Kinetic Scenery and Experimentation in Nigerian Theatre
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Date
2024
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Journal of Humanities and Peace Studies
Abstract
Scenographers in Nigeria rarely delve into experimental design but embrace the
easy option of crossing pedestal boundaries due to technical challenges. A
common example is J.P. Clark’s The Raft 1, which requires building a live raft,
although Clark also suggests an improvised option of using a mat. How can these
two provide the same experience for the paying audience? Molinta Enendu dared
to surmount this drab option when 1987 he built a befitting raft for Clark’s The
Raft on the University of Calabar stage to sail convincingly, rotating in several
directions under the star-spangled night sky. A second and yet more inspiring and
challenging was Noah Built the Ark2 (1995), a dramatic adaptation of James
Weldon Johnson’s poem of the same title. It was a realistic construction of a sea
liner that rocked and rose with the flood of lights, thus breaking the barrier of
being the first convincing cruising set on a Nigerian theatre stage. The production
photographs were lost due to poor storage, dampness, and humidity. 43 years on,
and in all ramifications, no other theatre designer in Nigeria has attempted to
match that achievement. This study goes beyond narratives to retrace the
production process and carefully reconstruct the lost designs due to their immense
value to scene design practice and as posterity for theatre studies in Nigeria