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EXPLORING THE POTENTIALS OF THEATRE AND THE MEDIA FOR NATION BUILDING

By

Chijindu Daniel Mgbemere

dchiibest@yahoo.com/chijinduiwundu@gmail.com +2348036671218

Department of Theatre and Media Studies, Gregory University, Uturu, Nigeria.

Abstract

Nigeria is still grappling with basic developmental indices. Crime and unemployment have

remained endemic experiences of the country’s past and subsisting history. While many hold

corruption and its allied vices responsible for this state of affairs, others see lack of technological

advancement as the arrow-head. The concern here is that the more these issues are discussed, the

worse things seem to get. This stands to reason therefore that there is an obvious deviation ab

initio. That missing link is in the development of the psyche of the human agents, who are the

necessary vectors of development and nation building. The paper discovered that over the years,

theatre and media have helped in no small way in nation building all over the world. It wondered

why emphasis is more in agro and allied products in cases of job creation and poverty alleviation

than theatre and media products in Nigeria. For a proactive response to societal issues, the paper

proposes Theatre of Necessity, which it saw as the theatre that is formed and shaped by the

society’s challenge. The paper finally concluded that Theatre and the Media have crucial roles to

play both in psychological re-engineering and the overall building of the Nigerian nation and

other black realms in general.

Keywords: Media, Theatre, Nation Building

Introduction

How a country is perceived in terms of its level of development is a function of the character of

its citizens, their civic virtue such as commitment to equality, justice, freedom, honesty, trust,

stability and tolerance Machiavelli in Olalekan, G. A et al (107). What is meant here is that the

difference in development measured by indexes such as stability, equity, and all such other

factors, between one nation and the other is contingent upon the behaviour of the human agents

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inhabiting that geographical area. This is to the intent that the people in any geographical enclave

should accept responsibility for whatever situation they found themselves in. The cliché that a

people get the kind of leaders they deserve has been supported with empirical evidence over the

years.

Someone made what may be regarded as a careless statement, but which has given us a cause to

worry about, “that all it will take to make a country like Nigeria, become America was simply to

move out all Nigerian citizens and replace them with American citizens and give them a little

time”. This means that what makes America what it is, is not the strength of its military or the

colour of their skin, but the orientation of its citizens. In a direct summation, what makes

Nigeria, and indeed Africa what they are has nothing to do with what we are but who we are. If

we agree that the bulk of the challenge in Africa is leadership, then, what we need do to forge

ahead is to begin to nurture a people of culture, civil and civil-minded individuals that would live

up to their responsibility and demand their rights at all times.

In the dramatic enactment of the popular Aba women riot of 1929, for instance, Emeka

Nwabueze in his play The Dragon’s Funeral, demonstrated how a people that are disenchanted

by a system of government can rise up to demand their right. Apart from this explicit import, the

play from a historical point brings to mind what transpired between the people and their

government and all the lessons that we can learn about conflict resolution, and how not to

govern. Also in his work on oramedia which he sees as part of the traditional communication

system, Ngwainmbi (2004) identifies theatre as a useful media for development. Ngwainmbi

contends that the theatre serves a social function by educating community members. Besides,

theatre, he opines conscientizes and mobilizes groups within a society because Africa has a rich

and vibrant performing tradition. Theatre also helps to depict social reality and encourages

audience participation, a reason he maintained that there exist a strong relationship between

theatre, development and nation building. The kind of theatre or media that would be relevant in

this scheme is the one whose tenets, beyond the frontiers of entertainment appeals to the human

psyche.

Theatre, Media and National Consciousness

In his book Theatre: An Introduction, Cassady (qtd. In Olalekan 109) defines theatre as

‘imagination…emotions and intellects… (Which) embraces all the world cultures and

perspective, answers questions, predicts our tomorrows and mirrors our today’. In his own view,

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Oduneye (97) asserts that theatre is ‘the stepping stone through which anthropologist,

sociologists, historians, ethnographers and others have given identity, meaning and interpretation

to people, periods, dates and societies’.

