MANAGING A STAGE PLAY WITH LIMITED RESOURCES. A CASE STUDY OF HENRY BELLGAM’S UBE REPUBLIC.

MANAGING A STAGE PLAY WITH LIMITED RESOURCES. A CASE STUDY OF HENRY BELLGAM’S UBE REPUBLIC.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Table of content

Title page

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Certification

Table of contents

Abstract

CHAPTER ONE (INTRODUCTION)

1.0       INTRODUCTION

1.1 Purpose of study

1.2       Justification of study

1.3       Research methodology

1.4       Scope/limitation of study

1.5       Definition of terms

Chapter two

2.0       literature review

Chapter Three

3.0       introduction

3.1 playwright Background

3.2 play synopsis

3.3 plot structure of Ube Republic

3.4 language/style/technique

3.5 character/characterization

3.6 thematic structure

3.7 summary

Chapter four

4.0       introduction

4.1 defining management

4.2 defining Theatre management

4.3 managing a stage production with limited resources

(Bellgam’s Ube Republic  A case for study

4.4 summary

Chapter five

Conclusion

5.0       findings

5.1       recommendations

5.2       conclusion

Work Cited List

ABSTRACT

This study is a guide on how to manage a production in an educational theatre, with limited resources. Its use of Bellgam’s Ube Republic as a case study, is to further buttress the practicality involved in theatre management.

          What you will find in this study is a systematic approach to a production of a play like Ube republic, a play with a large cast and elaborate costumes, yet managed with limited resources.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0    INTRODUCTION

From the beginning of civilization processes, man has always been faced with the Herculean task of harmonizing and coordinating the resources which he inherits from the environment in which he lives. And because man has always excelled in his bid to procure, harmonize and mobilize his resources, he has been brandished a natural manager.

According to H. R. Light (1974) managing means:

The process of planning, organizing, directing, co-ordinating and controlling men, materials, machines and money so as to ensure the optimum achievement of objectives (p. 10).

What the above definition is implying is that management involves the effective carrying out of operations designed to accomplish the aims and objectives of a system or organization. However, for the purpose of this study, we are going to see management as the process whereby a conducive atmosphere is created for the various human and material resources to be utilized to achieve the desired goals.

By extension, theatre management can be defined as the process or art of handling, controlling and directing all commercial and non-artistic aspects of any production programme in order to generate audience patronage, audience satisfaction and maximize profit. From a historical sense, it has been noted that the movement of theatre in Nigeria for the business entrepreneur started with Hubert Ogunde in 1944 when he was commissioned in that year to produce a play as fund raising activity for the church of the Lord in Lagos. History has it that this event marked the beginning of the organized commercial theatre in Nigeria by a Nigerian on a fairly large scale.

From a more professional perspective, the theatre manager is the person that brings together, the four basic elements of theatre – the script, the performance venue, the artists and the audience for shared dramatic experiences. The theatre is a collaborative art so that all concerned elements contribute mutually to the end product. To this end, any element that does not contribute to the overall artistic impression of the production is eliminated. Theatre management therefore, aims at facilitating the operation of all the commercial aspects of a production and handle, those operations an efficient and responsible manner.

To manage a stage production is a difficult task especially when one as commissioned to manage with limited resources. The above statement is what this research study is designed to critically analyse.

1.1       PURPOSE OF STUDY

Obviously, theatre practice in Nigeria has experiences lack or sponsorship and even when such patronages come up, they are more or less peanuts or better still stipends. TV dramas and the emergence of home video in the movie industry have witnessed more appreciable sponsorships than stage productions. The reason is simple. The Nigerian prosperity for instant solutions on quick profits has affected sponsorship market trader can easily dole out N3m for a home video if he believes the film will sell well but the same trader cannot give N100.00 for a stage play because he is not sure of making half of that amount at the box office.

