Game Night/Movie Night in Accra

This post is an unabashed departure from this blog's theme of encouraging you to get out and about exploring all of Accra' s nooks and crannies. Today's post is a celebration of 'homebodying'! I love cities but one should never undervalue the importance of date nights spent in the comfort of your own home.  :)

To facilitate your at home game night/movie night/Netflix binge/candlelight dinner,  I do recommend trying out the Hello Food delivery service. The ability to order food to your doorstep with the click of a button is a luxury that I have missed from the very bottom of my exotic food loving soul. Hello Foods was instrumental in preventing any hanger (angry moments entirely caused by severe hunger,  lol) episodes during our recent home movie night. 

The Hello Foods website is very easy to navigate and divides restaurants by area.  Once you enter in your location,  a list of nearby restaurants appears for you to select from.  You have the option of paying with cash on delivery or with mobile money (mtn,  tigo etc)*.   They promise to deliver the food within an hour and the delivery charge is a flat 5 cedis. They have consistently arrived in an hour or less each time we have tried them.

They have a variety of restaurants-Ghanaian,  Italian,  Chinese,  Thai,  Indian,  American fare (burgers etc) and many many more.  It is glorious.

Once we placed an order we received a call from Hello Foods confirming the details and within 40 minutes we had our pizza!  The first time we ordered the pizza was cold and the slices were a bit jumbled up  (I assume it got to us by motorcycle)  but it was still delicious and we had the option of heating it (we didn't).  I'm sure this won't be an issue with other foods that aren't as delicate as pizza. The second time  we ordered it was in perfect condition.

Beau thoughtfully bought along some of his favorite sweet red wine for me to try (he prefers dry,  tart wines) and to pair with our pizza order.  He also got a copy of a movie I have really wanted to see in theatres. We have gone to Silverbird twice to see it without success (details in an upcoming post on cinemas).

If you are in the mood for some locally produced Kumawood films or Nollywood fare you have a few options. There are traveling vans throughout the city that have been outfitted with subwoofers and M gaphones that specifically sell movies on DVD. They are quite loud and obnoxious but do fulfill a service.  One can also find such films for purchase at most major markets (Tema Station, Kaneshie, Makola, Lapaz etc) in Accra and even street hawkers on roadsides sometimes sell them. 

For an easy foreign movie night in Accra you can use any online streaming service such as Netflix,  Amazon,  Hulu,  HBO etc. You need to have accounts or have a visa/mastercard who can set up an account for you or share their details with you. On a desktop or laptop you have to download the Google chrome browser if you don't already have it and then download a browser extension called Hola.  Once you switch it on you can select america/UK and watch all the programs you want.

To have a game night instead I highly recommend classic Ghanaian games such as ludo or oware.  Ludo (called various other names) is played in a variety of countries as far away as India!  The rules for each are pretty simple and here are some guidelines for ludo and for oware. You can usually find these games if you inquire at any crafts market such as the Accra Arts Center. It can also usually be acquired at any big market such as Kaneshie Market,  Madina Market,  or Makola Market.  You may want to try the arts center though as they usually have a variety of engravings on the oware gameset and you may be able to pay a little more to get an animal/name/symbol engraving of your choice.  (Something symbolic for you and your partner perhaps?  :) 

Quick tip: For a game night on the town, Cuzzy Bros and Burgers and Relish both host game/trivia nights during the week. 

*A SUPER easy way to transfer money to anyone across the country with no fees associated.  All you need is the person's number to and service provider. Then you go to a service providers office where you can both send and receive the money. )

Note: I promise this is not a paid advertisement by Hello Food. I have no contacts there.  I just genuinely love the service!  :)

Wogbe Jeke is Coming Back to National Theater!

Exciting news! The Heritage Theater Series' Wogbe Jekee: A Birth of a Nation will be back at National Theater for a limited run this August. If you and your partner missed out on your chance to see it the first time or if you just really enjoyed it the first time you have another opportunity!

The producers are stating that it will be even better than its first run. Keep your eyes tuned in on the Heritage Theater Series' Facebook page to receive information about new dates and times. For my overview of the "need to know" facts for using this as date night adventure, read my first post on the series (click here). To read my performance review of the play (click here).

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Performance Review; The Heritage Theater Series: Wogbe Jeke

Two weeks ago Beau and I got decked out in our traditional kente finery to visit Ghana's National Theater to see the Heritage Theatre Series' Wogbe Jeke: The Birth of a Nation. It is the first installment in a series of yearly plays leading up to the celebration of 60th anniversary of Ghana's independence in 2017.

