Amadi, a retired army captain at the end of Nigeria’s civil war in 1970 contributed his plays, Isiburu ( a classic) and Peppersoup (a comedy), night time entertainment and relaxation efforts in Port Harcourt, in the early years of the post war-era. Ever since, Amadi, who was also awarded a national honour has moved on, using the electronic media to popularise his writings.
Now 75, the Ikwere, Rivers State-born chief is deploying his creative energy into screen interpretation of the works, beginning with his latest play, The Woman of Calabar.
The play has since been adapted and produced for TV by upwardly mobile, Victoria Ajayi’s Kaymouzo Productions and is being aired on Lagos TV Stations and RSTV Port Harcourt. Shortly after his arrival from holiday to the United Kingdom, he told Daily Sun that his foray into TV was part of a creative process that began shortly after the Biafran war. “ It’s just that one has to move on with time. Since the end of the war, my plays have been shown on stage; Isiburu, Pepper Soup, The Road to Ibadan, and now The Woman of Calabar.”
As the arrowhead of a creative forging in the Garden City at the end of the war, the writer recalled, “ the idea then was that I wanted people to have some form of relaxation. So, I began to produce some of my plays on stage. Now, I’m going into TV fully.”
Having sold the film right of his popular novel, The Concubine, ostensibly, the retired public servant was enamoured by the power and flexibility of the camera lens. But for a man of letters like Amadi, his first challenge was, which of the plays comes first? He tells you,“ the simple answer is that, one has to start somewhere. It was just accidental we’re starting with The Woman of Calabar. Actually, it would have been Peppersoup, but I felt the former rings a bell.”
Aside that, he recalled that the play had been on his mind, but awaiting a push.
“ One particular evening, I was going to the backyard, and I missed my step. After that, I suffered a terrible dislocation. For weeks, I was bedridden in the hospital. While I stayed indoor, I asked myself that rather than keep indoors, let me do something. It was that painful experience that gave birth to the play.”
The romance story which debunked certain beliefs about Efik women, although fictional, is tinged with reminiscences. “ I lived and worked in Calabar for one year as a surveyor. I mingled with the people, I picked bits and pieces of their culture and combined it with the myth surrounding the women.” According to the playwright, “ Calabar women are very pretty and the belief is that, if they get hold of a man, he would not escape. People thought that they use charms on men, but it is far from that.”
Given scathing criticisms over Nollywood’s purported failure to avail itself of abundant literatures in the land in their storylines, the former chairman, Association of Nigerian of Authors (ANA), Rivers State chapter explained; “ the reason is very simple. The copyrights of some of the classics are quite expensive to buy. So, the young producers shy away from anything that involves a huge amount of money.
They would rather engage scriptwriters than pay millions of naira. Actually, some of them have approached me that they want to produce Isiburu, and Peppersoup. But when we started talking about the copyright terms and the money involved, they simply told me, “ Oga, we’ll come back, but they never did. Coupled with that is the fact that those classics were well written that it would require millions of naira to produce them properly for film. ”
Was the above disclosure, a confirmation of the several millions, it was rumoured, Amadi pocketed after selling the film right of The Concubine to some foreign-based producers? Although, he was not categorical about how much he got, he allowed his fans to read in between the lines. “ There is no way the film right of a classic like The Concubine would have come cheap. But the amount was exaggerated by the public,” he disclosed.
Soft spoken, yet blunt, it would amaze you that the retired public servant, and recently, Chairman, Rivers State Scholarship Board, could still muster the courage to rap government at various levels over their apathy for the arts and creativity. “ Unfortunately, our governments are not showing enough interest in the arts. Instead, there is so much politicking, so much grabbing of money that at the end of the day, a little is given to the arts.”
The culture promoter who was unsparing in his condemnation of the trend, called on governments to be more responsive. He recalled that from the olden times to modern societies, artistes and creativity had been nurtured and sustained by the state. He wondered why Nigeria should be an exemption.
“The princes and monarchs, who patronised the arts in the olden times have since been replaced by governments. In the U.K. for example, you would be surprised at the amount they spend on the culture, books, museums, prizes. ”According to him, there is nowhere in the world the arts pays for itself, hence, it is an aberration for Nigerian government to abandon the practitioners to their fate.
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