By Solomon Mensah
 |
| Kobina Ansah |
A friend
recently tagged me in a Facebook post. That post had some letters written by white children
to God.
“I went to
this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that ok?” wrote Neil. “I bet,
it is very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are
only four people in our family and I can never do it,” said Nan.
However,
one of such letters to God by the children really got me thinking. “Dear God,
instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t you just
keep the ones you got now?”
That child
is named Jane. A seemingly troubled Jane’s letter had thousands of emotional
comments on the social media network. Could this be the reason for a Ghanaian
playwright to be so determined to sue God in February, 2016?
Let’s
knock on the door of the playwright, Kobina Ansah, to ask him his reasons for such a bold step and whether he believes
he will win the anticipated court case.
Born to
Mr. Francis Ben Ansah and Madam Faustina Donkor, Kobina Ansah completed Pope John Senior High School in 2006 and wanted to read medicine
at the University of Ghana, a year after. He was, however, denied admission.
Why was he denied admission?
“I was
shortlisted for interview. However, I was bounced for reasons I can’t really tell,” he said.
He got
heartbroken. “But I put myself together because there was no way I could change
the hands of time,” Kobina noted. He would later find solace in reading Biochemistry which he
completed in 2011.
In all
these ups and downs in the young man’s life, he loved one thing that he attests
the craze to study medicine never overshadowed. Kobina Ansah loved
writing.
“The
passion was there. The science couldn’t just cover it. Passion would always
win,” he said. Kobina says some friends realizing his penchant for writing encouraged him to
stage his first play after university.
“That
Day,” a Christian-themed play became his first as a playwright. Although That Day’s audience
gave a positive feedback, the playwright thinks it didn’t get the best of
directing because it was directed by someone else.
Challenged
by his first play, “This Family Is Not For Sale” became
his second play which drew hundreds of theatre lovers, first, to the Efua T.
Sutherland Drama Studio in University of Ghana and, at a reloaded show, at the Christ the King Church, all in Accra.
So, what
was the bottom line of Kobina Ansah’s This Family
Is Not For Sale? “We made
one thing clear … no family is worthy of sale no matter how troublesome it is,”
he said.
Kobina Ansah’s second was humor-laden yet carried a word of advice to families. Judging from the rehearsals of
his upcoming play “I Want To Sue God!", it promises to give theatre lovers
another dose of value for their money.
I Want To Sue God! to be
staged by five cast chronicles issues in [modern] marriages which help discard such marriages to the
bin. “We have people wedding today yet not
ready to marry,” said the rising playwright.
He
believes that happiness after a wedding is a decision and not a wish. “Marriage
has downs. You face them and don’t blame God for them,” he added.
When asked
how God would be sued in the play, he said that remained a surprise package to
his audience in February, 2016.
He who has
ever attended a Kobina Ansah play would attest that the budding playwright needs but time to soar like
the eagle.
Despite
the numerous challenges that come with producing a drama, he is determined to
register his name among men who are holding high Ghana’s theatre flag.
Aside not
securing corporate sponsorship for his plays coupled with lack of
theatre-friendly venues, Kobina says he made losses for all his shows. “Huge ones [losses], sad to
say. I have not made a single profit yet,” he observed.
That
sounds sad, right? Self-motivation is the best thing an individual could give
him/herself. Kobina Ansah seems to have mastered that: “That’s how every dream starts. One needs to
keep pushing.”
Why don’t
you be Kobina Ansah’s audience at Central Cafeteria, Legon on Saturday, 13th February 2016 to join him sue God? "First show is at 4pm.
Second show is 7pm," he concluded.
The writer is a freelance journalist.
Twitter: @Aniwaba
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