Dora on Stage: A Melancholic Backstory

Yinka Olatunbosun

Resounding music, controlled lighting, and striking costumes combined to exert a magnetic pull on audiences at the Agip Recital Hall over the Easter holidays, where Dora returned for a repeat performance. Nigeria’s fraught battle against the peddling of fake drugs found compelling expression in this biographical stage production, written by Muritala Sule. The evocative musical revisits Dora Akunyili’s tenure as Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) from 2001 to 2008. Commissioned by Duke of Shomolu Productions, the show was directed by Dr. Toyin Ogundeji.

Ogundeji has long demonstrated a knack for discovering talent and assembling inclusive casts. In Dora, for instance, the ensemble featured both a child actor and an undersized performer cast in the role of a doctor—choices that added texture and nuance to the production.

Starring William Benson, Dora as a historical musical excavates past trauma to bring to life a cast of recognisable figures in a story that is as tragic as it is true. Anchored in themes of patriotism, family, love, integrity, and national duty, the narrative unfolds across a sequence of scenes conveyed through dance, song, and dialogue, with measured infusions of humour. The portrayal of Obasanjo drew waves of laughter, but the loudest applause greeted Dora’s first appearance on stage—clear evidence of inspired casting.

Apart from occasional sound glitches caused by failing microphones—challenges the actors met with admirable vocal projection—the production was lively, well-paced, and polished. If anything felt missing, it was perhaps a symbolic flourish like the national anthem.

By chance, the playwright Muritala Sule was encountered on his way out of the theatre. Witnessing the debut staging of his work, the Abeokuta-based writer expressed quiet satisfaction.

“This is an adaptation of the play that I wrote,” he said. “There’s a lot of dance—the producers chose to make it a musical—but the director stayed true to the text, which impressed me.

“The original play is longer and broader in scope. This version was streamlined to about an hour.”
Sule, who admired Dora Akunyili in life, revealed that he had initially intended to write about her as a journalist for a now-defunct newspaper. Fate, however, redirected that intention from page to stage.
“I think she should be immortalised,” he added. “There should be national monuments, scholarships in her name—schools and hospitals built to honour her legacy.”

Perhaps our heroes deserve more than a fleeting hour in the spotlight, if only to remain enduring sources of inspiration for younger generations.

Reflecting on his comic portrayal of Obasanjo—a man he sees as not taking life too seriously—Sule noted that the characterisation drew on years of studying the former president, including his autobiographical work My Watch.