However, in Samuel Becker (2009)’s views, the role of theatre in the society is difficult to define

for the theatre has almost infinite number of functions. It has many functions as there are many

plays, and in another sense, has many functions as there are many viewers. Because each viewer

brings different background, different future and different immediate need, the experience

functions in some unique ways for each.

The ‘Reflective- Projective’ theory of Broadcasting and Mass Communication by Leo

Loevinger presents a similar position Olalekan et al (109). The theory provides yet another basis

for understanding the relationship of theatre and development. Leovinger’s position is that the

media ‘mirrors the society’ and that while the media reflect society as organized group,

individual audience members project their own individual reflections into the images presented.

This is where the saying among theatre scholars that ‘theatre is a creator’s mirror of the whole

universe’ and the popular dictum ‘the world is a stage where everyone plays come from.

Literally, Theatre and the Media may seem different to a developing mind, in this essay; we use

them interchangeably because they are actually one and the same thing. In the contemporary

time, theatre is fast leaving the confines of the stage in search of wider range of expression and

having found the media, they have intertwined. The media here by the way are all those modes

and channels via which theatrical expressions are vent. It could be the radio, television, the

prints, film or social networks. The modern theatre practitioner expresses himself by any of these

means when it is not through the conventional stage.

Indeed the theatre as a media of communication constantly mirrors and reflects the

society. Beyond drawing its theme from the society, which varies from the historical to the

present and the futuristic, it has been argued and rightly too that the shape, outlook and

presentation of a country’s theatre are direct reflections of the yearning of the people. It is these

attributes that bestow on the theatre the role of a vanguard, a watchdog, the barometer of the

society and a major factor in nation building, Yerima (84).

Similarly, Development media theory which relates to media structures and performance in

developing societies provides a strong theoretical basis for understanding the relationship

between theatre and media. This is because the theory encompasses what Folarin (110) described

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as a great variety of socio-cultural, economic and political condition which borders on the

effective use of the media for development purpose. Specifically, the theory considers the role of

the media in society as essential target at stimulating and sustaining societal development in such

area as cultural, social, economic, political and technological development. The theory also

advocates a situation where the media (theatre as one) should accept and help in carrying out the

special development task of national integration, socio-economic modernization, promotion of

literacy and cultural creativity Folarin (ibid). Theatre strikes synergy with the media in socio-

cultural, economic, religious and political re-engineering which fosters nation building and

development. What is important here is for the theatre practitioner to factor the well being of his

country or society into consideration in his craft. The consideration here needs not be favourable

to the socio-political, economic, and religious linings or policies of government of the day. As a

matter of fact, the artist as social rebel tends always to see the society from the leftist

perspective. However, the artist as a seer can use theatre and media to strengthen government

policies by conscientizing its citizens over policies whose import the society is yet to see. The

work of the artist should always gear towards creating a better society where equity, democracy

and good governance is emphasized.

Theatre, Media and Social Relevance

Howard Shalwitz (1) in his lecture, “Seven Points Why Theatre Makes Our Lives Better brings

to the fore some of the relevance and contributions of theatre to life and living. It is summarized

thus:

… It does no harm, expresses a basic human instinct, brings people

together, models democratic discourse, contributes to education

and literary (sic), sparks economic revitalization, and influences

how we think and feel about our own lives.

These ideas are further expanded to pitch theatre and media within the frontier of human life

development and a better living climate for nation building.

Theatre is one of those human activities that do not really hurt anyone or anything… While we're

engaged in making or attending theatre, or any of the arts for that matter, we are not engaged in

war, persecution, crime, wife-beating, drinking, pornography, or any of the social or personal

vices we could be engaged in instead. For this reason alone, the more time and energy we as a

society devote to theatre and the arts, the better off we will be.

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Theatre is a sophisticated expression of a basic human need -- one might call it an instinct

to mimic, to project stories onto ourselves and others, and to create meaning through narrative

and metaphor. For a performance to happen, people need to gather in one place for a couple of

hours, and share together in witnessing and contemplating an event that may be beautiful, funny,

moving, thought-provoking, or hopefully at least diverting. Theatre models for us a kind of

public discourse that lies at the heart of democratic life, and builds our skills for listening to

different sides of a conversation or argument, and empathizing with the struggles of our fellow

human beings whatever their views may be. When we watch a play, we learn what happens when

conflicts don't get resolved, and what happens when they do. We develop our faculty for

imagining the outcomes of various choices we might make in our personal lives and our political

lives.

