Ola Awakan Takes Play To Alma Mater To Preach Tolerance , Peaceful Coexistence 

Ola Awakan Takes Play To Alma Mater To Preach Tolerance , Peaceful Coexistence

It was a serenade of standing ovation and loud cheers at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye Ogun State after the performance of the play “The Madness that cures my Land” written by the award-winning broadcast journalist and dramatist, Ola Awakan.

According to Awakan, the play directed by Ifeanyi Eziukwu was staged at the institution’s Mass Communication Hall to commemorate the United Nation’s International Day of Human Fraternity and is currently on a tour across higher institutions in the country.

The Playwright and Convener of the tour, an alumnus of the institution added that the performance of the play was his way of giving back to his alma mater as well as to educating the upcoming creative minds to dream big, go after their passion and imbibe the spirit of tolerance for society development.

According to the Head of Mass Communication Department, Dr Lanre Akinola, the feedback and reaction from the students who thronged the venue was very impressive.

“It shows that people are still interested in theatre and what we need to do is to continue pushing our stories to the stage”

Furthermore, he commended the writer for his “unique style of using madness to uniquely tell a moral story”

Also, Dr. Opeyemi Asaolu, a lecturer at the Performing Arts Department reiterated that despite people having low attention span these days, the play shows that the theatre can still be used as an agent of change when it is well directed towards a defined purpose and meets the needs of its audience.

He also commended the playwright and production team for a job well done, revealing that all the scenes have “intricate lessons to be learnt”

Peter Olawuyi, President of the Association of Students’Communicators  applauded the play calling it a “success” and stating that it is now a source of motivation for his fellow students.

Others revealed the production of the play “the Madness that cures my Land”, which was jointly hosted by the Performing Arts Students Association and the Association of Students’Communicators of OOU as an effort that gave the students an avenue to relax, take a break from studies and have fun.

They added that unlike other media forms, the theatre is life and so allows the audience to physically experience the raw emotions and suspense of any performance.

“The Madness that Cures my Land” is a satirical play that addresses the subjects of tolerance, karma, integrity and human values. It was performed by the Just Theatre House and produced by Artswax Communications. It has toured the Lagos State University and now Olabisi Onabanjo University, and is still moving to other schools.