DRAMATIC ART IS NOT BAD!!!

My interviewer sometimes around early part one days met the shock of his life when he asked me – “what department would you have been if not International Relations?” without thinking twice, I told him straight from my heart with all enthusiasm that I would have gladly been in Dramatic Art department, of course he expressed his disappointment but I never considered his expression to avoid further unnecessary questions like “why of all departments?” and so on.

I’ve met a lot of talented people and younger generations that are so passionate about studying dramatic arts but have been denied the privilege due to the bad image and mentality the society at large have created as regards studying dramatic arts as a field of study. I could vividly remember my mommy’s statement when I told her about my passion for dramatic arts, she exclaimed and said “olorun mi o ni je” and with this mixed feeling I just walked away, of course after so much discouraging words about the field. I have heard about people that joyfully scored high marks in Joint Admission Matriculation Board but were advised to change the course to law and other “lucrative” courses aside dramatic arts, believe me, if I start mentioning incidences of people who have sadly and “frustrtedly” withdraw from dramatic art because of the bad image constructed for it by the society at large, I won’t end this article.

But the question I have always asked myself is “what really went wrong?” what has really happened to the only field of study interested in bringing out the originality  in people and not just pouring on them theories that the postulators have even forgotten they propounded? What has suddenly happened to the only field of study that projects what our culture looks like to the public, the field of study that takes it apprentice through rigours of training, mostly rehearsals to bring to the public what is now known as entertainment? What has really gone wrong with the academic field of study where you don’t have to  theoretically be a genius but practically offer what skills you’ve got, the only field of study that is capable of making you go outside your boundary and limitations? I can go on and on but, to all of these questions I have no concrete answers, but that dramatic art as a field of study, most especially in our environment is what it is today because of what the society has made of it. The society at large, (if not all) has seen in dramatic arts, rascals, academic louts, indecency and so on. But my question to our parents (the major actors) and all other excellent discouragers involved is, WHAT PRACTICAL STEPS HAVE YOU TAKEN TO REDEEM THE IMAGE INSTEAD OF CRITICIZING IT? The society is not bad because it is full of bad people, but it in the state of “badness” because the good people present have decided to be and remain dormant watching things terribly ‘decay’ and go bad.

Dear sirs and mas, it is high time you removed the veil of the bad image you have created for Dramatic Arts and see through the lens of the numerous good things embedded in the field of study. You complained daily of how rotten the entertainment industry in Nigeria is becoming, especially the Music and movie industries, probably if your own well trained sons and daughters that have passion for acting, directing, script writing, singing, dancing, costuming and producing have been given the chance and your blessings to be there, it will be better, or maybe if you have willingly joined hands with the stakeholders (which is not yet late) to project a better side of dramatic arts, we will have well trained, competent and professionals up there and not just some set of individuals that can go to any length to do anything for money.

To my fellow students that are not in the field but can say all sort of things about the field, e kare, some will even be like “If I had been in dramatic art, I would have been a first class student,” please come back to your senses and wake up from your slumber of ignorance and realize that the people there are not playing but working, while you are reading for the same 3 units course examination you will write with them in the comfort of your reading place, they are at the theartre rehearsing and creating what you would later come back to watch for relaxation after your exams.

DRAMATIC ART IS NOT BAD!!!

Abiola Oluwasola Elisha ABSOL

Part 2 International Relations, OAU.