Iya-Ile (The First Wife)
Soho Theatre, London
Power breeds contempt and contempt spawns revenge. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1989, Oladipo Agboluaje’s new drama, Iya-Ile (The First Wife), explores the naked abuse of power by focusing on the 40th birthday celebrations of Toyin, the wife of Chief Adeyemi. However, there is a problem that threatens this joyful day. Chief Adeyemi wants his wife’s help in some crucial political networking. But her price – for him to refrain from infidelity – is too high.
In this household, Toyin’s power is chiefly expressed in her brute tyranny over the servants, especially Helen, the house girl. Every exchange between them is marked by the contempt of the mistress and the servant’s antagonism. Gradually, it emerges that Helen is not such a walkover and that her desire for revenge is slowly getting stronger.
As the family — with its two sons, the older Yinka and the younger son Soji — gathers, one of the newly-rich wives from the ruling military class invites Toyin to head the association for Better Life for Rural Women. With typical arrogance, Toyin refuses – much to her husband’s annoyance. Meanwhile, Yinka is trying to seduce Helen and Soji wants a revolution to overthrow the generals.
But when Soji’s radical hero is released from prison, he appears to be ready to join the elite, which is further bolstered by a local television evangelist. Everywhere, ideals are compromised by the lust for power, whether the ends of power are women, money or status. And Soji’s disillusionment has a bitter taste. Agboluaje’s view of Nigerian society is convincing, but bleak.
Written in a strong, but often obscure, mix of standard English, pidgin and Yoruba, this is a comedy – but a comedy with teeth. As we laugh, part of us rejoices at not having to live in this society. At the same time, Agboluaje’s skill in weaving together the personal and the political has a resonance for anyone who has despaired of the motives of their spouses as well as their rulers — and surely that includes us all.
One more thing: although Iya-Ile (The First Wife) is a prequel to Agboluaje’s 2006 hit, The Estate (which also ran at the Soho), it can easily be enjoyed on its own merits as an energetic, exciting and entertaining show.
Director Femi Elufowoju Jr’s vigorous production for the Tiata Fahodzi theatre company features dance sequences – to the music of Fela Kuti and Sunny Ade – and some powerful acting, especially from Jude Akuwudike as the Chief, Antonia Okonma as Toyin and Estella Daniels as Helen. Some of the show is a bit messy round the edges, but somehow this doesn’t matter much.
As Soji and Yinka, Tobi Bakare and Babatunde Aleshe are nicely contrasted, while some design choices, such as the comically huge headdresses, make their satirical point about ambition, greed and climbing the social ladder with visual flair. Although the exuberance of the show tends to distract from the underlying seriousness of its vision of a society corrupted to the core by the ambitions and rivalries of all its members, Agboluaje’s play feels authentic and offers a timely look at power relationships in Africa – and nearer home.
Aleks Sierz
