Village Minds Production To Stage ‘The Prisoners’, This December

When Bertolt Brecht made the statement that, “art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer to shape it, ” the world did not expect the statement to survive revolutions, wars, generations, and epochs and yet we still experience and utilize these worlds in our performance and visual arts. Village Minds Production has over the years bent reality its will by telling stories that speak to society about an issue. Theatre is a powerful tool for the initiation of conversations, challenging the status quo, and sometimes, just sometimes, for cathartic effect.

This December, Village Minds Production in partnership with the Alliance Francaise d’Accra presents a caricature of “The Prison”, a place for supposed reformation, training, and admonishment. In “The Prisoners”, everybody is innocent until proven otherwise. Interestingly, not everyone is guilty because the prison system all around the world is bedevilled with the famous missing dockets, corruption of judges, big men flexing their muscles by locking people up, and the never-ending adjournments.

The play sheds light on the conditions of prisoners, their feeding, and how supplies are diverted for personal gains. The issues abound and yet you need to see for yourself the canker that has engulfed our prison. The play is quite a heavy one as it addresses issues that confront us today.

Village Minds Production has over the years produced plays for the Alliance d’Accra, Plastic Punch, National Folklore Board, Ghana Earth Association, the Australian High Commission, and the British Council. As a company, we also engage in theatre for development projects such as community theatre projects to sensitize the public on a topical issue or tell a story that resonates with society.

We have participated in theatre festivals such as the Ghana Theatre Festival, Agrobi Theatre Festival just to mention a few. Some of our plays include the Love of Mamavi, Homeless, the Barber & the Apprentice, Chain & Shackles and Plastic Punch.

Our new play “The Prisoners” is written by Nii Ayi Solomon and directed by WK Dziewornu-Norvor. Nii is Ayi has been writing and producing plays commercially since 2011. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Ghana Business School and an Assistant Lecturer at Accra Technical University. Woelinam, on the other hand, holds a BFA in Fine Arts

from the School of Performing Arts, MA in Communication Studies all from the University of Ghana, and currently pursuing an MPhil program at the Institute of Africa Studies. Since, 2015, he has directed all plays produced by Village Minds Production.

The Prisoners will be showing for 3 nights (2nd to 4th December) at the amphitheatre of the Alliance Francaise, 7pm each night. Tickets are going for GH60 Single and GH100 Double. Tickets will be available at the front desk of the Alliance Francaise.  For you, the audience, come with an open mind because you will be amazed, shocked, and left wondering whether this reality is indeed real. For ticket reservation, please call 0541146122.