrical analysis of a festival within an African culture therefore, has the capacity to show similarities with Western theatre traditions and also presents its own unique aesthetic features"

EBIKABOWEI KEDIKUMO