Effort Outshines All Else in Otaelo

The ‘New Arts Theatre’ at the University of Nigeria Nsukka Campus is anything but new. It was the location of the performance of Ahmed Yerima’s ‘Otaelo’, which is a re-imagination of William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’. Directed by Mary Ikenwe and assisted by Eunice Obidudu, the performance was meant to feature twice, on the 26th and 27th of March 2026, with differences in characterization and production. This review, however, focuses only on the first mostly because the second showing was a critical failure. Not only was it fraught with mistakes, (one of the most egregious being that some stage preparations were caught by the action lights) but it also failed to be engaging and only managed to hold on till the end. Now let’s look at the first production.

There is an architectural brilliance to how the theatre’s stage was designed to sit low from the elevated grandstand, allowing for a full unobstructed view of the performance regardless of where you sat in the audience. 

The play began with an outpour of vibrant lights on the characters who were richly dressed in the Igbo traditional attire. The stage decoration was evidence of a minimal budget; decorative vases were tucked full with grass, equipment were covered in materials whose colour did not match. The truth was: this was a struggling, underfunded theatre production. The material used to build the set, especially the royal palace of the king and his council, was quite flimsy. But the performance made up for the drab aesthetics. 

Aristotle wrote about ‘Karthasis’ in his Poetics, which is the ability of tragedy to lead to the purgation of emotions in the audience. Yerima’s Otaelo is a typical tragedy, adapting the classic trope of the Oedipal character to an Igbo setting. The story centers on Otaelo, the proud warrior who is also an ‘outcast’ and his obsessive relationship with the king’s daughter Chinyere. Their relationship according to prophecy is doomed from the start and through the folly of the antagonists, it pilots toward its inevitably tragic end. It is needful to state that this adaptation was quite brilliant. Yerima’s interest in the layered nature of the Igbo language shone through. A good instance is in the title itself; Ota-elo, meaning, he chews and swallows – and how the name goes on to fit the personality of the character Otaelo.   

Aside from the use of language, the success of the play also lies in the technical excellence of the production. This manifested in the lighting and stage effects, how steady red lights were used to center moments of violence, unsteady, flashing lights when the fighting grew intense and warm yellow lights in moments of peace and communal living. Darkness was used to hide all technical preparation, even though it might have lingered slightly too long sometimes. 

Once again budget constraints reared their head as the actors had to work without sound design. Yet kudos to them (and their director) as they were able to hold the audience's attention through the strength of their sequences, the loudness of their voices and the elegance of their movements. Otaelo was well-played by the stockily-built actor whose performance was the highlight of the evening, and won the enthusiasm of a responsive audience. 

There was a limited mastery to the costume design. While the women were well finished in elaborate attires, with native beads cordoning their edges, the men appeared somewhat lackluster in their chiefly worn wrappers and kerchiefs. Whether this was intentionally meant to be symbolic of the age-long culture of men and their nonchalance towards fashion, or if it is a flaw in the production itself I cannot say. Yet, the aesthetic balance is hard to swallow. The warriors were adequately painted with palm-crested chalk designs, while the maidens glowed with uli painting on their skin. Generally, it was very much innovative costume design that was limited by its own potential. 

The performance was a much better success, than the play itself. The struggle to birth something beautiful despite the woeful condition of the theatre. All the effort put in, to redeem success from what is available.