The play “The Engagement” by Sefi Atta is ready to make a second appearance at the prestigious MUSON Centre in October 2017, a place where it endeared its exhilarating storyline into the hearts of Nigerian drama lovers at the maiden outing in 2005.
Written in 2002 and was first broadcast on BBC radio, “The Engagement” explores the conspiracies and tension of a relationship that has advanced to pre-wedding flourishing as entailed by the eponymous title. So many hearts have been shattered in the ever-busy romantic scene, and it is either men are at the receiving end or the women folks seem the losers of everything.
In July of 2014, the play was a headliner at the Taruwa Festival. It has maintained relevance in the Nigerian literary sphere with many reviews and has also become a subject of discourse on matters where its thematic preoccupations are deliberated.
In an announcement at a recent press briefing at Muson Centre, Kitoyi Ibare-Akinsan, chairman, festival organising committee, said, “The 21st MUSON festival of the Arts has adopted “The Engagement” by Sefi Atta as its Chevron Festival Drama for the year, so named after its sponsor since 2001 and would be directed by Dr. Patrick-Jude Oteh of the Jos Repertory Theatre”.
But in what seems to be a resurgence of a place for morally superior women or something close to a nudge for such, some men have been dominated while most women still continue to count their losses in the interminable love escapades. You will find out more at the staging of this awesome play at the MUSON Centre on October 21, 2017.
Expected to take the centre-stage on Saturday October 21, 2017, there will be two shows (2pm & 6pm) at the same Agip Recital Hall, MUSON Centre in which adults are to pay N3,000 while students with ID card would gain entrance paying N2,000. The evening show is pegged at N5,000 flat.
Watch the unfolding suspense between two adults prepared to walk down the aisle, the implications and complications, the rippling effects and ultimately the denouement makes seeing the live performance a worthwhile effort this October at Muson Centre.
OBINNA EMELIKE
