Chasing the Golden Fleas

Constant in the chain of the past, the present and the future are products of the decisions we make—they decide whether we are truly progressing, or merely having an illusion of progress.

This is the crux of Crown Troupe’s performance of Golden Fleas, a play written by Segun Adefila where eight sojourners decided what to do with their future: to correct wrong decisions of the past or run from them and live with grand delusion. This play makes not only philosophical statements but its also a call to cultural, social and national awakening.

This world is a sojourn and each sojourner has a tale. Golden Fleas is a tale of tales with each character acting their own script. Jonah, the young man that’s always sleeping on journeys, used to be a bus conductor until gullibility made him lose his job; landed him in prison -a social reject.

Agba, the oldest person on the trip, used to be a political activist that fought for the people, until he got his hands soiled by dining with the high and mighty instead of wringing the national cake out of their hands.

Madam is a victim of marital sacrifice as she used her body to get her husband a contract; the husband soon throws her out when he’s made some cash. Leader used to belong to the upper class of society until he goes to see what the world is on ‘the other side’; he never gets rich again.

Sisi and Queen, two young ladies, are Madam’s apprentices; they are victims of the patriarchal structure of our society and the preference of the boy-child over the girl. Olujimbo is a rogue, an expert at making the ‘thief the victor and the victor the thief.’

Bobo, the youngest of the crew, is an adventurer always following dogmatically without questioning. These are sketches of our society, characters that dot the landscape of our lives. We are sojourners not only as individuals but as a nation of many nations.

Golden Fleas is not about travelling in search of the ‘golden fleece’ on the other side of the world; however, it is a search for utopia, for perfection, a search for a different people and a new nation. Our past might have been decided without our permission, our present may look as if it is transfixed but we can decide what becomes of our future.

The play fixes its searchlight on issues as corruption, the power of change, the role of humans in the running of their societies, justice vs injustice, social inequality, gender imbalance, among others.

This play leans on beautiful sketches used to depict the story even as narration goes on; poetic dialogue that the audience can communicate with; true to life depiction of characters that perhaps made them more real than they ordinarily are; inventive use of dance and songs as tellers of tales.

The play, though deals with serious issues, has various spells of comic relief interjecting it; and is at once a creative blend of satire and comedy, made more beautiful by the use of anecdotes (in English, pidgin and some Nigerian languages). Above all, it is a call for change as there are comments on our existence as individuals and a nation.

A call to everyone to see how the ‘little’ efforts at wrecking the country makes a big monster that devours us all. There are remarks about our existence, however lightly they are made: ‘when the owner delays the apprehension of the thief, the thief becomes the owner and the owner, the thief.’

The society is the foundation on which literature stands; literature reflects the society and sometimes tries to correct it through our minds. Golden Fleas deconstruct the concept of transition especially as it affects the Nigerian society.

When a foundation is destroyed, what do the builders do? Ignore the problem and keep building; dismantle the foundation and build a new one, most times in Nigeria, we choose the latter.

This is seen in the little decisions that we make (as leaders or followers), by following dogmatically even as we allow other people script our lives for us to act. Golden Fleas has portrayed that change can only come when we demand it and act as if we want it.