Dejumo Lewis Stars as Narrator as The God's Are Not to Blame Returns to London
Veteran actor, Dejumo Lewis, will star as narrator in Ola Rotimi’s “The Gods Are Not To Blame”, when it is staged for five days at the Lost Theatre on Wandsworth road, South Ŵest London, from Sunday, April 26 to Thursday , April 30.
However, his narration will not be live, but has been recorded in what has been described as a “film-play,” where “Nollywood meets stage.”
Lewis was the Oloja of Oja village in the defunct drama series, Village Headmaster, on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and has starred in numerous stage and home video films.
Award winning actress , Theodora Ibekwe- Oyebade , who plays the role of Abero in the Ola Roriti play, disclosed this to the Daily Times.
She said that Lewis “is the narrator ,” but on the big screen.
Continuing , she said: “He has played his part already and his presence is so imposing that “it will be as if he is there,” in the two- hour stage play.
A collaborative work of Lagos -based Thespian Family Theatre and Productions and Heavy Wind Media Productions UK, the production has been tagged as a ‘Film-Play’ , and according to the artistic director, Lookman Sanusi, the audience will be treated to moving images on a cyclorama and actions on stage. Sanusi added, ” this is an inter-media concept where there will be constant flow of actions from screen to stage.”
“The idea is to expand the world of the play beyond the physical stage by bringing in exotic scenery, mixed with the African rustic setting, sounds and euphoria in order to enrich the London audience.”
The audience, Sanusi stated further in a press release, should not only be able to sympathise with the character of Odewale, but to also learn from and emulate the good aspects of his person.
“The Gods are Not to Blame, is the tragic story of Odewale, born to King Adetusa and his wife , Queen Ojuola , King and Queen of Kutuje land. After the oracle had predicted that baby Odewale’s birth was a bad omen and that he had been predestined to kill his father and then marry his mother, he was to be sacrificed to prevent this tragedy from happening. But Gbonka, King Adetusa’s special messenger thought otherwise and didn’t sacrifice the child when he got to the forest in the village of Ijekun. He gave the baby boy to a hunter who fostered him. Years later, what happened after a heated dispute in an unknown land between Adetusa and the son he thought had been sacrificed to the Gods is the very thing the oracle had predicted. Father and son engage each other without knowing each other’s identity. Odewale kills his father and only gets to know years later that when he is told .
Are the Gods to blame?
As with other productions of the play, this one also includes an impressive cast of other veteran and household names, including the duo of Nigeria-based Toyin Oshinaiki and Olarotimi Fakunle. Their London-based counterparts are Moji Bamtefa, Segun Ogunfidodo, Prince Tade Olusile and Oluwole Williams, among others .
