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 Yinka Olatunbosun

Brother Jero is not done preaching yet. Following its successful May performances, The Trials of Brother Jero – The Opera returns for an encore on Sunday, October 11, at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and the Creative Arts, formerly the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.

Produced by Vesta Orchestra, the event opens with a pre-show school concert featuring four school orchestras before the main opera takes the stage.

The production adapts Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka’s celebrated satirical play, The Trials of Brother Jero (1963), bringing the scheming Brother Jeroboam — the charismatic self-styled prophet at the centre of Soyinka’s satire — into an operatic setting.

Set against the bustling atmosphere of Lagos and Bar Beach, the production combines Soyinka’s humour and social commentary with live orchestral music, powerful vocals and African musical influences.

According to Executive Producer Rosalyn Aninyei, the approach offers “a fresh interpretation of one of Nigeria’s most recognised works of theatre, bringing Soyinka’s characters and themes to audiences through opera.”

Aninyei serves as Executive Producer, with Gbolabo Gibbs Adebakin as director, Seun Owoaje as composer and Kehinde Oretimehin (Omo Kabiyesi) as librettist. The principal cast includes Captain Gibbs, IGE, John Paul Ochei and Abiola Lepe.

For Aninyei, the production is part of a larger argument for African stories to find their way into the operatic repertoire.

“Nigeria has a rich operatic tradition and there are many more African stories waiting to be told,” she said. “There is a hunger for African stories globally. We must be the ones to tell them.”

Adebakin, meanwhile, stresses the importance of familiarity when introducing audiences to new theatrical forms.

“When you want to bring something new to the people, it is good to start with the familiar so that they understand that this isn’t far off,” he said.

The October staging will be the opera’s third presentation. It also brings the production to the newly renovated Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and the Creative Arts, giving audiences another opportunity to encounter Soyinka’s enduring satire through the combined languages of theatre, voice and orchestral music.