Both the making of theatre and attending of theatre contribute to education and literacy.

Watching the characters talk back and forth in the theatre is tricky; it requires sharp attention,

quick mental shifts, and nimble language skills. It teaches us about human motivation and

psychology. In historical plays we get lessons in leadership and government. In contemporary

plays, we learn about people and cultures in different parts or our own country or in other

countries. Studies have shown that students who participate in theatre do better in school.

Making plays together also draws kids out of their shells and helps them learn to socialize in a

productive and healthy way. This kind of theatre is called Theatre in Education or Creative

Dramatics.

Further, theatre as an industry contributes to our economy and plays a special role in the

revitalization of neglected neighborhoods. And this pattern has been repeated in cities across,

and around the world. Finally, theatre, more than others influences the way we think and feel

about our own lives and encourages us to take a hard look at ourselves, our values, and our

behaviour.

Theatre, Media and the Challenge of Unemployment

One major challenge plaguing Africa and indeed Nigeria today is the unemployment

phenomenon. Unemployment has been found a common denominator of most, if not all the

social, economic and religious vices, like cyber crime, kidnapping, armed robbery, trafficking in

persons, ritual killing, religious perversions and so on, which are found at the corridors of people

at all levels in the society, especially the youths. These social malaises can be curbed by

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meaningfully engaging the youths in and with Theatre and Media products, like film, standup

comedy, commercials or advertorials:

There is no doubt whatsoever that Nollywood has come to stay as a phenomenon in Nigeria today and beyond. The Nigerian movie industry has become a multibillion enterprise and it is growing by the day in spite of the numerous challenges it is facing. The industry has created job opportunities and entertainment to the Nigerian populace and at the same time has brought a lot of Nigerians to fame on the international social map, Anyegba, M. A (2012).

According to Anyanwu, B.C (qtd. in Mgbemere 540) apart from the oil companies, there are no

other companies or industries in Nigerian that remunerate better than the Nigerian home video

industry. The least paid actor in Nollywood earns at least N50, 000 per movie; while the star

actors are said to earn as much as N500, 000 per movie. Most of these individuals are Nigerians;

therefore, the monies are ploughed back into the national economic system as they invest them in

buying houses, big cars, expensive clothing, jewelries etc. Apart from those actors who are

regularly seen on set, jobs are also created for the “Crew” category… the industry becomes an

answer to the prayer of many, as it flings its doors of opportunities open to engage Nigerians

from the pre to the post production stage. And welcomes Script writers /Screenwriters,

Directors, Producers, Costumiers, Camera men, Production Managers, Directors of photography,

Boom mike handlers, Location Managers, Gaffers, Lights men, Editors, Set designers, Welfare

officers and many others. Business minded Nigerians; the Igbo Traders in particular, seeing the

opening of a lucrative market, enthusiastically swapped their “trading roles” to become

Marketers and also Distributors. The exportation of movies further serves as a means of foreign

exchange earnings for the country.

Movies offer people the opportunity of telling their own stories, free from alien

interference. The colonial over lords used it to register awe in the minds of their colonies and

made them conclude that the white is simply another god. The Americans are using it to assert

dominance over the world, by showing how scientifically advanced they are; and all nations are

afraid of America. The Nigerian nation is yet to come to terms with the reality of the power of

the movie.

The Nigerian movie industry is highly acclaimed and watched by millions of people all over the world. They see and enjoy it in

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theatre halls auditoriums, on the television, in airplanes, ships, trains, at home and several other places. The craze for the movie is primarily as a result of its remarkable ability to hold, transport, amuse, move and delight an audience. Humour and the unexpected or surprise are its common features. Colour variety, stardom, camera angle and sound effects are some of the aspects that entice the audience. Every movie has its cultural expectation, its codes and values. In this respect, it is apt to mention that if fully utilized, the movie industry in Nigeria can emerge as the single most effective means of control of mass culture and development (Ampe 8-9)

Theatre in general and Nollywood in particular, because of the numerous departments and the

attendant involvement of several hands from pre-production, production, and post production

stages in the making of movies, drama, or musicals, can gainfully engage many youths in the

continent in a meaningful employment and skill development.