We opted to attend the 8pm evening show so we could have the full 'night out on the town' experience. As we drove into the theater, we could tell by the ease with which we found parking that the attendance for the night would probably be low. After presenting our tickets at the gate we met a live jazz band performing in the lobby! It was quite a fancy touch that tickled and entertained us as we milled about until it was time for the show to start. As we looked around as we seated ourselves we received confirmation that there were quite a few empty seats in the theater. 

Writing this review, and indeed watching the play, is made somewhat difficult because programs were not provided to introduce the cast members or guide the audience through the different acts. The play ended up being 2 hours long with no intermission. It was a combination of traditional Ghanaian dances, modern interpretative dance, song, and occasional dramatic performances. These are all wonderful storytelling mediums,especially when combined in one show, but for someone unversed in Ghanaian ethnic history going back over a thousand years (I can imagine most people fall into that group), the play was a bit difficult to follow without the guidance of a program. 

There were narrators of course, but there were so many in number (about 5 over the course of the play!) that it only added to the confusion. Several narrators would be onstage at once but they did not seem to have different personalities or differing perspectives. It would have been interesting if each narrator were appointed to be the voice of an ethnic group, bringing further understanding of how each group reacted to each historical event, but this was not the case. Each ethnic history was presented separately from that of the others. Therefore, it was puzzling as to why just one narrator wasn't selected. Furthermore, some narrators were quite difficult to understand because of their enunciation; I missed large chunks of dialogue because their words were muffled. This made it more confusing as to the larger purpose of their presence.

The play began at 8pm on the dot with an explosive performance by a female singer/dancer whose face I recognized from unrelated award shows in Accra but alas, with no playbill, I cannot give further details. She was absolutely riveting while onstage and possessed the vocal clarity and the charisma of a griot. Beau was similarly moved and remarked that her performance gave him chills. I was very much hoping that she would remain onstage in a narrator (via song) role for the entirety of the play (as was done in the Broadway production of Fela!) but it was not to be. It was sadly her only performance of the night. She performed with Ghanaian traditional dancers who did not seem to approach the performance with the same seriousness, passion,  and intent as her and it unfortunately detracted from her stellar performance. 

One noticed that from this very first performance the costumes used in the play were inconsistent. When the costume designer put together an outfit that was entirely Ghanaian traditional wear, it was very elaborate and impressive to witness. However, the play made the choice to combine both modern and traditional clothes. So while the first performer was attired in beautiful traditional garb, her backup dancers were wearing VERY bright neon green polo shirts. Their ensemble, and their lackluster performance, pulled your attention away from her marvelous work.

Additionally, there was a choir present on the stage throughout the performance and they were dressed in black slacks and contemporary shirts made out of brightly colored African patterned material. The attire of the choir, and even the narrators, visually reminded you of our present culture and time period, constantly underscoring the "this is make believe" sentiment at the back of one's head. Given that the play spanned a time period from ancient Egypt to Yaa Asantewaa and the arrival of colonialism in the early 1900s, it was very jarring to always have the choir onstage while they were dressed in modern 21st century clothes. It made it difficult to engage in the suspension of disbelief that is necessary for one to really engage with a play.

I'm not really qualified to judge the historical accuracy of period costumes, but the ones that seemed fully committed to Ghanaian traditional attire of the past were quite stunning. Websites such as Gold Coast Ghana compile images of Ghana during different periods of our history and I have seen photos going back as far as the early 1800s so it is at least reasonable to assume the costume designer had some information available for reference. 

After the first singer's performance, the play took you through the birth of Ghana. It began with a cold open of a high intensity interpretative dance sequence that (without a playbill or narrator) I assumed to be representative of the birth of man and civilization (and perhaps a commentary on the notion that all life emerged from Africa). After this scene we then moved on to Egypt and the rule of Nefertiti and then the rule of Mansa Musa and the establishment of the Ghana Empire.

The narrators then came onstage and spoke on the genealogical background of the leaders of the various Ghanaian ethnic groups and how they migrated to their present location in the modern day 10 regions of Ghana. There was a great effort made to detail the several generations the preceded those leaders and name the various places they settled. However, given volume of unfamiliar names and the multitude of areas discussed (encompassing the whole of Ghana), it was difficult to fully appreciate and digest this information. It would have been very helpful if they had visually represented this to the audience in some way. There was already a projector onstage which was used to depict background scenery. It  could have easily been used to project a Ghanaian map and demonstrate migration patterns.  Having a visual representation of the migration, lineage, and settlement patterns would have done much to solidify the content being presented.  

