By Bate Besong (Published in The Post Friday, July 21, 2006, No.0783)
BOLE BUTAKE is a philosophical, ironic humanist, deeply committed to the democratic ideals of a new nation. His sarcastic wit, his creative use of contemporary slang and intertextual references to dramatic codes makes his plays particularly appealing to victims on the periphery of the CNU-CPDM dinosaurs.
Butake is our first playwright of real artistic distinction and academic prominence who has sought in plays like Lake God (1986) and Shoes and Four Men In Arms (1999) to internationalize the Cameroonian theatre with psychologically realistic plays that were didactic and often historical.
His plays are therefore uncompromising and scathing in their criticism of the role of an incestuous bourgeoisie in the apparatus of state power; the undemocratic and tyrannic base of their tribal mode of governance; and their corruption, megalomania, and mismanagement of national resources.
Subjecting the Gaullist-inspired history of Cameroon under Mr. Biya's a quarter century imperial presidency to an acute dialectical intelligence, Butake underscores the inevitability of revolutionary social change as a necessary corollary of the contradictions engendered by the role of hypocrites and sycophants who help in the institutionalization of CPDM corruption and moral depravity; who are spiritually drained, hollow and unsatisfied.
Butake's alternative theatre is a variation on his thesis of the theatre as a goal in the march for democracy. He views literature as alternative discourse in the struggle for national liberation.
The playwright demystifies Psaul Roi in these plays by proving that the Cameroonian masses can topple any government that politically deceives and terrorizes them.
We readily discover that while the playwright sometimes handles the themes already explored in And Palm Wine Will Flow (1990) and Shoes and Four Men In Arms(1992), he does so in Dance of the Vampires(1999) and Family Saga (2005) from the perspective of new knowledge, new consciousness and a better understanding of the dialectics of social change.
The plays encode an inner symmetry, an inner organic paradigm and dialectical correlation of ideas and thoughts that demonstrate Butake's deep, engaging humanism.
These plays are socially minded, politically committed, optimistic, deeply concerned about social amelioration and willing to set clear solutions to dominant social contradictions of the Ahidjo-Biya regime. It is a new language theatre that is marked by an incisive intelligence and seriousness.
Whether in Dance of the Vampires or Family Saga, we encounter the revulsion at the ugliness of living in the contemporary polity mutilated by atavistic values. Dance of the Vampires is a homage to human creativity under oppressive and humiliating conditions and to the indomitable resilience of the forgotten and the mummified.
The theatrical iconography of society reveals that most of the problems the community faces today emanate from neo-colonialism megalomania and imperialism .It impugns Psaul Roi and members of the cult of vampires who have impoverished the Cameroonian masses and auctioned the nation to Albanians in their mania for absolute power.
Dance of the Vampires is theatre that is distinguished by its luminous clarity and simplicity; its and courageous resistance to depression and disillusionment.
In this play Butake has pioneered the use of Noni traditional idiom to create mood, combined scenic realism with melodramatic icons to caricature, Song and the Albanians.
The playwright has assumed a combative stance and tone by calling on the Nformis to fight and defend their existence as a nation thereby widening their political horizon and intensifying their consciousness.
Family Saga like Dance of the Vampires is a celebratory theatre, written in the mood of enthusiasm for progressive forces in society. The main targets of political attacks are demagogue-politicians and senile bureaucratic blockheads. Yaman (Germany), Baakingoom (Britain) Fiekafhim (France) come in for satirical impalement.
The Deed of Brotherhood that Kamala and Kamalo signed is by inference a metaphor of the re-unification treaty between French East Cameroon and British Southern Cameroons.
Family Saga caricatures and condemns the hypocrisy, corruption, and false national values of the Biya "new" Deal that has been characterised by ineptitude, tribal apartheid, tyranny, and the stranglehold of re-colonizing imperialism.
The play is therefore calling for a fundamental restructuring of the aberrant mode of national unity under Psaul Roi's cadaverous vision of national integration.These two plays are therefore highly incisive dramaturgical art that boldly take on the whole wide ranging and complex structures of decadent social and political institutions.
Butake is noted for his simplicity of style and polished language, his careful attention to character, and his vivid sense of Cameroon history.
Psaul Roi will not live forever!
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