Standup Comedy

Standup Comedy is one other aspect of contemporary theatre practice that is currently engaging

so many Nigerian youths in useful vocation and employment. Even though many claim

progenitors of standup comedy in Nigeria, the popularity of the art is credited to the effort of

John Chukwu, who professionalized it when he opened a comedy café which operated like a

night club, and provided a haven for talented comedians to live out their talents and in the

process eke out a living for themselves by entertaining fun seekers in Lagos, in the early 1980s,

Fasudo (2).

Meanwhile, Emedolibe (1) claims that with the exit of Chukwu came the era of mohammed

Danjuma. Danjuma’s grip on that sphere was wobbly, probably because he lacked the glamour to

take it beyond the ordinary limit. This according to him was compensated by Ali Baba, who

claims to be the originator of standup comedy in Nigeria. Other popular standup comedians in

Nigeria include but not only: Basket Mouth, I go die, Gandoki, Julius Agwu, Lepacious Bose,

Gordons, Klint the drunk, and Okey Bakassi.

One parallel of this genre of art anywhere in the world is its money-spinning attribute which

comes as a result of massive attendance and heavy gate toll. This is mainly because of its ability

to gender a merry atmosphere under which money can come out from the most frugal individual.

Besides, the quests for happiness and relaxation for people in a world riddled with lots of cares

and heart aches make people pay whatever is charged as gate fee in order to find escape after a

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hectic day. According to Sola Fosudo, some stand up comedians in Nigeria charge as much as

N100, 000 (One hundred thousand naira) per ticket. As they also practice what he called price

discrimination whereby different prices are tagged on different tickets for different individuals

for the same show.

The level of success this theatrical genre is recording has made many theatre critics to begin to

reconsider some of the factors they thought were responsible for the declining fortune of stage

performance. In its form and structure, standup comedy is a stage art. The little different could

only be in content and style of presentation. It stand to reason therefore that the audiences

perhaps were not getting commensurate value for their money and time with the mundane live

theatre performances. The standup comedy aside its satiric and therapeutic values which have

benefited the society, it is a Multimillion Naira industry. The last two decades has witnessed an

evolution that has transcended ethnic and religious boundaries of the Nigerian Nation-state as it

absorbs Nigerians from all regions without discrimination even of their academic status and

specialization.

Till now, standup comedy with all its economic prospect, empowerment ability, and therapeutic

potential, has been left to the chance of talent. No Department of Theatre Arts in Nigeria has

incorporated it in its curriculum as a course of study. Although, as a brand of comedy, myriads of

works has been done from the time of Aristophanes through Menander to Soyinka and to the

present time. More needed be done to lift the art away from the chance of talent alone.

Copywriting/TV Commercial

By way of definition, Copywriting is the act of writing copy (text) for the purpose of

advertising or marketing a product, business, person, opinion or idea. The addressee (reader,

listener, etc.) of the copy is meant to be persuaded to buy the product advertised, or subscribe to

the viewpoint the text shares.

Before we delve into describing the nature of copywriting, we shall state from the outset that the

TV Commercial or Copywriting is a feature film story told in couple of seconds. The latest an

advert subsists is sixty seconds. Some last as short as 45 to 30 seconds. This means that within

this given time, the whole story that would fill a whole tape in feature film would have been told.

The production of the commercials makes use of full production staff and crew like any full

length feature film: the Executive Producer, Producer, Director, Scriptwriter, Co-producer, Line

Producer, Production Manager, Location Manger, Production Assistant, Assistant Director,

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Script Supervisor, Continuity, Director of Photography, Sound Mixer, Boom Operator, Gaffer,

Grips, Makeup Artists, Wardrobe Person, Production Designer, Props Master, Editor, and Post

Production Supervisor and of course the Talents or Actors and Actresses. The barrage of the

personnel involve in the production of a commercial is evidence that it is not less a film or a

simpler art form. It is simply an extremely concentrated or mediated art form. If rightly

appropriated, this theatre and media element wields the potential to engage a good number of

Nigerians in gainful employment.

