Destiny at work in The Waiting Room

Argument and confusion became the order of the day

In the thriller, The Waiting Room, fate brings four people:  Keshi (Sunkanmi Adebayo), Aduke (Jumoke Bello) Kera (Anike Alli-Hakeem) and Don Flexy (Rotimi Fakunle) together.

Each of them received a separate invitation which brought four of them in one place. They try every possible means to liberate themselves but could not and decide to allow fate take its cause.

Continuously, they have hurdles to cross and issues to tackle, so the means of coming out unscathed becomes a challenging issue facing them.

As time passes by, argument could not save them, so they try to seek solution to their predicament. While this is going on, Don Flexy decides to hum a song in order to reduce anxiety which has built up in his mind. So they have to apply their intelligence in order to arrest the situation.

“Life is what we make it. …it’s what we often hear. Is where we are today a logical outcome of where we were yesterday? Let’s found out whether this theory can bring solution.”

In another scene, as always the case in many homes, Aduke accuses Keshi of seeing another lady before Don Flexy enters and informs Keshi that a lady is waiting for him outside. He tried to bribe the man to release the lady before his wife Aduke comes in and threatens to report them to the police. On hearing the siren, Don Flexy brings out his gun and threatens the couple to hide from the police.

Like what most women do when they are emotional, Aduke recalls all the good things she did for her husband to make him what he is today.  “I stood by him when his mother laughed at him, saying that he couldn’t pay his bills,” she reminisced.

Other hand, Keshi also complains about his wife and says: “She was desolate so I stood by her to marry her.”

Kera, former insurance marketer the confesses that Keshi her new lover applied for life assurance scheme for him and his wife. He later asked her to get him someone that would kill his wife so that he would enjoy the money from the life assurance company.

Back to square one! They are still at the danger zone and they open their letters which is signed: D-E-S-T-I-N-Y. It now dawned on them that they were summoned by destiny.

Keshi’s letter reads: “Finish each other with what is found in the box – guns.”

At last, the two ladies reveal to Keshi that they are blood sisters. So they decide to get rid of Keshi and Don Flexy, but Keshi trickily advises Kera not to support his wife, saying his greedy wife will not give her a kobo if they kill him.

There is a twist when Aduke gives the gun to Don Flexy and claims that they have been in love before Aduke got married to Keshi. She adds that they will soon marry and enjoy the money. So she threatens to kill all of them, not knowing that they all have guns. They ended up shooting one another.

The Renegade Theatre’s ‘The Waiting Room’, is an exciting, thought-provoking performance on the meaning of existence and pre-destination.

This play was the Festival play for the Lagos Book and Arts Festival, The Festival of Nigerian Plays (FESTINA) and the Lagos State Government-sponsored Black Heritage Festival all in 2011.

Written, produced and directed by Wole Oguntokun, The Waiting Room was live play which took place at the Underground Car Park of Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos. It tries to encourage people to be honest in their dealing with one another.

Concerning the guns they used in killing one another, it was a tool for immediate termination of lives. It is not in our culture to finish business with guns. But the producer said in this age, people don’t use cutlass to fight with their enemies. The guns in the movie may also mean the intimidations men and women go through in the society and still survive.

Kera called one person two names at the same time. She mistakenly called Don Flexy ‘Don Jazzy,’ which is a notable mistake in the play.

These four people acted many scenes which other actors should have done. It made the play a bit cumbersome for one to understand.

It is quite an interesting act, kudos to the actors whose performances were great. This is a well researched work that will keep anyone who watches it on a spot till the end of the play.