Tings Dey Happen
How many accents can one man sputter? Dan Hoyle proves that the answer is many, as he imitates Scottish, Japanese, Texan, and most impressive of all, quite a few different versions of Pidgin English. The play robustly portrays images of life (and more frequently) kidnappings and death in a war-ridden Niger Delta. Although Hoyle’s one man performance is unarguably entertaining, it becomes a distraction in comprehending the seriousness of the subject matter.
The political docu-drama is based on a year that Hoyle, a Fulbright scholar, studied oil politics in Nigeria. Throughout the play, he never appears as himself, but rather, depicts the politicians, tribal warlords, bush rebels, oilmen, and prostitutes he encounters on his way. Besides the variety of accents, Hoyle utilizes a mix of gestures and facial expressions to distinguish one character from another. Whether his eyes are bulging, squinting, or uncontrollably ticking, his caricature of the Nigerian people, particularly the bush fighters who speak ridiculously fast Pidgin English, becomes ineffective to the advancement of plot.
Hoyle realizes the conflict that a shifting point of view can cause and therefore attempts to combat it. The use of lighting in the set distinguishes one scene from another. For instance, dream-like lights are used when Hoyle catches malaria and has a dream sequence. More importantly, he utilizes Sylvanus, a stage narrator, who enables Hoyle to comment upon both Nigeria and his own performance.
Rather then strengthen Sylvanus’ role of plot commentary, Sylvanus instead becomes a comedy routine. His witty remarks lighten the mood between tense scenes. For instance, near the conclusion of the play, he explains that “final numba will be a wonderful and highly uplifting dance routine.” The play is generally very funny and has audiences roaring with laughter, but this still provides no solution to the plot problem.
To be fair, Hoyle does have a prevailing point of view in his sympathy for Nigerians. His strongest sympathies are for the bush people, particularly the sniper, Okosi. Okosi, who dreams “to go to University,” becomes a symbol of weary fighters who seek to escape the war business. Okosi ultimately fails because, as he explains it, “sometimes you have to kill some people to have your own dream”
Hoyle’s final monologue as the CRO (community relations officer) of a Nigerian village is also moving in a tragic sense. The CRO’s outburst of “try to think like black man” and “become African man again” explains Hoyle’s main criticism of western mentality.
The ideas within the play are very strong, but Hoyle’s extraordinary feat of playing various characters also becomes the major downfall of the play. The challenge for Hoyle and director Charlie Varon now becomes one of simplifying the headache of this shifting point of view. If they can create a way to incorporate elaborate program notes into the play properly, there is no doubt that these voiceless Nigerians can make the American audience “think like a black man”