Bolanle Austen-Peters Production on Sunday, December 15, 2019, opened its production of the Fela and the Kalakuta Queens play at the Terra Kulture Arena, Lagos.
The play opened to a dramatic and colourful song and dance routine by the cast that got the audience excited for what was to come. Throughout the play, the use of lights was genius, the stage was colourful and aesthetically pleasing, the costumes and choreography were well-coordinated and everything came together to make a beautiful play presented by brilliant actors.
The play was well attended with the audience filling the Terra Kulture Arena hall. Some of the songs performed include Zombie, Water No Get Enemy, Shakara and other classic Fela songs.
The play tells the tale of the Kalakuta House, occupied by the legendary Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and his Queens who performed with him. Kalakuta being a caricature of Calcutta, the prison cell that Fela inhabited during one of his arrests. Fela and the Kalakuta Queens depicts the triumphs and trials of this group of rebels, who tried to change the society and hold the government accountable through their outspoken, satiric music.
As much as there was humour and banter in the play, displayed by the squabbles between the Kalakuta Queens for time with Fela in the Kalacondo, the undercurrent of seriousness was never lost with issues such as skin bleaching, police and army brutality, government corruption and other societal issues continually coming up.
At the end of the show, two real-life Kalakuta Queens, who were integral to the accurate portrayal of the story being told, came up on stage and shared some of their stories with the audience. Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti, Fela’s first child, was also in attendance and she shared an emotional moment on stage with Bolanle Austen-Peters, the producer of the play.
MTN, in support of arts and culture in Nigeria, is one of the sponsors of the production. Fela and the Kalakuta Queens will be showing till January 2020, at the Terra Kulture Arena, Lagos.
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by 208headlines