Musinga, the Shakespeare of Western Cameroon
By Niyi Osundare
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Niyi Osundare interviews Victor Elame Musinga, Cameroon’s leading dramatist
Thank God I never went to any of those drama schools; they probably would have killed the drama in me," philosophised Victor Elame Musinga, arguably Cameroon’s most famous, most productive, and most enduring playwright, actor, theatre manager - and pioneer of the country’s first travelling theatre. This intriguing "confessional" popped up in our brief chat at the lounge of the Capitol Hotel, Buea, the day after his performance and recognition at the July 18 Literary Awards Night, an awards ceremony considered by many as the most significant for Cameroonian literature and culture in recent times. He was still basking in the glow of a much well-deserved celebration when he obliged me with the short interview, basically on his drama and dramaturgy, and his journey through the uncharted forest of modern Cameroonian theatre.
Slight of build, tenacious, convivial, with a face so indigenous to the smile you would think he never frowns, Victor Musinga has ruled the roost of Cameroonian drama for over 40 years. This timeless autodidact who never had any formal education in drama and theatre, has written more than 60 plays, experimented with all kinds of dramatic genres, taken drama and theatre from the street to the classroom, and back to the street, projected Cameroonian drama to the rest of Africa and the world at large, and trained and/or inspired many generations Cameroonian actors and actresses. Joyce Ashuntantang whose EduArt Foundation initiated and implemented the award ceremonies of July 18 , 2008, was herself one of the beneficiaries of Musinga’s dramatic and theatrical initiative. In honouring Musinga by naming a drama prize after him, Ashuntantang left no one in doubt that she was honouring a national treasure, an artist that has been described as "Cameroon’s national champion in drama" (In 1991, he was decorated with the Cameroon National Order of Merit) "in recognition of his contributions to the promotion of the nation’s culture through drama."
There is so much in Musinga that compels comparison between his personality and professional history, and those of significant counterparts in Nigeria, Cameroon’s neighbour to the west. In him we see a complex mix of Soyinka’s pioneering spirit; the astounding autodidacticism of Wale Ogunyemi, Amos Tutuola, and the Onitsha Market authors. (Like the last three, Musinga had very little formal education, and he too started his writing career as a low-cadre clerical officer in the public service); the zany versatility of Moses Olaiya, the sizzling laugh merchant (though there is a somber, tragic or tragic-comic streak to Musinga’s drama). Nor can we ever forget the similarity between his travelling theatre campaigns and those of Hubert Ogunde, Kola Ogunmola, and Duro Ladipo. Like these pioneers, Musinga possesses an unquenchable zeal, an almost infectious enthusiasm for showcasing his talents, a deeply felt urge to entertain and inform, to put the theatre in the market place and the village square, to "catch them young" by giving school children a taste of drama and life.
After over four decades on the stage, this ageless Thespian, this "simple but profound individual" (to cite Henry Akwo Elonge) is far from ready to retire. "How can one retire from the stage?" he asked me rhetorically, "how can one retire from life?" Below is Victor Elame Musinga – in his own words. . .
Niyi Osundare (henceforth, NO): Musinga, could you please tell the Nigerian audience a few things about yourself?
Victor Musinga (henceforth, VM): I am Victor Elame Musinga, a former civil servant, now retired. A playwright, dramatist, actor, director, and producer. Founder of the pioneer English-speaking Drama group in Cameroon, the Musinga Drama Group, founded in 1974. My first real stage breakthrough came with the performance of my play The Tragedy of Mr. No Balance which was actually written in 1965 but was not performed until a year later.
NO : What was the public’s reception of the play like, and why was it your breakthrough?
VM: The responses to The Tragedy of Mr. No Balance were spell-binding. I couldn’t believe it. It was first performed in the Customary Court Hall in Victoria (now Limbe). The hall was jam-packed. The first play of its type to have been staged in public in West Cameroon. The reception of the play encouraged me to write other plays; got me to know that my effort was really worth it. The play lasted six hours . . .
NO: Ah, that was a very long duration indeed!
VM: Yes, it was, but the audience was not bored. They enjoyed the play thoroughly and felt it was worth their time.
NO: What’s Mr. No Balance about?
VM: The theme is rooted in bribery among public officials. A Chief Clerk in a corporation, in an effort to get money to sustain his concubines, prevailed upon his boss to allow him to advertise the post of an office boy, a process which afforded him the opportunity to extort money from several people. The audience saw all the tricks; they applauded the play because of its exposure of bribery and corruption in public life.
