My team and I spent our Easter at the National Theatre. We staged live The Saint In The Devil’s Shoes ─ a one-man original musical play ─ and it was such a beautiful sight to behold. The character, Sika Blankson (real name Bern Khobby), held his audience spellbound for two solid hours with a gripping story that kept them at the edge of their seats.
The Saint In The Devil’s Shoes is the most difficult play I have ever written. Intermittently, I had to abandon the script because I ran out of ideas. Weaving an entire story around one character was not an easy hurdle, however, this was the hurdle I wanted to jump to mark the 10th anniversary of Scribe Productions.
By God’s grace, I wrote 11 songs for the musical play. Tell you what, writing these was not a walk in the park. I had to write them in such a way that they not only advanced the plot of the story but also communicated the mood of the character as and when any action was taking place.
Indeed, every stage performance puts every production team to the test. This one-man play was not any different. The greatest feat, I must confess, on the two days/nights of The Saint In The Devil’s Shoes is the star actor, Bern Khobby, who single-handedly performed all 4 shows amidst singing, dancing, and acting.
Thankfully, the audience reviews after the show have been overwhelming. Many lessons have been learned. Minds have been transformed. The multi-million-dollar question, however, is “Why The Saint In The Devil’s Shoes?”
A broken system
I wrote and directed this play to remind us that nations flourish on systems. When these systems are broken, everybody is at risk. Like a relay race, we can only win or lose together. It behooves each one of us to make sure our systems work.
What are systems? People are systems. Your career, for example, contributes to destroying or fixing the systems around us. Sometimes, the bad systems we complain about are us ─ we go to work late, we steal from the office, and over-invoice our budgets. When we fix our bad attitudes, the bad systems will automatically be fixed.
The Saint In The Devil’s Shoes makes it clear that when a system is broken, nobody is safe ─ no matter how rich or poor one may be. We may have the capacity to afford the good things of life. However, one day we may need more than the good things of life to live.
Looking into the mirror of corruption
Oftentimes, the politician takes a chunk of the blame whenever we have a conversation on corruption. We have soon forgotten that the politician of today was an ordinary citizen like you and me yesterday. If we can, thus, fix the ordinary citizens of today, we can have a better nation tomorrow.
This musical play was heavily themed on corruption. I looked at this canker from the perspective of the everyday Ghanaian. Many (in)actions of ours breed corruption. However, we gloss over such because we are the culprits. We sometimes even tend to assume God has favored us when corruption favors us.
The Saint In The Devil’s Shoes is like looking into a mirror. Whoever you see on the other side plays an active role in the failing systems of this nation. Before you accuse others, ask yourself, “If there were a thousand citizens like me, would our nation be better or worse?”
The gambling addiction
Gambling is destroying our youth. Many are chasing the wind of wealth yet never seem to catch it. The Saint In The Devil’s Shoes takes its audience on a ride into the life of Sika Blankson ─ a man who is called money but never has money. He has lost everything ─ even his dignity ─ courtesy of his addiction to gambling.
“Gambling entices you to make decisions for yourself the devil won’t even make for himself,” a poverty-stricken Sika Blankson reminds himself. This is a gentle reminder of how much of a toll gambling has on its victims. It starts as a spark of a desire and before one knows it, it has consumed every possession in their way.
This addiction called gambling does not only destroy its victims. It also destroys the loved ones of these victims. If you have not gambled before, don’t dare. If you are struggling with gambling, seek help. Do not destroy yourself any further.
Every story has two stories
The Saint In The Devil’s Shoes is so suspenseful that one cannot predict how it will end. The plot twist threw the audience into a great state of shock.
I wrote this play to caution every person of the danger of falling for a one-sided story. Don’t hate people because of a one-sided story. Don’t crucify them because of what you heard about them. Sometimes, the saint may be the devil, and the devil… the saint.
There are two versions of every story. It is almost likely you may have heard the false side. Take heed if you have to pass judgment on others. Hasten slowly because you may be dealing with a saint who has adorned the shoes of the devil.
The domino effect of corruption
Corruption has a ripple effect. Our (in)actions spark a long chain of activities we may never see. Unfortunately, we may be the victims of these (in)actions. If we perceive the bigger picture of the domino effect of corruption, we will all come to the uncomfortable realization that one wrong act is enough to kill a thousand people.
I wrote The Saint In The Devil’s Shoes so we can have a relook at where we aspire our nation to be. If we all decide to do the right thing, we can stop the ripple effect of other people’s wrongs. It starts with you. It starts with me. We can be saints who wear the shoes of saints. It is possible. Yes, it is!
By Kobina Ansah
The writer is a playwright and Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications and Scribe Productions.