          Saddled with negligence, the theatre management graduate does not see anything hopeful and lucrative in the theatre business, he therefore resorts into differenct professions, especially oil companies and banks, to source for jobs in order to eke out a living. It is against this background that this study is designed as an adviser to such disillusioned students to utilize very limited resources and keep on managing stage productions rather than give up to other professions. In the same vein, it has been discovered that most theatre graduate always come up with proposals that worth millions of naira just for a stage production without minding the economics strength of their prospective sponsor. But when their sponsor fails to comply, they become withdrawn from the theatre business. It is therefore the purpose of this study to educate theatre management graduates on how best to manage stage production with limited resources.

1.2       JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY

It is no monger news to note that the rate of unemployment in the country increases with the dawn of everyday as universities and other training institutions produce new graduates and these young graduates roam the streets in search of jobs without giving adequate thought to what they can do be self-employed. It is saddening to note that students/graduates of theatre management also joint the bandwagon without realizing that their knowledge of theatre management can be an asset in establishing a private theatre business that can pay them and other theatre staff. This is very possible especially when such theatre graduate is economically strong enough so as to stage a production with a meagre amount. It will however, take a study that is as educating as this theatre business spending.

          In a country where theatre business is given little or no attention so that achieving a stage production so demoralized and hardly look up to the theatre as a means of survival. It is very pertinent that such graduates be encouraged and advised to continue to embark on stage productions even with limited resources. This is exactly what justifies this study. It is also part of the justification of this study to expose to use how man, as an entity, is influenced by the economic theory of scale of preference.

          It is this theory that enables man to properly utilize his limited resources to satisfy his most important needs. The theatre manager is not an exception, for he is always charged with task of achieving a stage production with resources that cannot ideally see to such production. In this wisdom also the theatre manager strives to achieve a balanced rapport with his fellow being then pool the little available resources together to ensure a successful production. This is what is intended to be achieved at the end of this study.

1.3       RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Sam Ukala (2000) informs us that:

……. Research in theatre arts relies on four methodologies that are more or less relevant to other sociological, the literary and the artistic methodologies. Each of these is complete in itself, but theatre arts is complete in itself, but theatre arts research often demands a combination of two or more of them. (p 2).

Against ths basckdrop, the researcher has decided to adopt the sociological and literary methodologies for this research study. Apart fom participant observation, personal experience and oral interviews, the researcher wishes to gather data mainly from primary source materials likes play texts, textbooks, magazines, journals, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, newspaper etc.

1.4       SCOPE/LIMITATION OF STUDY

According the V. O Ajala (1996):

….It is important to set limits on how much one times to cover in a single study. Beginners should plain to investigate a problem of manageable size and reserve other variables for later studies (p: 22) it is for this reason that the researcher has designed this study to revolve only around the management of a stage production with limited resources. With a case study of Henry Leopold Bellgam’s Ube Republic, this study is concerned only with the play’s stage management alone with emphasis on use of limited resources. This study shall be divided into five chapters. The first chapter shall serve as the introduction of this study, chapter two shall take care of the literature review, and chapter three shall bother on a critical analysis of the play, Ube Republic. It is in the fourth chapter that the body of the study shall be contained. It will hammer on the use of limited resources to achieve an effective production of the stage play study. Chapter five shall house the findings, recommendations and conclusion of this study.

1.5       DEFINITION OF TERMS

In order to enhance an understanding of this study, the researcher has set for herself the task of defining some key terms used in this study. They include: manager, stage, production, limited and resources.

1.5.0 MANAGER

To manage means to plan, organize, direct, co-ordinate and control material and non-material and non-material things so as to ensure the optimum achievements of objectives.

1.5.1  STAGE

Stage as it appears in this study simply means a plat form or an area usually in a theatre, on which plays are performed to an audience. It is the acting area in a theatre

1.5.2  PRODUCTION

From an economics perspective, production is the manufacturing and growing of goods and services in order to satisfy human wants. However, for the purpose of this study, production implies the process of mounting a play on stage before an audience.

1.5.3  RESOURCES

Resources is the plural of resources which in turn means a supply of something that a country, an organization or an individual has and can use, especially to increase wealth. This explains why Nigeria is often christened a country blessed with so many mineral resources.

MANAGING A STAGE PLAY WITH LIMITED RESOURCES. A CASE STUDY OF HENRY BELLGAM’S UBE REPUBLIC.

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