‘This Is Our Chance’ Revisited: Celebrating a pioneering dramatist James Ene Henshaw @100
By Editor
ACTIVITIES have been lined up for the centenary celebration of pioneer African dramatist and medical doctor, Dr. James Ene Henshaw (1924 -2007) with a seminar on the themes and lessons of his play, This Is Our Chance. ‘This Is Our Chance Revisited’ seminar is scheduled to hold virtually on August 29, 2024 from 12:00pm. Henshaw was a physician by profession who, in his own words, ‘strayed’ into writing.’ His plays capture the pulse and moments of African society. They speak of the tug between tradition and modernity, of the declining morality of a newly independent society, of the failure of becoming, in political and ethical terms, among the evolving elite.
Henshaw attended missionary schools, Sacred Heart School, Calabar and Christ the King College, Onitsha before going on to study medicine at the National University of Ireland, Dublin and the University of Wales, Cardiff, United Kingdom, where he qualified as a chest physician. Back in Nigeria, he had an illustrious career in medicine, serving as Senior Consultant-in-charge, Tuberculosis Control, Eastern Nigeria (1955-68), and finally as Director of Medical Services in the former South Eastern State of Nigeria. He served in various professional and public service positions and earned several honours, including Officer of Order of the Niger (OON) and Knight of the Order of St. Gregory (KSG) from his Holiness Pope Paul V1.
His first seminal play This Is Our Chance (1958) has since gone on to become one of the most popular drama works by an African writer, with several reprints and staged by professional companies, schools, colleges and universities across the continent. Henshaw remains one of the most popular, if not critical, playwrights to have emerged from the African continent.
Pioneer dramatist Dr. James Ene Henshaw and his wife Caroline
One thing for which Henshaw will be remembered is the fact that his was the first attempt to be regarded as authentic African drama to be performed by African people. As Henshaw himself recounted of This Is Our Chance, he had set out, consciously, to write plays whose scenes take place in surroundings that are not far removed from Africa.
In his personal life, Henshaw was a devoted husband and father to eight children who kept his family very dear to his heart. He died onj August 16, 2007, just after working on his last project, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar into his native Efik language.
Dr. James Ene Henshaw Jr, who runs the foundation dedicated to his father is planning a virtual seminar to celebrate his playwright’s centenary this month on his birth date, July 29, 2024, but slightly delayed by a month.
This Is Our Chance is arguably the first full-length play by an African author in the English language, written while James Ene Henshaw was a medical student in Dublin, Ireland. This is Our Chance has undergone many reprints and has been extremely popular in West Africa since its first production by the Association of Students of African Descent in Dublin in 1948. Since its publication in 1956, it has gone on to become one of the classics of African literature, read widely and performed in schools and colleges across the English-speaking Commonwealth.
Princess Kudaro and Prince Ndamu have been sent by their fathers, Chief Damba of Koloro and Chief Mboli of Udura, to be educated in a big city. Despite the fact that their communities have been long-standing rivals and venomously hate each other, they fall in love and enjoy the care-free anonymity of city life. However, both are simultaneously called back home to their villages.
Princess Kudaro is tutored in her father’s palace by Bambulu, an intelligent though self-important and pompous character, who has had a Western European education. Their quarrelsome relationship propels the central theme of the play, the tug between modernity in the western sense and traditional African customs and tradition. While Kudaro blindly and impetuously reacts to the stifling ways of life in the village, Bambulu argues for change, though his prescription verges around the more superficial aspects of western habits and conduct.
When Kudaro elopes with Ndamu, Bambulu becomes the scapegoat for her insurrection. He is arrested and threatened with death. Eventually, Kudaro falls into the hands of Mboli’s soldiers and in an ironic twist, Prince Ndamu is captured by Damba’s troops. Both chiefs, stubborn and fiercely proud, wrestle with the conflicting weights of tradition, enmity and parental love. However, Common sense prevails and Damba releases Prince Ndamu with a message of peace to his father, Chief Mboli.
The themes and issues covered in This Is Our Chance include the tug between tradition and modernity, inter-tribal enmity, forbidden love and the challenges of leadership are as pertinent today as they were when the play was first published.
The August 29 seminar will kick off with Mallam Denja Abdullahi giving a brief introductory address and Peter Olorunnisomo reviewing the play, just as Dr. John Yesiebo of the University of Port Harcourt will speak on the theme of ‘Maintaining Tradition in the Onslaught of Modernity’. Also, Director of Arojah Theatre, Abuja, Mr. Jerry Adesewo will speak on ‘Tribal Enmity – The Role of Theatre in Nation-building’ as Secretary-General of Pan-African Writers Association, Dr. Wale Okediran harps on ‘Damba and the Challenge of Leadership’, Dr. Ekua Ekumah of University of Ghana, Legon, speaks on ‘The Role of Women in This Is Our Chance‘ and Prof. Liwhu Betiang of the University of Calabar speaks on ‘Reflection – Why Henshaw is Important in the History of Nigerian Drama’. After a 30-minute break for comments and questions, Prof. Effiong Johnson of the University of Uyo will dwell on ‘Musings on the Plays of James Ene Henshaw’, with Dr. Patrick Jude Otteh of Jos Repertory Theatre making critical remarks to bring This Is Our Chance seminar to an end.
