Uncle Ebo Whyte
With the huge infiltration of foreign movies and other soap operas into the Ghanaian entertainment industry, many had thought that the flame of theatre had been quenched.
But the rapturous performances put up on stage in James Ebo Whyte’s ‘Bananas & Groundnuts’ at the National Theatre on Wednesday night is a clear demonstration that Ghana’s theatre is much alive.
Ebo Whyte, through ‘Bananas & Groundnuts,’ explores the choices that people make in life, especially pertaining to choosing partners. The heroine of the play, Adelaide – a young successful lawyer diagnosed with cancer – is faced with the challenge of deciding who she really has to spend the rest of her fleeting moments with.
In her life are two men – Abraham, the focused, intelligent but weird-looking and stuck-up gentleman, who would buy heavens for Ady; on the other side is Charles, a fun freak, care-free and lazy chap who still wallows in his ‘small boys attitudes.’
The play then unfolds through a series of hilarious scenes where the audiences get to discover which of these men (Abraham and Charles) is able to fit into Ady’s insatiable desire for ‘good things’ in life. Although her dream of having an English breakfast over a bouquet of rose flowers and iPhone 6 for her birthday is made a reality by Abraham, she gets kidnapped on her way to have lunch by Charlie, who only managed to pamper her over some cheap bananas and groundnuts in the Aburi Gardens.
Torn between these two contrasting men, Adelaide falls on the good counsel of her loving and single mother, who has come to stay with her for a while. Adelaide is advised to make a right choice as anything short of that could put her life in jeopardy; and she has that choice between bananas and groundnuts chap, Charlie and the wealthy investor, Abraham.
Interlaced with ‘Bananas & Groundnuts’ are carefully rehearsed choreographs, comedy and good music from the cast.
Courtesy Airtel Ghana, patrons who attended the special preview of the play got drowned in laughter as the cast took turns to exhibit sterling stage crafts on the memorable night. As for the clappings, they were just thunderous!
Ebo Whyte’s plays like ‘Smartest Man Alive,’ ‘What’s My Name?’ ‘Men Run Women Cry,’ ‘Women on Fire,’ ‘Dad is Mom, Mom is Dad,’ ‘Games Men Play,’ ‘Forbidden,’ among many others, have been used to transmit invaluable messages to his teeming audiences and helped to keep Ghana’s theatre bubbling.
Dzigbordi Fomenyah
dfomenyah@ymail.com