Ghanaian prolific playwright, Uncle Ebo Whyte, is set to have a live show with physical audience at the National Theatre after a long break due to Covid 19 restrictions.
Ebo Whyte disclosed that the play titled, ‘Devils wife’ will debut at the National Theatre on the 4th and 5th September 2021.
According to him, the play will only have limited ticket sales and will accommodate just half the capacity of the sitting space since his production house, Roverman Productions, have agreed to adhere to the safety protocols (especially social distancing), set in place.
“We are coming back with more concern for the health and wellbeing of our patrons. At times, people ask: is it safe to come back? And I tell them that a live theater show is different from a movie that I can just give my content and it would be aired without my presence. But with a theatre show, I will be there and my cast will also be there. So, we are taking as much risk as the person walking through the gate and so, we cannot compromise on the safety protocols. We will go the extra mile to make sure it is observed”.
Ebo Whyte
In the same vein, Uncle Ebo disclosed that he has already thought of the financial loss his decision of accepting half capacity will incur. However, he was quick to add that “sitting at home is more difficult”.
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Ebo Whyte and team survive during Covid
Recounting how he and his team were able to survive during the lockdown last year, Ebo Whyte revealed that he was one of the people who thought Covid wasn’t going to last for too long.
According to him, when the lockdown was announced he took the opportunity to rest since he hadn’t gone on a break in the past fifteen years.
“So, I felt with these two weeks let me just eat and sleep. So, after the two weeks, I was like ‘no, this is going to be for a long time’. That was when my team and I started looking at ways and means to sustain ourselves. Then we considered rolling out some of our productions. For the first time, I signed onto Instagram and went live. For Facebook, I was already there”.
Ebo Whyte
For Ebo Whyte, Covid has been helpful to the entertainment industry. He observed that it forced the industry to come up with innovations that helped them to “live their tomorrow now”.
He explained that “There are innovations that we needed to deploy, but, because we were comfortable with our state, we didn’t bother about it. Well, a few people were already into it but it hadn’t become a wide thing, it hadn’t become the norm for the industry.
“Now live streaming is the norm so that, for even someone like me who is a ‘BBC (Born Before Computers). I am live streaming my events which wouldn’t have happened but for Covid. So, even though it was disastrous it forced us to live our tomorrow now and that is fantastic”.
Ebo Whyte
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