Dave, the boy who played the Harp; Godwin, the man who played the Light

* A commendation of Godwin Emefe

By Olateju Wasee Kareem

THERE are evenings when one watches a performance and leaves with music still stirring in the blood. There are others when the images remain: a figure sculpted out of darkness, a stage expanding with the chorus, a beam arriving with the certainty of an instrument entering an orchestra. At the recently concluded Lagos presentation of Dave’s The Boy Who Played the Harp, presented by Live Nation and MASSIVE at the National Theatre — the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts — sound and light entered into a conversation worthy of remembrance.

Dave brought the music. Godwin Emefe gave that music a visible pulse.

Somewhere between the performer’s phrasing and the answering movement of light, I recognised the fulfilment of a journey I have had the privilege of witnessing.

For those who know him simply as “the lighting guy,” permit me a fuller introduction. Here is a theatre artist whose instrument happens to be light; a practitioner whose fingers at the console translate listening into colour, rhythm into movement, and feeling into space.

Dave, the boy who played the harp. Godwin, the man who played the light.

Godwin’s journey rests upon the foundations of his Theatre Arts education at the University of Ibadan, where his specialisation in design provided a vocabulary for an imagination already seeking practical expression. Yet he understood that the principles acquired at university would continue to reveal their meaning in the theatre, at rehearsals, during installations, and beneath the unforgiving clock of a live production.

He brought that understanding into his enduring association — his romance, one might say —with Zmirage Multimedia and his apprenticeship alongside under me.

As Nigeria’s entertainment landscape evolved and the technologies of performance expanded, Zmirage helped push the possibilities of stage engineering, lighting and production design. Godwin was there: watching, assisting, collaborating, questioning, absorbing. Across musical productions, drama performances, religious gatherings and ambitious experiments in live presentation, he encountered the practical demands through which knowledge becomes judgment.

Working alongside me, he learned the discipline behind the spectacle: preparation, attention, patience and the responsibility of delivering when the audience is seated and the performance must begin.

I remember the learning.

In this production, I recognised how completely he had made it his own.

His development belongs within a wider inheritance of Nigerian technical theatre: the formidable Dr Sumbo Marinho, whom I remember with the affectionate thunder of a lighting deity; Professor Duro Oni, whose stature in theatre design, aesthetics and technology has helped shape generations; and Dr Alphonsus Orisaremi, another valued connection to the University of Ibadan tradition. My own contribution through Zmirage has sought to strengthen that bridge between town and gown, bringing artistic thought into practical conversation with the changing technologies of entertainment.

Godwin has travelled through what I might call the corridors of lighting power. But proximity alone produces little. The achievement lies in what a person does with access: the questions asked, the habits acquired, the labour willingly undertaken, and the courage eventually to make an artistic decision in one’s own name.

At the National Theatre, those years found expression.

What impressed me first was his musical understanding. His lighting responded to the shape and intention of the performance. He could recognise a phrase gathering strength, prepare the eye for its arrival, and give its release the space it deserved. He could anticipate the action, then remain with a musical resolution long enough for its emotional consequence to settle.

That relationship with time is among the most revealing measures of a lighting artist.

A cue can be accurate and still feel emotionally misplaced. Godwin demonstrated timing as interpretation: when to gather, when to strike, when to sustain, and when to let an image breathe. The music seemed to find a corresponding intelligence at the console.

His handling of the central performer was particularly assured. In a production of this magnitude, an individual can easily be swallowed by the available spectacle. Godwin maintained the hierarchy of attention. He understood when the audience needed the intimacy of a face, the presence of a body, the concentration of a single voice. He gave the performer visual authority while retaining the surrounding world of the show.

When the chorus required breadth, the visual field opened with it. When the music returned to a more personal register, the lighting restored concentration. That movement between the individual and the collective gave the production scale without sacrificing its human centre.

There was intelligence in his angles, too.

Godwin Emefe

Light became a sculptural material. Bodies acquired contour; figures separated from their surroundings; foreground and depth became legible. The performer occupied a shaped space, with weight, dimension and presence. Here, his theatrical education became visible in the understanding that a body on stage is an expressive form, and that the direction of light changes how we read it.

His compositions revealed an eye for the whole stage picture. The placement of emphasis, the distribution of brightness, and the relationship between illumination and surrounding darkness created an organised visual experience. One’s attention had somewhere to go.

Colour, movement and intensity belonged to the same musical argument. A larger passage gained force because the lighting also accommodated intimacy. A transition carried meaning because it connected emotional states. The visual excitement had structure.

For me, this was the source of the evening’s “wow”: the recognition that the light understood the music.

There is a particular pleasure in watching a practitioner command substantial technical resources with discernment. A powerful lighting rig invites its operator to keep proving its power. Godwin’s maturity appeared in his ability to choose: to release energy, sustain an atmosphere, direct attention and allow the performer room to lead.

The console became an instrument in a musician’s hand.

There is pleasing poetry in the image of Godwin at a grand MA lighting console: a grand instrument meeting an imagination prepared to play it. The artistry lived in the decisions passing through the machine — the ear catching a change, the eye judging a balance, the hand giving a transition its duration.

That is where I locate his developing signature: musical attentiveness, sculptural awareness, emotional timing and confidence in the power of a well-judged image.

