A Review Of Faith for Sale, a play written by Jenifer Abena Kpeli and staged by the Department of Theatre Arts at the School of Creative Arts (SCA) Theatre, Central Campus, University of Education, Winneba (UEW). The play was directed by Dr. Johnson Edu and Dr. Samuel Arko Mensah lectures in the same department.
Synopsis of the play
The play focuses on the aspirations of a young man who misleads his community by pretending to be a spiritual leader to achieve success. He sells fake miracle items and plants insiders who feed him with information which aids him to psyche the congregants who consult him . Not only this, he also engages in sexual affairs with some of the female congregants and performs fake miracles. At the climax, His increasing influence leads to confusion and a web of deceit inside the church and he is caught but still manages to escape . The play addresses issues such as Fake prophecies, Faith, Lust , Pretence and Marriage. It is very interesting and addresses the contemporary issues in the Christian discipline especially in Africa.
This review will critique the performance of the national Service Personnel of the Department of Theatre Arts, School of Creative Arts (SCA) Theatre, on Saturday 22nd June to Sunday 23rd June. This review focuses on the entire theatrical element; acting , light and sound , costume and makeup ,set and props, and finally score it over 10.
With the acting, I will say believability was achieved. The pastor was great. He looked like a real pastor in real life. Just like the ones we come across poised to reach his aspirations at all costs.
The scene with his associate or better call him an Elder of the church was interesting to watch. Great acting with loaded chemistry. His pose for the photograph for his upcoming program just registers his dire need to dupe the people. He was really on top of his game. His visit to Alice to uproot the ritual in her office was well coordinated. My only issue with him was that he swallowed some of his ending lines. The associate also did well always supporting the pastor with more routes to dupe the members. He complemented the role of the pastor and took charge during church services. However, he seemed not to have made meaning to all his lines and sometimes sounded flat instead of varying his tone.
Another interesting actor to watch was Alice. She did extremely well and acted just like a boss of a company. She understood her role well and nailed it. Her encounter with the supposed pastor was well executed and demonstrated that she was really desperate for something. Her relationship with her boyfriend and the workers was just believable.
She was just captivating to watch. Not forgetting how she treated her mother during her visit, it was just soothing. Even after the accusations that her mother was the cause of her marital failure, the reaction and treatment were stunning to watch, crisis at its peak.
Her mother however showed concern for her daughter and her reaction to the news of being branded as the one who planted the ritual in Alice’s office is priceless. Great acting. The mechanic was also good with his great interception. Talk of her workers in her office, they are first class gossip, great performance.
For me, the wow effect for this production will be the church scene. It was brilliant. At first, I imagined myself in an actual or real church. The lady who faked her sight to be healed was just super excellent and unmatched. I thought she was really blind. My only issue with her was her Nigerian accent. Well, maybe it could be interpreted to mean that Nigerians are mostly recruited for tasks of this kind. When I thought I had seen it all then boom, another lady stormed the church pretending to be possessed by a demon just to showcase the power of the Pastor. The lady took my breath away, at a point I thought she was really possessed. The church scene was well coordinated, with great energy. Not forgetting the fake testimonies. The climax was just another drama for me, now the truth gets unraveled and the pastor fakes another miracle with his Elder to get away with the ills they had committed. Such a great technique and a narrow escape.
Now to the technical aspects. The costume was excellent and well-pulled. The pastor had a cross around his neck just to identify him as Pastor. His soldier uniform for the photoshoot was good too.
Alice and the workers together with the church members all wore the right costume to project their roles.
To light, it was great. The dimmed lights in Alice's office at night were good. Generally, light controlled the production well. Only that the spotting of Alice and Abigail wasn’t the best as they played out of light during the latter part of their conversation at the church scene.
The set was well-designed and mounted to communicate the message. The three locales namely the pastor's office, the church, and Alices office were positioned well. The actors made good use of the set—especially Pastor, Alice, and the congregants or church Members. The cross hung at the church and the inscription of the Bonfire ministry gave the setting a good look.
As for sound, I will commend them. Perfect song choice. Kofi Kinaata’s song “Things Fall Apart” served as a theme song and a backdrop for the play to register the ills in Christianity. Other songs included Koda‘s Song “Nsem Pii and Evangelist I.K Aning`s ‘Wobe bobolebobo “ Great song choice. Other sounds include the telephone call and door knock. Good cues only that some forget to fill in some of the scenes.
The props were used well to enhance the role played. The pastor held his staff to show he had power. The anointing oil, the clock on the wall, and the miracle boxes, drums were all utilized well.
Now to our lovely, audience, I can confirm that they had a good time and really enjoyed every piece of it. With the reaction of the audience, an impression created was that the treatment of the play was geared towards comedy rather than social drama.
And a lovely audience, writing this review I must say this is a well-coordinated production with all departments working together tactically to achieve a spectacle. I will rate this production 8 out of 10.
Written by Mensah Junior Raphael & Helena Panford, (B A Theatre Arts,UEW)
From your detailed Reviewers (0272138148)
Pastor In uniform