King Charles Lambert Debuts New African Traditional Theatre Masterpiece, ‘Wait Until Dawn’

Mary Nnah

Pan-African economic reformer and founder of the Compassionate Capitalism Economic System, King Charles N. Lambert, has unveiled a powerful new play for African traditional theatre titled, ‘Wait Until Dawn’, a sweeping traditional tragedy that fuses myth, politics, and morality to deliver a searing portrait of ambition, betrayal, and divine justice in precolonial Africa.

Set in the fictional kingdom of Ameke, Wait Until Dawn explores the destructive hunger for power and the inevitability of truth through a gripping story of royal scandal, murder, and spiritual reckoning. Told in three acts, the play carries the emotional intensity of a Greek tragedy while staying deeply rooted in the cultural rhythms of African oral tradition.

“The house is now on fire. There is no hiding place for the rat anymore,” says Akaike, one of the play’s most complex characters, his words echoing the moral and political tension that drives the story.

A Royal Scandal and the Price of Ambition

The drama opens with the shocking murder of Eze Kalu Ibi, the revered king of Ameke. His council of elders, once bound by loyalty, descend into suspicion and deceit as ambition tears through the moral fabric of the kingdom.

At the center of the crisis stands Akaike, an elder whose lust for power consumes him, and Dike Ugwuala, a proud rival wrongly accused of the king’s death. Overcome by humiliation, Dike takes his own life, a tragedy that exposes the devastating cost of falsehood.

Lambert’s narrative uses this unraveling not just as a dramatic twist but as a mirror for society’s deeper moral wounds. The play’s title, Wait Until Dawn, becomes a metaphor for the slow but certain triumph of truth, a theme that resonates strongly in today’s Africa.

Women, the Gods, and the Power of Truth

While the men of Ameke fight for power, the women channel the voice of the unseen. Ogonna, the widowed queen, turns to spiritual ritual, invoking ancestral spirits through chants and sacrifice to expose her husband’s killer.

In another emotional arc, Ugonma, Akaike’s wife, becomes the moral compass of the story. Torn between love and conscience, she ultimately exposes her husband’s guilt in a confrontation that brings the tragedy to its peak: “Akaike! Akaike! So, you killed my father?”

Her courage shatters the web of deceit and reasserts the ancient African belief that truth, like dawn, cannot be hidden forever.

A Celebration of African Heritage and Theatre

Wait Until Dawn stands out for its deep integration of proverbs, chants, and traditional symbolism, reflecting Africa’s communal moral order and its reverence for the gods.

Every line carries spiritual depth, from “The widow’s cat would never leave the rat that stole her fish,” to “When a child cries and points in one direction, if the father is not there, the mother must be.”

The play recalls the grandeur of Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame and Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, yet Lambert’s storytelling is uniquely his own, direct, lyrical, and steeped in both cultural and philosophical insight.

As an economic thinker known for promoting Compassionate Capitalism, Lambert extends his ideology to art, showing that leadership, whether in governance or theatre, must always serve truth and community.

Stagecraft and Vision

Written in the language of ritual and realism, the play’s scenes are visually rich and spiritually charged. From the queen’s incense-filled invocation to the council’s tense debates and Akaike’s blood-soaked confession, Wait Until Dawn invites performance that is both symbolic and electrifying.

Each act builds toward the dawn, a moment of revelation where deceit gives way to divine justice, and peace returns to Ameke.

A New Dawn for African Theatre

Lambert’s Wait Until Dawn is not just a story, it’s a cultural statement. It revives the spirit of traditional African drama and reaffirms theatre as a vehicle for moral awakening and social reflection.

“The gods may wait, the people may suffer, but justice never sleeps,” Lambert says, describing the play’s enduring message.

As Africa continues to wrestle with issues of integrity and leadership, Wait Until Dawn emerges as a timely artistic call, a reminder that, no matter how long the night of falsehood lasts, dawn always comes.

About the Playwright;
King Charles N. Lambert is a Pan-African economic reformer, philosopher, and founder of the Compassionate Capitalism Economic System. Known for merging ideology with creativity, Lambert uses literature and theatre to advance his vision of African moral and economic restoration. Wait Until Dawn reflects his continuing belief that ethical rebirth must accompany financial liberation.