NO: What would you say was the background for your drama initiative?
VM: I noted the absence of drama in West Cameroon, and started asking why? Before I started writing, we had had plays like Veronica My Daughter, The Incorruptible Judge, and others from Nigeria, which were well received in Cameroon. So I started asking myself: why not a play by a Cameroonian? So I sat down and started writing, mostly in my after-office hours. This was how Mr. No Balance was born. When I finished writing it, I asked colleagues in the statistics section where I worked to act it. At that time I was a typist, a job that aided my becoming a writer, a playwright. The acting went very well, and people liked what they saw.
NO: Why did you decide to strike out in the area of drama and theatre?
VM: I can’t say precisely why. But I know I started out in writing poetry. All of a sudden, I turned to drama. I think things happened that way because there was no drama in Western Cameroon at that time. I wanted to create a new form of entertainment, different from dancing and drinking. I also realised that Western Cameroon was not yet alive to the world of drama, and I wanted to do something about it. I wanted to entertain and educate through drama; to reflect the social and cultural reality of Cameroon on stage.
NO: What predisposed you to drama?
VM: Talent, I suppose. Just talent. My mother was a very dramatic personality. Probably got it from her.
NO: Did you ever think about turning professional?
VM: All the time I was engaged in theatre, I was also a civil servant. I sustained myself and the travelling theatre through my earnings from my job. Drama I did for my love of it; because of my commitment.
NO: Could you tell us about your FESTAC experience? You mentioned a bit of it in passing in the preliminaries to this interview.
VM: Our plan was to take to FESTAC my play, The Trials of Ngowo, written in 1971. We were ready with this play. But somehow mysteriously, another play was chosen to represent Cameroon. My drama group was terribly dispirited by this disappointment. Some members left. It was also a time of poor attendance and poor finances for us. Then, I decided to take drama to the classroom, to the secondary schools. I revived two plays: Madam Magrano and The Incredible Madam Etonde in an attempt to win a fresh audience for drama. I acted the main roles and made sure I polished up the cast very well.
NO: What was your school outreach experience like?
VM: Very good. Students became interested in the plays, and through them, they became interested in drama generally. During holidays, I changed over to public shows, and students I had influenced during my school visits now brought their parents. I started moving from town to town. When holidays were over, parents already introduced to the theatre started attending our performances. The fan club grew. I moved with ease around West Cameroon. The community outreach produced a large audience.
It was at this stage that I decided to give the company some exposure outside Cameroon. In 1978, I took them to Nigeria. We performed The Challenge of Fende in Calabar, and it was so good that the Mayor of the city decided to support our tour. Unfortunately, the student revolt of that year (the Ali-Must-Go revolt) toppled our plans. We moved on to Port Harcourt where we had to perform at a club. Altogether, we were in Nigeria for 12 days. Before we returned to Cameroon, I made sure I went to Ife to see and talk with Wole Soyinka.
NO: What is the state of the travelling theatre today?
VM: Still very much alive. Members have come and gone. But we are not short of willing hands. The group has had its ups and downs. Television has stolen a lot of our audience; the loss of my wife in 2000 was a personal blow. But things are looking up. The past three years have been uplifting. I received the Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh Lifetime Achievement Award this year. I was also invited to the United States where I had a two-week playwriting residency at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, and where I also received the Friends of Musinga Award. And then, just yesterday, the EduArt Foundation announced an award named after me. These are powerful boosters to me as a person and as an artist.
NO: Which of your plays has given you the most pleasure, fame, etc?
VM: Surely The Tragedy of Mr. No Balance. It was my very first play and the one that catapulted me into fame. It was published in 1976 under the Heinemann African Writers Series. After this, The Trials of Ngowo which gave me and my theatre group a lot of fame and recognition after winning the first prize in the 1974 Cameroonian Festival of the Arts. . . Ah, if I could come back to this world after my death, I would choose to be a dramatist again. I like keeping people happy and enriching their lives.. . I’m planning a theatre festival in October this year, a kind of revival.
NO: What is your advice to budding dramatists?
VM: Follow your talent. Don’t put money first. Cultivate the commitment to use drama as a vehicle of expression, entertainment, education, and culture. Learn to work hard!
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