Godwin has travelled well beyond the comfortable description of a rising star. What I witnessed deserves the recognition given to an accomplished practitioner who has earned his place through sustained work.

The apprentice has acquired authority. The collaborator has a voice. The man behind the console deserves to be named.

His professional responsibilities include serving as Head of the Lighting Team and Assistant Lighting Programmer for LIVE NATION, alongside his role as Head of Lighting for MASSIVE. These distinct responsibilities reflect his experience in lighting leadership, programming and live production.

And then there is Godwin himself: affectionate, deeply invested, carrying his commitments with a warmth that does not always announce its own depth. Those who know his devotion to his wife and family will recognise something of that character in his work. His care reveals itself through attention, constancy and the willingness to remain engaged.

Permit me, therefore, one affectionate accusation.

Godwin is married twice: to his beloved wife, and to his beloved art of light.

A polygamist of emotion and sensation, if ever the theatre produced one! His wife will, I trust, forgive this public identification of her luminous co-wife. For this is a man who sleeps and wakes light, eats and drinks light, and carries the next stage picture somewhere behind his eyes.

That devotion has acquired dexterity and depth. It has become visible as professional command.

For those of us who have spent decades in this demanding profession, there is profound satisfaction in such a moment. One sees years of shared work continuing in another person’s hands, acquiring fresh expression. One remembers the younger practitioner watching closely, and then watches him make decisions that command one’s own attention.

That was my pleasure in this production.

Godwin’s achievement offers encouragement to the next generation of Nigerian theatre practitioners. Study matters. Apprenticeship matters. Curiosity matters. So does the long discipline of showing up, learning new tools, listening carefully and remaining answerable to the performance.

Godwin Emefe has given those principles persuasive expression.

THIS commendation also belongs within the collective labour that made the evening possible. Among the performers, musicians, creative team, programmers, technicians and crew, there are colleagues whose contributions deserve particular acknowledgement.

Natasha Adebisi brought a distinctive sensibility to the scenic character of the evening. The daughter of Edward Adebisi, a formidable figure in the technical equipment hire business, she is making her own contribution with growing assurance. Her background in interior design found expression in the relationship between space, texture and arrangement, helping to shape the atmosphere within which the performance unfolded.

Her design education, practical experience acquired over time, and exposure to her father’s business acumen came together to rewarding effect. The scenic feel of the evening bore the evidence of that preparation. Natasha deserves warm recognition for the world she helped create around the music.

Equal acknowledgement belongs to Charlie LaPage Norris, the lighting operator, whose excellent delivery made a telling difference. A lighting vision reaches the audience through execution: the precision of a cue, the sensitivity of a transition, the steadiness with which intention becomes performance. Charlie brought that essential contribution, helping the evening’s visual language arrive with clarity and assurance.

Godwin and the team pulled through together. The scenic environment gave the light a world to inhabit; the operation gave its intentions living expression; and the music gave them both their pulse.

Providing the resident technical foundation was the exemplary Team A of Zmirage Multimedia.

As the company responsible for the National Theatre’s resident stage engineering services, Zmirage brought the pioneering professional spirit upon which it has built its practice. Under my technical directorship, the crew’s attention extended from the smallest operational detail to the wider responsibilities of protecting the venue, supporting the production and maintaining a safe working environment.

Their eye for details, adherence to professional guidelines, attention to safety and observance of a clear code of conduct provided an essential foundation for the spectacle. Equally valuable was their comradeship with the visiting engineers and technicians: the warmth of their welcome, their readiness to share knowledge, and their ability to find practical, creative solutions under the pressures of live production.

Long before an audience encounters the finished performance, a resident team must understand the building, recognise its limits, safeguard its systems and help visiting practitioners realise their ambitions within it. Team A carried those responsibilities with assurance and generosity.

Over the last twelve months, since the Main Bowl resumed receiving productions, successive successful engagements have demonstrated the value of that continuity. Each production strengthens the relationship between the venue, its resident specialists and the creative teams who come through its doors.

Credit must also go to the Managing Director, Erelu Ajua Badebo, whose managerial experience across boardrooms and major organisations has brought valuable judgment to the institution’s stewardship. Her timely decision to establish a dependable resident technical framework provided a foundation upon which the practical requirements of successive productions could be organised and delivered.

The promise of a great cultural institution is sustained through such decisions: placing responsibility in capable hands, supporting professional standards and creating the conditions in which artistic ambition can flourish. As she continues to navigate the affairs of the National Theatre — the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts — the achievements already recorded offer encouragement for the work ahead.

To Team A, my warm appreciation. You brought skill, vigilance, fellowship and pride to the assignment. You helped make this evening possible, and you continue to give the next production a stronger foundation.

Within that shared accomplishment, Godwin’s command of light deserves this particular salute.

Godwin, I celebrate the journey, the discipline and the artist you have become. I celebrate the intelligence of your listening and the confidence of your visual expression. Above all, I celebrate the pleasure of seeing knowledge, experience and affection for the craft meet so fully in performance.

Dave gave us The Boy Who Played the Harp.

Godwin, you gave us the man who played the light.

And the light answered.

* Kareem is Founder/CEO, Zmirage Multimedia Ltd