Can there be a new ‘Village Headmaster’?

Chief Babatunde Oloyede, TV producer and director has, according to the story, been given the task of re-packaging and re-enacting the episodes of the sitcom which had many Nigerians glued to their TV sets in the late ’70s and early ’80s. While announcing the rather cheering news, Chief Oloyede said the decision to reintroduce the […]

Chief Babatunde Oloyede, TV producer and director has, according to the story, been given the task of re-packaging and re-enacting the episodes of the sitcom which had many Nigerians glued to their TV sets in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

While announcing the rather cheering news, Chief Oloyede said the decision to reintroduce the sitcom was based on the high demand for the series by Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora.

“Thirty years after we abandoned the programme, people are still talking about it. Those who were born then are still willing and those born after it are eager to catch a glimpse of it. So we are left with no other choice than to bring it back,” he was quoted to have said.

While many Nigerians are happy with the decision by NTA to meet this demand, not a few have been concerned about what the station would offer as the repackaged “Village Headmaster”.

The first challenge, like Chief Oloyede highlighted while breaking the news about the possible return of this sitcom, is the fact that it would be difficult if not impossible to track down most of the popular actors in the series who made it what it was as some have either retired from such engagements or have died.

Elsie Olusola, popularly known as Sisi Clara, for instance, has long departed these shores while the likes of Chief Eleyinmi and Councillor Balogun are said to have kissed the thespian trade good bye as they have taken to other engagements or traditional titles which make it a taboo for them to be seen entertaining others.

To fill in the vacuum each of them would be creating, Chief Oloyede explained that the producers of the next episodes of the sitcom had made arrangements to replace these actors and actresses with new ones.

What this translates into is the fact that the names of the characters, just like the sitcom itself, would be retained, while the faces would change.

To be sure, this is not the first time series that run into problems with their major or any characters would be making substitutes while still carrying the day. The popular American comedy, “Cosby Show,” at a time had to replace Vanessa Williams who played one of the lead roles in the soap as wife to Cosby when she quit the stage.

Here in Nigeria, “Basi and Company” at a stage had to replace Albert Egbe as the lead character in the sitcom and later also substituted the lady that played the role of Segi without losing colour.

Even the then “Village Headmaster” had to replace Segun Olusola, its creator, with another headmaster, but in this case, the producers did not pretend that the replacement was one and the same person, but arranged the preceding series to prepare the minds of viewers that the former headmaster was going away (for studies abroad) and had to be replaced.

But in all cases, the replacements did not involve more than one or two characters, hence the audience assimilated the role of the replacement just as well.

As taking up such roles is usually not possible without studying what it is that gave the former actor the appeal and sensation he or she attracts, one is at a loss how, by Chief Oloyede’s reckoning, these actors would serve as equal to the former actors.

How the substitutes would be able to understudy not just the character portrayed by the persons they would be replacing but how such persons have played the roles without the benefit of an immediate experience beats the imagination.

In drama, just like other forms of entertainment, an actor usually bows out of stage when the ovation is loudest. This does not go just literally. If an actor, due to age for instance, realises that he or she has begun to lose touch, he or she usually resigns.

That is why the likes of Billy Dee Williams, Clint Eastwood, Joan Collins or even Eddie Murphy are today not the chartbusters they used to be. That is because it has been proven severally that in entertainment, even with the originator of a concept, it is impossible to hold the torch for every generation. This is not to talk of when someone else is given the role of another to play especially in this case where the tapes have since vanished from the archives.

What Chief Oloyede may be relying on is probably the memory of those years. But it is not difficult seeing how this would pose a problem, as an artist is generally held by the audience from a perceptive view point. That is why, while some people could be charmed by a particular actor, another person may view the role of that same actor as repulsive.

The question is, what would happen if the perception of the replacement actor is not in tandem with what the producer has in mind? But even for the old actors who may be fished out from wherever they are, the question of time comes into play as age is bound to affect their performances.

Recently, I had the opportunity to watch Joe Layode, popularly know as Mr Garuba in the series, take up a role in one drama, and the Layode I saw is definitely not that witty and funny Garuba who dazzled the audience then with his bombastic usage of words and the faked Yale accent.

Would Ibidun Alison, popularly known as Amebo, be able to gibber endlessly like she was wont to do in those days or would Dejumo Lewis, alias  Kabiyesi, also be able to  shuffle and glide in his overflowing agbada in the same manner that elicited interest in those days or would Gorimapa, at this age, agree to shave his head completely?

It is apparent that the real challenge is in those who would be invited to take up their former roles and not even with those who would be replaced because any lapse on the part of those replacing others would be excused; but how do you excuse Bassey Okon if he does not evince that particular fervour for which many held him in awe?

Chief Oloyede also said the setting of the “Village Headmaster” would be retained to give the drama its essence.

That, to a great extent, is realisable as there are many artists who could recreate or even re-enact the background of the old set.

The only problem here is that the audience may not readily relate with the original theme of the rested soap.

For instance, what does a village headmaster mean to the average Nigerian of today? The truth is that the designation that forms the basis for the plots and subplots within the drama does not even resonate with any of the themes or sub-themes that engage the average Nigerian of today.

And drama is supposed to address a particular problem in real life. That was why the theme of “Village Headmaster” of those days came in handy.

In those days, the head of a primary school in Nigeria, called the village headmaster, was seen as the opinion moulder, role model and representative of the people of that community.

It was not surprising that in many communities in Nigeria those village headmasters were later appointed as community leaders by the then colonial masters to serve as liaison between the people and the rulers.

But these days, people find it even demeaning to be called headmasters. The heads of primary schools these days have elevated themselves to “principals” or even presidents.  So the average Nigerian youth, who ordinarily should have constituted the core audience for the sitcom, cannot be affected by either the headmaster or whatever he does. Would that not rob the new “Village Headmaster” the popular appeal that informed the decision to re-enact it in the first place?

This is not the first time in Nigeria that an episode would try to recreate itself.

NTA Owerri had tried to re-enact “Masquerade” due to the same high demand and popular appeal alluded to by those behind the current idea to re-enact “Village Headmaster” but failed woefully.

In the episodes of the re-branded package, Davis Ofor (Clarus) and James Iroha (Gringory), who were supposed to continue in their roles of “house boys” of between the ages of 10 and 12 had not only grown beards but that of Offor had even gone grey. And because it came so many years after the original episodes, Clarus found it very hard to get into character: he could no longer cry “eh-eh-eeeh!” when provoked. Even his trade mark heavily “patch-patch” trousers that made him unmistakably Clarus had gone. The effort to cover up the missing attributes by saying he has now become a mechanic further killed a major source of excitement in the drama which made it clear that by the time the re-enactment was on, Offor had lost the bounce to be Clarus.

What the producers of such episodes should have done is to have preserved those original tapes and replay them. That way, the fond memories of those actors and actresses would be replayed, bringing a general sense of nostalgia among many Nigerians. Such things serve to unite the people of a country as each person, irrespective of the divide, would readily identify with what is going on due to the sense of nostalgia and several messages could, in the interlude, be passed on.

But it is a shame that the NTA, like Ben Bruce mourned at one time, has lost all those tapes.  This recent attempt to recreate a classic can only be a sad reminder of what we haven’t learnt to do—to appreciate and preserve what is ours.