Edgar – the sweet fluid voice of the princess of the east came on the phone
Your Excellency, I jumped on the call leaving my laptop where I was sending over 50 letters looking for the over N50m that I need to deliver this iconic production
One lady just accosted me here in New York where I had come to attend an international women’s conference, and she was talking about you.
Piss catch me. Kai, Senator Natasha don finally get her revenge. Everybody knows that I stand very firmly with Akpabio on that matter and have been yabbying Senator Natasha till this morning when my column carried her beautiful face in mockery of her latest gambit
Oh, Your Excellency, I began to deny my write-ups, but she continued
I don’t even know the lady, but she knows you very well and took me through your work and mentioned that you were having problems with me.
You see why it’s good to be writing broadcast. The broadcast goes very far o
See a woman in New York carrying my matter.
I relaxed and said, Your Excellency, don’t mind her oo. Which problem, I don’t know anybody in New York o
She laughed – Edgar, she was very passionate about your work and really spoke very glowingly about you
I smiled and started wearing my pants. I was naked and didn’t want Madam to say lets do a video call and I’m standing there like a Buffon
In my short theatrical career, I have worked with some very iconic Nigerians
Chief Obasanjo sat us down for about five hours and took a toothpick to the script
Dr Tokunboh Awolowo Dosunmu used Zoom to teach us some lessons in history
Her Excellency Bianca Ojukwu sat me down in her office and talked about the dialectics of the message we were about to throw out
A lawyer, a brilliant leader and a powerful woman still with the lithe stubborn stint insisted on seeing the script and going through it.
We submitted the script and waited for her.
Greetings Joseph
I trust you are well.
I am on my way to New York.
I have gone through the script, and there is a need to correct a couple of perspectives, which is imperative for the greater authenticity of the narrative.
The concept is eclectic, in line with today’s innovative approach to screenplays and drama sketches, but this story is not amenable to a single postcard narrative.
The underlying theme of the play would need to be more powerfully accentuated so that it is not just more authentic but Will resonate through time – was the message I received a few days after.
Wow. I quickly called Ikuku the writer – Ikuku hopes say u read your PhD hope no bet honorary cos I go run away o
My impressions of Bianca as a deeply accentuated intellectual was built at the two meetings but this message told me very clearly that I could be playing close to – out of my league
So this evening, she took me through an hour of deep and retrospective culling of the script, pointing out lines, themes and concepts that needed to be realigned.
I understood what she was trying to do. She believes that we were pandering to the whims of modern society but that, the authenticity of tradition and its infallibility can not be sacrificed
Edgar, there is no way I would have told my father I was abandoning my legal career. We are a family of lawyers all five of us.
In those days, I could never have ‘motioned’ my mother. I wouldn’t dare.
As we went through the script, the Bianca that we all didn’t know started emerging.
The stubbornness which kept her true to her convictions was within the boundaries of a huge respect for the authority of her father, who represented tradition and culture.
She was firm in her resolutions but still under the abiding respect of authority
This was against the grain of today’s – fuck off- and middle finger approach to authority
She also talked about the underlying themes that the audience would be left with and illustrated with the play Evita which she had seen severally.
She talked about the scene where Evita told her husband to pull his jacket and roll up his sleeves which resonated with the workers
She mentioned three iconic moments in this story that would push out the underlying themes of conviction, respect for authority and independence of choice
By the time she finished, I had 8 full scap sheets of notes taken.
I thanked her and offered to clean up the notes send them to the writer and send her another version of the script
She said ok and we had small talk and she went off the phone
Wow, I rushed to the bathroom to take my bath – I don’t bath on Sundays, while thanking God for giving me access to iconic Nigerians like Mrs Bianca Ojukwu
Bianca will play at the Shell Hall of the Muson Centre on 1st May 2025 – I don pay for the hall.
Ibom Air, FBN, Unified Payments, Orangeline, Anchor are the initial soonsors. Zenith Bank is looking good
Kai
Duke of Shomolu
Last modified: March 17, 2025
