By Maik Aondona Ortserga
A veritable way of empowering people towards achieving sustainable development is through drama. This is confirmed by Iorwuese Hagher in an interview with Al-Bishak where he said “Theatre (drama) is the greatest mobiliser of human beings, but what it causes is thought, and thought is the genesis of change” (335).Drama has conscientisation as one of its functions and a conscientised mind eventually drops certain wrong attitudes and replaces them with fresh ones acquired as a result of the conscientisation process undergone in reading or watching a play (Rose Akaaer 319). In Sunrise at Night, H.O.C Kochis takes a journey into the threshold of consciousness, and reports back to us some important lessons on deciding between what is morally just and what is unjust.
Creatively reconstructing the world of the Nigerian reality, Kochis uses simplicity of diction as well as unity of place time and action in his play, Sunrise at Night which has already won the ANA-Benue Patrick Ityohegh Drama Prize. This approach is derived from Kochis’ understanding of the intricate experience of struggles for justice by those with a strong sense of right and wrong. The play revolves around Ocho, a sophisticated and mentally alert member of Aloama community, who in spite of a decree, handed down by the village diety to its dubious priests that he would die, remains unshaken in his belief about what is right as he says, while he sits in his chair and takes his snuff:
Ocho : The mere miscarriage of justice by this village on me gives me no worries – their gods must be reasonable this time. The fact is that nobody wants to know the clues to the underlying matters…so let that die away .The wrong impression created everywhere in this village is that of class distinction, rich and poor, religious and unreligious – which are the misty mistress of the lot (31).
Ocho, who represents change, is very much aware of the injustice being perpetrated on his people through the medium of the gods and their dubious priests, and is all out to challenge them. This explains why the judges of ANA-Benue Patrick Ityohegh Drama Prize describe the play as “treating the universal struggle between tradition and change”, and as Terhemba Wuam submits; in his forward to this play “…the play has treated creditably the eternal struggle of individuals who challenge out-dated systems. Sometimes their struggles are frontal attacks on the existing other; or they take more subtle forms as demonstrated by Ocho in this intellectually stimulating play.” As the play unfolds, an army of less discerning adherents of the prevailing tradition is mobilised to execute the plan of eliminating Ocho. Ojimba who is the leader of this group set the tone of the conflict in the play quite early in the text where he says:
Ojimba:We shall match straight to Ocho’s house, finish him and return to this playground to report to our elders who will soon gather here…who dares to question the order from the gods?(17)
But in the face of this serious threat to his life, Ocho deploys his power of reasoning to overcome all the challenges, through sheer tact and wisdom by treating the desperate, hungry youths who have come to carry out the god’s order to a sumptuous feast. After being fed by the victim, the law of spiritual gravity that pulls people down when they do evil, naturally tugs at the consciences of the youths and makes them unable to lift a finger on Ocho and his family. The peaceful resolution of the conflict in the final analysis of this 49 page book published by Aboki Publishers, Makurdi makes a strong case for it to be recommended for its dramatic presentation on conflict resolution.
Moreover, Sunrise at Night portrays a world that is still very much extant today. In the face of the ever increasing challenge of insecurity in the society, what people need is the creative ability to overcome these challenges, while sticking to their principles and trying, through honest means, to carve out a space for themselves in the face of harsh conditions. In Nigeria today, millions of people are very similar to Ocho, managing to do the right things as they face a future that every day seems to grow more bleak- rising unemployment, poverty, falling wages etc. Kochis’ play is an attempt to communicate the predicament of these ordinary Nigerians in a manner that is astonishingly innovative.
Maik Ortserga is an Executive Editor with Aboki Publishers, Makurdi as well as Secretary, Benue Association of Nigerian Authors ANA.