Generally, every attempt at addressing the challenge of unemployment in the country has been

polarized towards agriculture and agro-based product concerns, and the issues are currently trite

from over emphasis. While little or nothing is done to appropriate the potentials of theatre and

the media in arresting the harassment of unemployment and other things afflicting the continent.

The impact of Nollywood and theatre generally notwithstanding, many of the institutions of

higher learning in Nigeria are yet to establish the Department of Theatre and or Media in their

institutions. As a consequence, there are few trained hands in the business, hence, the influx of

quacks; because when the desirable is not available, they say, the available becomes desirable.

The inference is the production of works that fall below standards as many have observed in

some Nollywood films and stage dramas.

Media, Theatre and Self-help

The media and theatre are engaged in mobilizing the rural populace to the point of self help.

Very many times, the media have been in the business of sensitization, information and

enlightenment of people, where as theatre is used to drive home the points as they crystallize in

production. One theatre practice that has been handy in executing this is the one that has left the

frontiers of the fourth wall in search of the audience participation; this theatre is called Theatre

For Development (TFD), Popular Theatre (PT) or Community Theatre (CT). Though there could

be a minor difference between these three, especially in their operational strategies, all of them

have the rural populace at the fulcrum of their common front, hence our decision to use them

interchangeably in this essay.

Theatre for Development is theatre which tries to bring people to greater awareness of

their strengths and resources in a language that they understand and through cultural media with

which they are familiar Tyodoo and Iqyuray (73). They quoted Mude as seeing Tfd as praxis for

challenging obnoxious policies and the culture and of silences, as well as challenging the

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existing structures in man’s environment which hinders self development. It is also seen as a

catalytic agent that can be used rationally to handle urgent, and topical contemporary social

problems with the aim of raising popular awareness as positive revolutionary alternative to social

malaise. They recognize TfD as a form of communication that upholds social expression and

education as a means of fighting social evils and also stimulating development and communal

consciousness among the lower class.

According to Ampe T. V (5), popular theatre deals with the performance of drama,

puppetry, singing and dancing which are referred to as popular because they are not meant only

for the education of the elite but the entire community; hence, it is open to all members of the

community. The plays are sometimes performed in the local dialects and the subject matters are

the local problems that every member of the community can understand and therefore find them

useful. He defines popular theatre as a research performance of drama which may include poetry,

songs and dance that can be understood by the educated, semiliterate and the illiterate members

of the community. The performance which usually takes place in public places or the village

square also involves members of the communities as performers. It is usually free of charge and

so can be attended by everyone. He maintains that popular theatre is a veritable means of

dramatizing local problems and is capable of catching and retaining the interest of a large

number of people in the community who can easily identify with the problems presented and the

opportunities to find fresh alternatives to solving them. Through the discussion that follows such

performances, the participants and members of the audience normally exchange useful ideas and

suggestions that lead to solving the problems raised. In this respect, although popular theatre

cannot do everything, it motivates members of the community to be involved in discussing their

immediate problem and be ready to do something about solving them.

Theatre and the Media in Social Engineering

Covering the Inaugural Lecture of Foluke Ogunleye, Sola Balogun (1), quoted Professor

Ogunleye, who is a scholar of repute in the fields of Theatre and Media at the Obafemi Awolowo

University as saying that Thespians and Cineastes are Engineers of the Nigerian Soul. She

celebrated writers and dramatists, and used the lecture, to affirm that Theatre is indeed, a noble

and respectable discipline, whose practitioners have over the years helped in developing the

nation. She noted that her lecture is ‘a celebration of the theatre and Mass Media as functional

tools of societal change and nation building. She also urged Thespians and Cineastes to continue

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to address problems of society through their works, observing that through watching the plays,

viewers are involved in moral and ethical choices, which enable them the freewill to decide for

good or for evil.

