The Technical Triumph of The Marriage of Anansewa

One thing about literature, in all its forms, is its borderlessness. Valeria Luiselli wrote "part of the nature of literature is to travel — across borders, despite borders." Therefore, two countries away from the playwright's home, a Nigerian ensemble drifted in and out of Ibadan’s Wole Soyinka Theatre — portraying Ghanaian lores, singing Ghanaian folk songs in parodic accents, adorned in Ghanaian costumes, as they enact a Ghanaian-based play on a Nigerian stage. Written and published in 1975, The Marriage of Anansewa explores the politics of marriage in post-colonial Ghana, examining the place of the female child caught in a web of customs and parental expectations. Layering on themes like greed, poverty, and commodification of the female child, the four-act play follows the dilemma of Anansewa in choosing — or being handed to — a befitting suitor by her father. Ananse, her father, craftily enriches himself, making money off her suitors, after "advertising" Anansewa to four wealthy chiefs, yet even he is interested in selecting what he considers a befitting suitor. 

From how Ananse succeeds in spinning gifts off the four suitors, to how Anansewa plays dead in order to test the worthiness of the suitors and ultimately select the best choice, the play comes through as comical and yet sensible due to the weight of the issues it addresses. However, what makes it intriguing is the technique of the production.

The production leans on unconventional and minimalist techniques in staging the play, setting it apart from a number of its predecessors on that same stage. Perhaps its most daring technique is its onstage orchestra. For most plays in this theatre, the orchestra is usually ensconced in the orchestra pit, away from the audience’s view. However, for The Marriage of Anansewa, the orchestra was in a V-shaped seating arrangement onstage. This provided a number of benefits. First, it allowed for a duality of roles, especially for members of the chorus as they played two separate roles. Moreso, it provided for a seamless flow of narration. For instance, in Act Two, where a church scene had to be enacted, the chorus, transiting off stage, fell into a church-thanksgiving scene, becoming actors, after which they retreated back into the V-shape. This Aristotelian technique not only offered an interactive depth to the play. It also blurred the traditional boundary between the chorus and the onstage cast. Another technique used was open staging, involving costume changes on stage. This ingeniously deepens audience interest as they follow the in-betweens and closely observe transformations in the lives of the characters. Through it, we see Pa Anansewa move from poverty to affluence, and another cast member from being an assistant to becoming a pastor. By drawing heavily on minimalism, The Marriage of Anansewa triumphantly registers itself in the chambers of the memory of those who saw it as one to remember.