This brings me to the point that the play did not seem to have decided its main purpose and flip-flopped between agendas. Was it a historical primer providing snapshots of the pivotal moments in history for those previously unversed in Ghanaian ethnic history? Was it a refresher for the Ghanaian knowledgeable of larger history but who wants a celebratory walk through the main highlights? If you read my previous post on this series you will know that I was holding out for a third option that would bring something new to the table, a little nuance to the stories we all cherish. Who doesn't swell with pride and awe at the image of traditional leader Okomofo Anokye conjuring the Ashanti Golden Stool from the sky, or chuckle at the Ewe walking backwards out of their kingdom to escape their evil chief Togbe Agorkoli. However,  it would have been nice for the show to develop those leaders as multidimensional characters and not just as a function of the role they played in the establishment of their kingdoms. For instance, why did Okomofo Anokye decide that a stool was the best means of uniting the Ashanti clans? What was his internal dialogue like? Yes, it would have required a little creative license in many places but that is necessary when creating speeches to reenact any historical moment.

However, for some of the later periods we do have records of actual speeches but they were not used in the play. In particular, I was disappointed concerning the omission of legendary Queenmother and warrior, Yaa Asantewaa's, fearless and stirring (and very feminist!) chastisement of the Ashanti leadership when they failed to seek retribution after the British sought to exile the Ashanti chief and demanded to be given the Golden Stool to sit upon:

"Now I have seen that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it were in the brave days, the days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye, and Opoku Ware, chiefs would not sit down to see their king taken away without firing a shot. No white man [Obroni] could have dared to speak to a chief of the Ashanti in the way the Governor spoke to you chiefs this morning. Is it true that the bravery of the Ashanti is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this, if you, the men of Ashanti, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women! We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields."

I was hoping this production would highlight the critical role that women played in our history and how different ethnic group histories were interrelated and how they responded to one another. Perhaps the larger conclusion, for me, was that the medium of theater and a 2 hour showtime may not be the best medium to portray what I wanted out of the play. In the end, the sheer volume of ethnic groups to represent over such a long period of history made the production more of a recitation of what happened rather than a visual representation of it. Narrators came on to explain a lot of events, genealogies, and actions that were not depicted onstage; this was far less captivating than if we had seen it visually represented somehow. 

The overuse of the narrator to explain things that were not depicted led to the feeling, at points, that it was an extended history lecture.  However, this is a product of the amount of information that the directors wanted to convey. This makes me wonder if the story would be better suited for a longer televised series similar to the famed American miseries Roots: The Saga of the American Family.  It premiered on American television sets in 1977 and documented the journey of the Mandinke warrior Kunte Kinte from his capture in The Gambia to his enslavement in Virginia. The lengthy nature of the series provides space that allows the audience to get to know the journey and personal stories of American slaves and their descendants from the early 1750s until the 20th century. It really brought the history to life and you could see the interplay of different concepts such as the way the slavery affected the African American structure of the family, the way it impacted women versus men, the detrimental mental impact it had to even slaveowners, etc.I believe such a longer format could really help draw out the complexity in our stories.

The traditional dances, songs, and dramatic performances were quite good in my opinion. Apart from the very first performance of the night, the one that seems most clearly embedded in my memory is that of Okomfo Anoye dancing and bringing down the Golden Stool. The actor who portrayed him in the scene was such a pleasure to watch as a he danced and twirled around the stage.

I must say that even though it was different from what I hoped for I still enjoyed Wogbe Jeke and admire the cast and crew for pulling off such an ambitious performance. I will definitely be in attendance at next year's second installment of the series. This second play will pick up at the fall of Yaa Asantewaa and continue with colonialism up until Ghana's independence.

Did you attend this performance? If so, tell me what your impressions were in the comments!

Under the July Tree: +233 Jazz Bar & Grill

Photo credit: touristswatch.com

Location: North Ridge, opposite Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC)

Price range: Food 10-40 cedis, Drinks (cocktails available) 5-30 cedis. 

Cuisine type: Ghanaian finger-food and American fare (burgers, fries, khebabs, kelewele...)

Dress code: Casual (tip: wear jeans/longsleeves so you won't be bothered by mosquitos while seated outside)

Hours: Open Mon-Thursday 5pm-2:30am, Friday 5pm-4am, and weekends from 2pm-4am.

