“Development need not be an enemy of culture.” Nigerian theatre director Se-gun Ojewuyi mops his brow lightly as he speaks. It’s a warm afternoon, in the middle of rehearsals for the evening’s performance, but he presents as remarkably composed and unhurried, as he reflects on his first visit to Israel.
Last week, the National Troupe of Nigeria visited Israel, guests of the Africa Israeli Stage, a diverse and burgeoning Israeli company building invaluable cultural ties with the Africa. During its brief visit, the Troupe participated in a gala performance at the Tel Aviv Museum, part of the celebrations of Nigeria’s 51st Independence anniversary. But the visit was about more than serving as ambassadors of the rich, diverse but often under-appreciated cultural tradition of Nigeria, and by extension the continent. The visit was also – from Ojewuyi’s words – an opportunity to contemplate invaluable pointers about the role of culture emphasizing a positive national identity.
The National Troupe of Nigeria is the premier performing arts institution in Nigeria, tasked with celebrating the cultural heritage of Nigeria through dance, music and drama. With an extensive and impressive record of national and international tours, the Troupe chose to present, on its first visit to Israel, a performance of The Engagement, written by the noted Nigerian playwright and dramatist Femi Osofisan.
Adapted from the Chekov play The Marriage Proposal, The Engagement is an interesting and topical choice for an international performance, as Martin Adaji, the artistic director of the National Troupe of Nigeria explains. “The characters focus on material issues, quibbling and wasting energy arguing about insignificant matters, whilst overlooking substantive matters – human emotions. It is true of human nature in general,” he posits.
The Engagement is a simple yet pointed farce, focusing on the repeatedly thwarted attempts of the principal character to ask the hand of his neighbor’s daughter in marriage. He searches for the inner resolve to pluck up enough courage to do the deed; however, he allows himself to be sidetracked – to hilarious effect – by diversionary issues, that take both him and his intended away from the matter at hand.
Humor can be a remarkably effective yet subtle tool for exploring human foibles. “The play is rooted in the tradition of Moliere,” Adaji observes, “taking comedy from slapstick to a sophisticated tool for observation and comment on moral issues.” It goes without saying that the material obsessions of the original – land, wealth, ownership – transfer effectively, across time and geographical location, from original to adaptation. More significantly, these very factors resonated even with an Israeli audience not necessarily schooled in the intricacies of African culture.
It is this principle, of cultural universality, that underpins the existence of the Africa-Israeli Stage, the organizers and beneficiaries of the gala event at Tel Aviv Museum. As Yaffa Schuster, co-founder of the company explains, art employs a shared language; however, it is important to remind audiences of this. “The challenge is to move beyond the inclination, amongst western audiences, to engage with art from Africa from an exotic perspective,” she says during a short break from rehearsals for the evening’s event. “The primary function of art, all art, is to provide catharsis, moving beyond the transient enjoyment of the moment.”
Schuster’s involvement with art and theatre from Africa dates back many years. Her first exposure, she relates, dates back to her student days in the diverse social and educational environment at Haifa University. “I was from Jerusalem, it was the first time I had had the opportunity to engage with Ethiopian culture,” she says.
In 1994, she founded the Netela theatre company – the name referred to the traditional shroud-like garments worn by many Ethiopians, a play on the notion of white on black, she says. An early inspiration was the Nigerian Nobel Prize laureate, Wole Soyinka. “Once you discover Soyinka, you wonder, ‘how is it that other people do not know this?’’
Netela’s principal objective was to focus on cultural creation from across the African continent – plays, poetry, literature and folktales. Along with collaborator Eitan Salem, the company staged the Soyinka play, The Lion and the Jewel, at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007, a performance that earned praise from the playwright himself.
Netela eventually disbanded, but the passion endured. Schuster and Salem re-grouped as the African-Israeli Stage; the company toured Nigeria in 2010, per-forming at the National Theatre in Lagos and at the Obafemi Awolow University in Ile-Ife – the cradle of the Yoruba culture indigenous to south-western Nigeria. The tour was well received, and laid the foundations for collaboration with the National Troupe of Nigeria.
But for this success, promoting non-indigeneous art forms in Israel has not always been easy. Schuster notes that part of the problem is the perspective from which local audiences tend to engage with creative endeavor from unfamiliar sources. For instance, she continues, western audiences are largely unfamiliar with the oral traditions from which much African art finds its origins. Is the answer to this expanding the horizons of the ‘gate-keepers’, the custodians of cultural reference points? “Yes,” she replies. “But it must be something that one does because one wants to, not just some superficial of politically correct contact.”
Eitan Salem, the co-founder of the African-Israeli Stage, came to Israel from Ethiopia at the age of 10. Even then, he says, he knew that something was missing from the cultural conversation in Israel. “Something was missing,” he relates. “There was no meaningful representation of my culture.”
Israel is not always the easiest of places to live in for people who fall outside the demographic mainstream. One way of narrowing the gaps, Salem argues, is by broadening the cultural horizons of the population. “It’s a gateway to appreciating and respecting other cultures and traditions,” he notes. “It is a shame that even now, the world is largely unaware of the rich, ancient culture of Africa.”
Cultural education is a two way street, as Segun Ojewuyi observes. An assistant Professor of Directing and Acting at Southern Illinois University, Ojewuyi has over 20 years experience of directing across Europe and the United States. The recipient of numerous awards, including a Commonwealth Fellowship and a Ford Foundation grant, Ojewuyi is presently on sabbatical from his teaching position with the National Troupe of Nigeria. “Nigerian theatre is resilient, and continues to play an important role in the general pool of Nigerian development,” he remarks. “I will return from my sabbatical refreshed, recharged and with new ideas for work in America taken from a different context.”
Ojewuyi uses an interesting phrase to describe the process: “My cultural vocabulary has expanded.” And how has the visit to Israel contributed to this process of developing his cultural vocabulary? His answer is revealing.
“In Israel, scientific and technological development is rooted in the appreciation of the country’s underlying culture.” He pauses to look around the hall. “This interplay, between culture and development is missing in the contemporary Nigerian dialogue. We need to find a way to tap into our cultural values, rather than borrowing, rather than creating a hybrid with no contextual roots.” Interesting food for thought.
