Description

Then She Said It WERE it to be staged during the military era, the playwright, cast and crew would have successfully booked themselves a place in some detention camps that dotted the length and breath of this country. Then She Said, a new and explosive drama by Tess Onwueme showcases the multi-nationals and the fate suffered by the people of the South South geo-political zone of the country Hungeria [Nigeria]... The endless cries of the oppressed, the traumatized and brutalized women of Africa who are constantly agitating for emancipation, can also be heard from this latest work of the Delta State-born scholar... Recently at the Chinua Achebe Arts Theatre, University of Calabar, the Nigerian Guild of Actors treated the university community to another spectacular production of the play... Each scene cuts a grim picture of the devastating effects of explosion of oil pipelines which kill scores in its wake, the immediate and remote effect of oil pollution in the society... The audience was touched in a scene, when a thousand and one job seekers, armed with their credentials, turned up in response to a notice for the hiring of a security guard for the oil club...Another pathetic spectacle presented itself when they filed out with assorted jerry-cans to buy kerosene [and fuel] at a service station for domestic use... They have their hopes dashed when the smart [fuel] Attendant refuses to sell the commodity to them on grounds of non-availability: preferring instead, to strike a deal with a dubious businessman who is to come back later to pick up the commodity in commercial quantity... In the midst of all these calamities of absurd proportions, [the] General...who is the Lord of Hungeria orders that all activists and members of the public, who dare agitate for a better deal be...'shot at sight...and then ignore what the world would say'... Frankly, Onwueme's plays have persistently tried to project issues of poverty, powerlessness, crises of identity, class inequality as well as economic empowerment. Then She Said obviously has added to her stable, which is flowering with 14...plays and a novel.