By the instrumentality of theatre, human behaviour is shaped to conform to the societal

minimum acceptable standard. The idea of placing the good and the bad side by side, with the

good usually triumphing over evil is fraught in most theatre endeavors, and through this, cultural

orientation, which is at the base of the human development index is redirected in the heart of the

audiences.

Theatre of Necessity: A Proposal

Theatre of necessity as the name suggests, is theatrical practice in all its forms and

manifestations that beyond the façade of entertainment and escapism focuses on a better

humanistic value experience. It has no banal form or structure or any stereotypical mode of

expression, but it is shaped and structured by the prevailing state of affairs in the society. It

addresses issues in the society as they crop up. It is responsive, reactive and proactive in

approach. Theatre of necessity is completely antithetical to art for art sake. It is art targeted and

aimed at problem solving. As some of the most daunting challenges harassing our nation

currently are those of insecurity and unemployment. It will be out of place in the principle of

Theatre of Necessity for any art practitioner to spite these challenges by going all out to make

entertainment the fulcrum of his/her craft. Theatre of necessity can be applied in addressing the

issue of Boko Haram insurgence by developing theatrical activities that try to sort out whatever

the agitation of the group is, walk on their psyche by showing them how to go about achieving

their goals without shading blood. And because it is a theatre of conscientization, it can be used

to educate Muslim youths on how to factor other human aspects outside religion into

consideration, emphasizing that we are first human beings before being members of one religious

sect or the other. As such, if we do not consider others, who are not members of our religion on

the basis of religion, we consider them on the basis that they are human beings. Again, Theatre

of Necessity can be used to teach that someone can be a good Muslim or Christian without being

irrationally involved in some fanatical behaviours that many engage in the name of projecting or

protecting a religion. Dwelling a little longer on the issue of religion here is deliberate, because,

most of the challenges the African continent has ever faced are festered by religion, because of

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what it is, more emotions, less reasoning. Theatre of necessity seeks to address issues from their

base.

Conclusion

Interpolating from the last point, there is no better form of knowledge than that of experience.

And we all agree that one of the most popular definitions of theatre is the one that aligns it with

experience; experience often with the makers of theatre, the interpreters and the viewers, and all

of these individuals are members of the society that have certain spheres of influence. Starting

from the family, which is a microcosm of the society, theatre has unrestrictedly influenced the

way things are done. In various families now, especially since the advent of the Nollywood

films, people who used to give excuses why they would not make it to the theatre or cinema have

had theatre taken to them right in the confine and comfort of their homes, and through it, family

lives and relationships which effect the larger society directly and indirectly have tremendously

been swayed. In communities where certain loathsome practices like widowhood, idolatry, ritual

killings, wife battery and some other unwholesome social behaviours were prevalent are now

having a rethink, having been exposed to the global minimum acceptable living standards,

conditions, and rights of individuals, and as they cannot bear the stigma of the uncivilization.

Speech communication and language command are other areas where media and theatre have

helped the populace in more ways than one.

Finally, Theatre and the Media are the greatest propagandist machinery at the disposal of

any nation anywhere in the world. The level of success America has recorded today in terms of

its image in the comity of nations cannot be unconnected with the effective and positive image

laundry of the country using theatre and media, especially via its film medium. Again in almost

all Hollywood films, for the sake of one American citizen, stranded or trapped anywhere,

America would be ready to spend anything in ensuring the rescue of its citizen. This endears

American citizens to their leaders, as the citizens see them as holding their interest utmost in

their hearts. This raises the commitment of the citizens to the national course, and helps in no

small way in building the nation. Positive national conception is one of the foremost indicators of

a built nation.

African continent and indeed Nigerian nation cannot be built until the citizens, the leaders and

the led alike change the way they see issues concerning their nations. Other hallmarks of a built

nation include but not only, a nation where the majority of the citizens are enlightened, a nation

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in which the greater number of the citizens can afford descent and adequate meals each day, a

nation in which most of the citizens are employed. Media and theatre can be deployed to achieve

all this, beginning with the reorientation of all concerned.

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