The H4P group, headed by Apostle Charles Hackman, held their third, and biggest, play at the National Theatre and, despite the fact that they are not well known, the turnout was quite huge and the play was a success.
The H4P group made up of 4 people was formed in January of this year which makes their success an even huger one.
“Not All Gold Glitters” is a musical which centers on the themes of material wealth versus spiritual wealth and true love versus love for wealth, with a strong Christian undertone. Dionne, a flighty character is promoted at work and raised from a state of poverty to comfort. She hopes to marry the mysterious Chairman of the board whom no one has ever seen, not for love of him but for love of his money. Meanwhile she falls in love with her houseboy, a very comic character called McDiamond. In the finality, she had to choose if she was to lose her soul to love or to money. The other characters that spiced up the comic melodrama were Dionne’s confidante, Diana, and her sister, Jesse.
The costuming of the characters was directed at showing the beauty and creativity of African fashion.
However, the performance was not limited to drama alone. They used the platform to showcase other talents was such as Salsa, music videos by the H4P group which raised awareness on the devastation of malaria, the necessity of being a ‘real and independent woman’ and many others. They left the undeniable message to all to tap into every talent one might have.
Quite a number of important personalities graced the occasion: the ambassadors for Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Benin, Guinea and the resident representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It also drew people from outside Africa to watch what was to be their first Ghanaian drama and they were impressed. The audience was so entertained that when the program came to a close, people yelled “Oooh!”
However, there were quite a number of drawbacks such as the problem of too much adlibbing. It got so horribly wrong when the Dionne began a relentless repetition of “Can you imagine?” so much that it drew no more comic response and was at times meaningless. This chant was then picked up by Diana and Jesse and you could bury a person eight foot under the ground with the copious number of Can You Imagine’s! There are a few repetitions that are usually inculcated for comic effect to leave the audience with a memory of the play. However, “Can you imagine?” just became such an exhausted redundancy. But this problem was countered with what would be the popular phrase of the night that the audience walked away with which was, “It is unfortunate.”
Also, the lead character could have made you quite dizzy with her incessant march up and down the stage continuously on every line with no motivation to move. It got to a stage where, if every character was sitting, they would each stand up when they have a line to deliver as though it were a primary 6 play! Dionne and Jesse constantly ordered McDiamond to get drinks and he constantly went backstage for their drinks when a bar had been set up on the set. That could have been used to draw more reality.
The play had some pretty good punch lines that made the audience roar with laughter, however, at times, it tipped over the edge to become so dry they were met with an embarrassing silence. Finally, Dionne goes through a sudden one-dimensional change and no longer wants to marry for money but for love. The epiphany is lost on the audience, and no explanation is given for this lightening speed change of heart. All the audience is told about her vanishing act and inexplicable reappearance is that this very headstrong money-conscious woman has suddenly realized the error in marrying for money, and all praise be to God Almighty. Amen.
All in all, H4P greatly entertained their audience and left them with many mementos: a crown opener, a sweet card thanking them for their presence, “It is unfortunate” and, most important of all, valuable life lessons. The actors and all backstage hands definitely deserved the standing ovation they received.
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