The Nigerian musical theatre that reconciles the conflict of the old and young generation

Although fully packed to capacity, the National Theatre was filled with thrilled theatre lovers who were encapsulated by the artisanship of storytelling in all its enveloped complexities.

The beauty of such plays as this was is not about the numbers that trooped in to cheer the beauty of the art, or the flaunting usage of Shakespearean diction but in the simplicity of the art while embracing the diversity and confusion that the plot presents.

The audience was embraced with a welcoming performance of live jazz to make up for the slight delay before the commencement of the play.

Itan, is descriptively at best a musical theatre that captures the essence of a harmonious human existence through the variances between the contemporary world and the older generation.

If you’re no lover of winding plots, you may get bored at the very onset of the play trying to fit the pieces together. You may even hate having paid for the show through to the middle if you’re just not a fun of back stories and thoughtful considerations of the art…and that is no sin. Some people just want to laugh.

However, if you intimate with the story, you’d find the beauty in the art as it concludes; a story of reconciliation and generational diversity told in a rather unorthodox way.

The play begins with a series of dance sequences that highlight the tradition of the Nigerian people. As customary, the dancers were clothed in their native regalia as they showed off different transitions of their culture in dance.

They were then battled by another set of youthful contemporary dancers that intercepted their decorum of rhythm with their loud discordant hip hop tunes.

Although, not the ideal start, this scene sets the tone for the story to begin. The plot continues with the conflicts of the two worlds; the modern youthful era of exuberance and the old traditional life of past.

The story centers on two characters, one young and the other aged, who are taken on a perspective ride into the past and into the future to reconcile the differences between them.

Through the past, ‘Itan, The Story’ tells us how the genesis of the old past through the eyes of the present and the revelation of the future intertwine in a confluence of unity. We come by such unity by understanding that we are plagued by the same fears, mistakes, opportunities, and challenges yet blessed by similar opportunities irrespective of the timelines in which we find ourselves.

The mood of the play switches from a musical artistry to a more re

latable comedy of interesting characters as it nears the peak and swells in the excellence of performances till the end.

Written and performed by Nigerians, the play is a commencement of hopefully a blissful relationship between the National Theatre of Ghana and our sister nation Nigeria as partners in growth in art and theatre.

The show saw an appreciable representation of the Nigerians theatre enthusiasts in the country and a delegation from the Nigerian Embassy to grace the occasion.

The audience was filled with joyous satisfaction and couldn’t restrain their smiles, applause, and appreciation for the cast and the entire production team. The production team expressed their exceeding delight for all present for making the show a beautiful success.