If you watched Bianca or have seen pics and footage from the most exciting Stage play of all time, you would have noticed the costumes.
From the very rich tapestry to the cascading colours down to the very effusive glow of the varied adornments with the evolving drippings of its exquisite accessories, you would agree that this was a job well done.
Now let me shock you. The custumier has never worked on a production before, in fact, he is my assistant cum delivery man in my office.
Michael joined us when the need to strengthen my back office became quite urgent
Light-skinned and built like an armoured tank, Michael is soft-spoken and doesn’t look for my trouble
He would quietly come to work, do his assignment and spend most of his time watching Igbo films on his phone
Part of his task is to deliver sponsorship letters. A task he hates but does not know that I know he hates it.
Many times, I’ve come close to letting him go cos he would make so many mistakes on the letters and his turnaround time is usually the worst in modern-day history
Then, our PM resigned, and we had to restructure.
At the strategy meeting, Mike offered to do the costumes, I laughed and almost fell from my seat
You, I laughed and he fought back – yes sir, I am a fashion designer and I sew on the side Sir
How many things do you want to do? I asked.
Only you are driving bus, only you are selling laptop, only you selling phone and now you want to do costume
He looked me straight in the eye and said I will do it
I am a risk taker and also like to give people platforms to try themselves but this was a risk too big.
I had never seen him wear anything that I admired, I had never seen anything he had sewed, and this was him asking to be given a budget of close to N1m to costume such a major production as Bianca.
Didn’t people go to university to study this thing? I wondered
In the last 7 years we have used a lot of expert custumiers, we have gathered some proficiency in that aspect of theatre and now have a room full of costumes that we have started a new line of costume rentals as a business and now this man wey no like to come work now wants to take the role
Well, I reluctantly agreed, and he set to work.
First, it took him days to map out and label the costumes, then he asked for an assistant – a graduate theatre arts person who quickly resigned as she could not keep at his pace.
Then we found an experienced custumier to support him and pronto a new star was born
Mike successfully costumed Bianca at a price far less than what we normally used to pay for costumes
With a cast of about 21, Mike had to costume Igbo people, yoruba people, traditional dancers, English and even masquerades.
It was such a herculean task that I pretended not to see him ‘suffer’.
The wedding scene, I am sure must have given him a lot of headache
Emeka and Bianca’s clothes, I heard he rented and to also dress the partygoers and the rest
My best piece was how he dressed the woman in the audience who was called out to comment on the pageant
She was in a white ensemble, with a beautiful white hat to cap it and she looked like someone from the Victorian times
Then the Narrator or chronicler was my second best. His three-quarter pants and black socks and shoes gave it a comedic appeal without losing its elegance
Michael still had time to even be on stage as one of the elders who escorted Ojukwu to Onohs house to ask for her hand in marriage
Michael did wonderfully well on this production and I must say that I feel warmth with the way he recognised his purpose and with the way he fought for it but very importantly with the success he made of it
Michael will be the head costumier for the Ekiti Theatre Festival, he truly deserves it
Take your flowers, bro
Duke of Shomolu