Etuo Ato Bare

The university course "Play Analysis: Ghanaian Theatre" turned out to have little to do with Ghanaian theatre. The one class that I managed to attend was about characterization; there was nothing unique to Ghana about the lecture, and it was pretty basic stuff.

The next week’s lecture was going to be on setting, what it is and why it is important. The previous week's had been plot. Strange lectures for a level-four university class, which was all fine and good -- it was nice to review the basics, but not quite what I had in mind when I started out trying to register.

In September, I had been asking around about going to see some Ghanaian theatre. I met Godwin Kotey, the professor of the directors' program. He had been very friendly and helpful, so I went back to see him for some advice on an internship or getting in to watch rehearsals somewhere -- anything for a chance to learn about Ghanaian theatre. No problem, he said, he was running rehearsals everyday from four to six, so I went to see one that day.

The first scene of the play was being rehearsed when I arrived and it needed some "abruni" (white folks). There were a few abruni there who were part of the production and had been rehearsing for a few weeks. But I got pulled in, too.

Godwin laughed. He seemed to think it was pretty damn funny, me lost and confused and trying to play along as best I could without knowing what was happening, or what was coming next. After the rehearsal, he invited me back to his office. We talked and he offered me a part.

The play is called Etuo Ato Bare -- The story of Yaa Asantewaa and the Last Stand against Colonisation.

Etuo Ato Bare translates as, "the shot fired at Bare." It also has a modern meaning: something along the lines of, “the straw that broke the camel's back." It is the moment when things have reached a point where there is no going back.

Godwin is a fierce believer in Ghanaian traditional theatre. His play is being performed "in the round" and is a mix of singing, dancing and drumming. Most of the acting -- including the abruni parts -- are highly stylized. It is representational movement; one scene is a chase, there isn’t room to actually sprint around so we must find a way to show it using the space we have.

The fight scenes are done as dances. The chase is also a dance. Nearly everything is done rhythmically and in time to drumming. It is very hard, and exhausting work.

We rehearse two hours a day, six days a week. It is quite a large cast and everyone is expected to be there every day. There is no such thing as overrehearsing amongst these students.

Last Friday, Godwin called for Saturday rehearsal. He asked for a show of hands, who preferred an evening rehearsal and who wanted to work in the morning. It was a landslide. About thirty theatre students all voted to have a rehearsal at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning.

Theatre school here is shockingly different from at home. So although my plans for classes haven’t worked out, I’d have to say they haven’t worked out for the better.