Ebo Whyte hits the 'power' nerve with new play, 'Puppeteers'

For the past seven years, plays staged by renowned playwright James Ebo Whyte and his Roverman team have primarily centred on societal issues.

His productions capsule key issues affecting the Ghanaian society – sports, economy, education etc. - something many have grown to know him for.

The playwright's exceptional ability to seamlessly weave his stories around these issues is simply legendary and has endeared him to many. ‘Bananas and Groundnuts’, ‘The Last Flight’, ‘The Smartest Man Alive’, and ‘Forbidden’ are but a few of his success stories.

Ebo Whyte’s latest production, ‘Puppeteers’, a play for the last quarter of 2015, is no different.

A beautifully crafted masterpiece, the playwright pegs this production as his best yet and promises to wow patrons within the first five minutes as the play takes centre stage at the National Theatre from Saturday, November 28.

The Puppeteers sees Ebo Whyte take on an interesting feature of the Ghanaian society, power – in all spheres of the country’s life.

Briefing a section of the press on the production, without giving out some of the juicy details of the play, Puppeteers, he noted, throws light on a subject many fear to touch.

“Ghana is blessed with good people. Almost every one of our big men got into that position with good wishes and goodwill, good intentions. I’m talking about power not just at the political level – power at every level,” he explained.

Ebo Whyte noted that at the core of his latest work “is an aspect of power in Ghana that we often don’t talk about. Either because it is too difficult to touch or too frightening to touch and it is this, once you get into a position of power, that position suddenly attracts people who don’t subscribe to your values, they don’t subscribe to your principles but they see in your position, an opportunity for them to do what they want to do.”

Most of these people, he added, usually don’t have the intention of helping you become a better minister but an opportunity to rip off the country.

In Ghana today, the playwright observed, “there are crooks who ride on the integrity and the good name of good people and use it to cause quite a lot of trouble. Quite often the good people are often not aware of what is happening that people are using their positions to do things that they, the big men, will never approve of.” These things even happen in the churches, he added.

Ebo Whyte hopes to fully explore the power phenomenon in ‘Puppeteers’ and note, he has promised to also give patrons more blissful pecks in this play than his previous productions.

“We are seeking to open the eyes of good people to some of these tricks and some of these murky areas that power attracts, in the hope that every Ghanaian who gets elevated would ensure that his position does not become a highway of crooks to ride on to do what they want to do.”

The Puppeteers plays at the National Theatre on November 28 and November 29, 2015 and December 5 and December 6, 2015 at 4pm and 8pm daily.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Ernest Dela Aglanu (Twitter: @delaXdela / Instagram: citizendela)