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit +233 Jazz Bar & Grill this week for a few drinks with a girlfriend. The place is so (cleverly) named after the international dialing code used to call Ghana when abroad. It is a large purple building with +233 written in neon lights. 

The ambience of the place resembles that of jazz clubs I have frequented in NYC and other parts of the USA. However, I am happy to report that  +233 is happily devoid of any of the smoke or ever so slight seediness that sometimes accompanies such spots. This can largely be attributed to its large outdoor patio and upstairs terrace.  It affords you the opportunity to dine and sip cocktails while listening to the live band outdoors rather than in a dark basement. While the band plays outdoors you may choose to seat yourselves inside or outside. You are still able to view the band when seated inside because the back half of the building is a clear glass wall. 

When my ladydate and I arrived around 6pm we had the entire space to ourselves but other people steadily trickled in and settled on the lower terrace.  There is a certain amount of privacy associated with the upper terrace (where we sat) and it provides an excellent view of the stage. There is an enormous tree that sort of wraps itself around the staircase to the upper terrace and provides you with some shade while you are seated up there. The band started setting up before we even arrived but, to our amusement, they did not start playing until 8pm. This worked out in our favor as we were primarily interested in catching up with one another and it was impossible to hear each other once the band started playing. Overall, we had a great time! 

The band was very good and the crowd of dinners on the lower patio showered them with the appropriate amount of praise. There was no singer for the night, just instruments and good vibes. I have heard there may be an entrance charge sometimes when the band is playing but we were not asked to pay anything. 

Due to the noise level of the band, this is not a place I would encourage you to patronize for first dates where you are trying to get to know one another or nights when you just want to chat. However, it is perfect for a mellow evening where the goal is to grab something off the grill and sip drinks while letting the music help you both unwind from a long day. I look forward to going back on a night where a singer will be accompanying the band. I am not aware of many Ghanaian jazz vocalists but I am looking forward to discovering some with the help of +233. 

I don't have a great review of the food here because we only sampled the finger-food. We ordered the chicken kebabs, french fries, and kelewele. I don't think either of us enjoyed the chicken khebabs much but the french fries and kelewele were fine! My custom cocktail was delicious though. :)

The only Ghanaian jazz performer I am aware of is Jojo Abot but she is based outside of Ghana right now. If you haven't heard any of her songs before I highly encourage you to give her a try as she so incredibly conscious and eloquent while being both visually and acoustically riveting. She infuses jazz with her Ewe heritage beautifully: some of Jojo Abot's music.

*Today's post title is a homage to +233's tree, our current month of July, and Nina Simone's (my favorite jazz queen) beautiful love song July Tree. 

Directions: It is a large purple building with +233 in neon lights.  It is directly opposite of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation on the road to Asylum Down/Circle but you cannot drive there from the main road. 

(Sorry for the fuzzy photos)

Paint Me A Red, Red Rose: Paint Fiesta Ghana

Time commitment: 2 hours
Price: 40 cedis per person
Venue: Every Monday night at 7-10pm at the Republic Bar and every Saturday from 4pm-8pm at H20 Bar and Restaurant in East Legon.
RSVP: Need to register beforehand by messaging six four six nine four three zero three eight one

My favourite painting has always been Picasso's Ma Jolie, "my pretty". It was painted between 1911 and 1912 during his cubism period and is a portrait of his beloved. Picasso always seemed to paint the unexpected but during this period his innovation was to move beyond painting the traditional 3-dimensional view of objects. Instead, he attempted to depict objects from all angles at once instead of just the parts of the object that are visible to our eyes based on our position to the object. So the act of painting his lover from all angles, simultaneously acknowledging and appreciating all sides of her as each adored feature emerged from of his brush strokes in a manner as chaotic and unbridled as his love for her, was quite the metaphoric love letter. Which leads me to today’s feature...

In case you haven’t guessed, the theme of today’s date night post is painting for couples! I was very excited to try out Paint Fiesta Ghana's paint night event. I haven’t really painted since middle school and Beau hadn’t either so we were both hooked by Paint Fiesta’s promotion of their events being friendly towards beginners with absolutely no experience.

Their website advertises each event by saying, “Just follow along while our social master artist guides you step-by-step through the featured painting in about two hours.”

No experience necessary? Instructor led painting class? FREE cocktails? Check, check, and check- Say no more!

