PAWS brings Nobel Laureate 'Madmen and Specialist' to stage

zainab quadri

July 13, 2015 11:52 AM

A theatre production outfit of repute, this July, is bringing to the stage Prof. Wole Soyinka's Madmen and Specialist.

Performing Arts Workshop and Studios (PAWS), a theatre production outfit of repute, this July, is bringing to the stage Prof. Wole Soyinka's Madmen and Specialist, to be directed by Kenneth Uphopho. For many to whom theatre is still a mystery, Uphopho's directing has been found to possess cultured creativity borne of practice and a true understanding of what real theatre should look like.

The play, slated for one of Lagos's most popular confluences of theatre performances, Terra Kulture, on the 19th and 26th of July, 2015, is certainly very expected.

PAWS Studios, in the past, have been truly outstanding with their ardent staging of several plays, such as Camwood on the Leaves, The Wives, Rubiewe, Shattered, and Death and the King's Horseman, among others. The addition of Soyinka's powerful dramatic offering, Madmen and Specialist, this July, is certainly another feather to the cap.

Madmen & Specialists is set in the aftermath of the Nigeria Civil War and the resultant debilitating effect on the citizenry as civilians or military. In the play, Bero, a doctor, left his practice to participate in the war with his father, who also left for the war to work among the injured and recuperating soldiers at war.

Truly a depiction of many real life stories of war veterans who did carry no arms but bear the scars and scrapes of a war they witnessed, Madmen and Specialist is a timeless piece that today's world can still relate to.

Madmen and Specialist, directed by Kenneth Uphopho (Director of Saro the Musical and Single in Gidi), features thespians like Patrick Diabuah, Bolanle Haastrup-Atitebi, Jeniffer Osammor, Austin Onuoha, Kelvinmary Ndukwe, amongst others.

Lew Grade, a film producer, once stated that award-winning plays are written for the critics alone. I believe that a play like Soyinka's doesn't just become a bone for critics to crack, but is milk and meat for denizens of the theatre, who avidly pursue theatre for the pedagogic sustenance every good play provides.

zainab quadri