The “Lion and the Jewel” for Theater Guild
The Lion and the Jewel was the first major play to draw on traditional Yoruba poetry, music, and dance to tell a Nigerian story in English. The play enabled Nigerian drama to become part of world theatre.
The production is a comedy set in the small remote village of Ilujinle. There are three central characters: Lakunle, an eager but naïve schoolteacher who accepts Western ideas and modernity without really understanding them; Baroka, the village chief, who sees modern ideas as a threat to his power; and Sidi, the jewel of the village, a beautiful woman who will choose one of the men for a husband.
The characters are exaggerated: Lakunle is arrogant and talks too much, and Baroka is cunning, but they are ultimately likable. Unlike many of Soyinka’s later plays, there is no evil in this play, and the author pokes only gentle fun at his characters. In the end, the men will have to deal with each other. As Baroka says, “the old must flow into the new.”
The play focuses on several conflicts that Soyinka presents but does not attempt to resolve. Lakunle and Baroka embody the contrary urges toward modernity and tradition. They personify the two sides of the major social and political issue in Africa during the last half of the 20th century.
The play is now on the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) list of drama texts for its CSEC examination. This fairly straightforward but somewhat alien drama, alien to students of this part of the world, is dramatised by Godfrey Naughton and a brilliant cast.
The book, like all others is being chosen by CXC for Literature was written to be performed to bring out its nuances and traditions of its host playwrights. The conundrum this created was somewhat alleviated when Naughton chose to dramatise these texts all across Guyana for schools and general audiences.
From Saturday, February 21 to Thursday, March 5, the play can be viewed at the Theatre Guild Playhouse in the finest traditions of great stagings by that venerable institution. The cast boasts leading artists such as Guyana Prize winner Mosa Telford, Clinton Duncan, Kim Fernandes, Candacy Baveghens and introducing singer/ dancer/ actor Kefa Smith.
They are backed by 20 other dancers, singers and actors who introduce Guyana to the “total” nature of African Theatre. The event is sponsored by Digicel and Impressions and is presented by the Theatre Guild.