You get a double bonus today as both Beau and I will be reviewing this date night activity. Here is Beau’s review of the experience:

A: How did you feel when I suggested trying out paint night?
Beau: I was looking forward to it, more so because I was eager to see how well I would do given it was my first time.

A: How did you feel about the location?
B: The location was fine. I'm a big fan of the Republic Bar because of the Afropolitan ambiance, so I had no reservations there.

A: How did you feel about the overall experience with me?
B: Oh, it was dead awful.... (jk).. I enjoyed it. I secretly wanted to gauge your artistic skills. I guess I satisfied my curiosity. ha! But it was very thoughtful of you given art is something I love but had lost touch with. You inspired a new hobby. :)
The paint crew seemed nonchalant though, somewhat unprofessional. The instructor though- dude we paid for this, how you gonna tell us to “do what we want”? He painted eventually, but his painting seemed average! I noticed a first time painter’s (woman) work was better than his. Smh. The drinks were pretty standard. Kokroko is the signature drink for Republic.
Is this value for money? Yes and no. In terms of spending time with my booboo and doing something new, yes. In terms of actually learning the basics of painting (direction), like what brush to use, the combination of colors* etc.. no.. I am better off buying paint supplies and watching YouTube instruction videos.
*Note that Beau is being polite here. He asked the artist how to make brown paint and was told to combine green and blue. By trial and error we figured out it is actually red and green.

A: Would you recommend it to another person to take someone on a date?
B: Yes, just don't go with super high expectations. Just go there with the notion of having fun.

A: Any helpful tips you would give to someone?
B: Try to wrap up by 9:30pm - ish, because the lights go out by then and they don't tell you prior to beginning.

My positive experiences of the night were that Beau made me laugh so hard I cried three times, I had an amazingly delicious Republic Bar cocktail (the secret is the local Ghanaian gin, akpeteshie!), I had an okay time painting, and I had a great time with Beau and got to see firsthand how talented of an artist he is. It goes to show you that the most important part of a date is who you are with. :)

The unpleasant side of the night was the professionalism of the team. They were almost an hour late in arriving and setting up (no one apologized to us) and they were sullen and quiet the entire time. It was not an environment where you would have a good time if you weren’t already determined to have fun.  At the start the instructor came around to let us know that he would not be painting or leading us because he wanted to “allow us to do our own thing”. I politely informed him that was not what was advertised or what we paid for. He finally agreed to paint with us but it was clear he wanted to be somewhere else and very early on he stopped offering instruction and just finished up his painting by himself.

I am not a natural talent like Beau so I was really looking forward to instruction and tips but there were little to none offered. It was terribly disappointing. It was especially frustrating as the instructor offered opinions about my finished work at the end despite not helping us at all.

To be fair, I have spoken to others who have gone to this event who seemed to have a different artist and were provided actual instruction and loved it. I’m just sad this wasn’t our experience. This event is a really great idea but proper execution is key. I think it is still worth trying out as that may have been a one-off night and I have heard others express that they enjoyed it. There was just little effort put into making it enjoyable for us. 

As for Beau and I, in the future we will probably just grab some art supplies, a bottle of our favourite wine, find a YouTube painter we like, and have at home paint night dates! We will update you as soon as we have our first one.   

For the curious, here is the link to the inspiration for today's post title: A Red, Red Rose

Directions: The Republic Bar is near the famous Oxford Street in Osu. Once you get there you should head to the mall/casino. The bar is on a little side street that is next to the casino. I'm sure GoogleMaps has this location as it is quite popular with foreigners.
 H20 Restaurant and Bar is located by American House in East Legon, just a couple of steps from the trotro/taxi station. Getting to the right location is simple as American House is known to everyone, but it may be trickier to spot H2O. It is a newer establishment so people may not be as familiar with it but it is blue and has a large outdoor screen where they show live football matches. 

Travel the World with Me: La Tante DC 10 Restaurant and Bar

Photocredit: PapJeff https://www.flickr.com/photos/papjeff/10749859996 

Location: Airport, near the Marina Shopping Mall
Price range: 10-40 cedis per dish
Cuisine type: Ghanaian (vegetarian options available)
Dress code: Casual Dressy or something thematic if you want to have fun with it!

*Full disclosure: Beau was not present for this adventure. It was a lovely friend-date with a girlfriend.  

This restaurant is a delightful twist on the traditional evening dinner. Instead of a traditional brick and mortar establishment, this venue has been created out of a refurbished Ghana Airways DC-10 airplane! It is definitely a date that will help gauge your partner's sense of adventure and explore topics concerning the domestic and international places you both have travelled in the past and where you hope to visit in the future!

