Performance
Omonor Imobhio is ideally cast as the beautiful young Sidi, the "Jewel" of the title. She captures perfectly the essence of the uncultured "bush woman" who allows the power of her beauty to go to her head turning her world upside down. But Anthony Ofoegbu is the undoubted star of the show, garnering most of the laughs as the lovestruck modernising schoolteacher. Toyin Oshinaike was impressive as the "Lion" of the title, Baroka, despite struggling with his lines on a couple of occasions and Shola Benjamin was wonderfully comic as the mocking head wife Sadiku. The remainder of the fifteen strong cast, including musicians, all performed admirably.
In general, it was a colourful production with many genuinely funny moments. Despite the generally strong performances however, it has to be said that the direction went somewhat astray with the result that this production fails to capture the acerbic edge of the original play.
Read more about this topic: The Lion And The Jewel
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