Hope Eghagha, The Oily Marriage

Summary

In the Author's Note introducing this play, Professor Hope Eghagha writes: ‘There is something ferociously lusty about the smell of crude oil that attracts both men and women; that makes people want to exploit, decimate or exterminate whole populations of human beings.’

Set in the Niger Delta, a play that starts off as a simple love story between the daughter of a Chief and a young university lecturer from another community, rapidly turns into a destructive set of manoeuvres as families negotiate the fate of their children as objects to be traded to increase their political power and influence and personal wealth.

The action is vigorously and skilfully crafted and, though the plot is overwhelmingly pessimistic, the final statement, in which the heroine, ‘Maiden’ says ‘My father loved me because I was his gateway to national wealth, fame and politics … my father who I loved so dearly also commoditized me’, ends defiantly as she sets out to create an independent life.

As an interesting footnote concerning production, the cast list for the play's premiere at the University of Lagos in 2017, lists 19 characters plus a group of ‘youths from the community’, a cast list of over 60 actors! Clearly a vigorous production process!