After walking up the tarmac and ascending the airplane staircase you will find yourself in the belly of the plane.  To your right will be the bar and to your left is the dining area. Much has been done to preserve the look and feel of the old plane. The place has a bit more of a vintage feel as our much maligned,  yet beloved, Ghana (Maybe) Airways (hehe) ceased operation sometime in the early aughts.

The waiters and waitresses are gamely dressed as flight attendants. The seats are refurbished airplane seats but are quite spacious compared to what we are normally allocated on flights these days.  We picked a set of four seats which were set up to form a booth.  From the oval airplane windows we could see a little of Airport City.

I had heard reviews of the service as slow and the food as mediocre but I was quite happy with my meal and so was my companion. I had the tilapia and jollof while she had vegetarian couscous jollof. 

Overall,  it was an amusing time which I recommend for a fun date to break up any monotony. I recommend it more for the novelty of the experience rather than food although the food is perfectly fine. It is on par or better than Papaye  in terms of taste and price. 

Directions: Most directions list it as across from Marina Mall.  This is accurate but misleading as you have to access it from a different road. You cannot just cross the street and access it.  You have to drive through the airport as if you are going to the Landing Restaurant but then drive past it without taking the immediate right turn that leads to the Landing Restaurant.  The plane is huge and a cheerful green and will be located on your right after about a minute or two's drive.

Getting to Know You: Heritage Theatre Series

Time commitment: 2 hours
Price: 50 cedis per person
Venue: National Theatre (Accra)
Dress code: Casual dressy, cocktail, or traditional

This weekend Beau and I are very excited to be attending the first installment in a series of plays known as the Heritage Theatre Series at Ghana's National Theatre. This event is a wonderful conversation starter! Learning about the collective history of various ethnicities in Ghana is an excellent way to segue into learning more about your partner and their family background and history.

This first play is entitled Wogb3 J3k33: The Birth of a Nation. The series will be a retelling of Ghana's evolution from its pre-colonial days up into contemporary times through the lenses of various ethnic groups. Ghana has such a rich history that I feel is often shortchanged by only being told from an overly simplified perspective of colonialists versus "us".  I am quite intrigued by how this will take a more nuanced approached that will interplay perspectives colored by tradition, ethnic groups, languages, alliances and rivalries, and even gender (fingers crossed but as there are two female directors the odds are good).

According to citifmonline.com, "This part focuses on the arrival and settlement of various ethnic groups, advent of slave trade and colonialism, and the struggle for independence. The second in the series, which documents on Ghana from 1957 to 1992 is expected to be staged in 2016. The third part to be staged in 2017, tells the story of Ghana from 1992 to modern times. The productions are actually a build-up to Ghana's 60th Anniversary in 2017." 

Indeed, I hope much attention is paid to the fact that our history did not start with the arrival of European oppression. I am looking forward to the producers taking a leisurely approach to exploring that period of our history. I know it was not a completely serene and peaceful time, but I think the mere acknowledgement of the dynamic nature of our society back then provides a comparative backdrop to examine where we are now and where we can move towards in the future. This is most especially poignant in this trying economic times in Ghana. This play has the chance to do so much and my hopes are high. However, the 'powers that be' behind the performance do inspire confidence.

The series is being written and produced by Chief Moomen who is best known for his talent as one of the foremost spoken word artists in Ghana. The advertisements I have heard have promised that it will be a mesh of his background in poetry while melding together dance, music, and dramatic performances. It is also being co-directed by Anima Misa Amoah, a gifted playwright, actress, and sister of the popular local king of comedy, KSM. I quite fondly remember attending his Saga of the Returnee show as a kid and not understanding how big of a deal it was that he could get ex-presidents JJ Rawlings and John Kufuor to shake hands and laugh at themselves. Hopefully, this production will hold some of the same fearless social commentary. The play is also being co-directed by Abdul Karim Hakib, a lecturer at the University of Ghana School of performing arts, and has over 150 cast and crew members contributing to the production.

Now on to the nitty gritties:

Performance dates: 
Saturday, July 4th 2015
Sunday, July 5th 2015

Peformance times: There will be a 4pm and an 8pm show each day.

Where Purchase:  Get your tickets at National Theatre or Koala.

We hope you will be able to catch the first installment and follow along with us for the next two plays.  I will post a review after we have attended and we would love to hear your experiences if you go too.

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