The Gist
Three gods are sent from the Supreme Being to ascertain which land is to be saved. They make their debut in Niiman where they meet Mumuni the water seller. The gods, following their instructions, leave a large amount of money with Mumuni and her friend, Hasana, to change Niiman in order not to incur the wrath of the creator.

Hasana launches a campaign to make the people change their ways, but the people do not have much respect for her efforts. This forces Hasana to change her tactics, revising her populist approach and disguising herself as her dead twin brother, a stern businessman who did not care much about anybody.

The day of accountability arrives and the gods appear again to reward or punish the people of Niiman. However, they find at least one soul, Hasana, who is 'faithful', and so decide to leave the people of Niiman with their blessing, charging them to do exploits for themselves and their land.

The Production
This production was staged at the Amphitheatre of the University of ghana from the 1st to the 3rd of May, 2008, from 7.30 p.m. each night.

The timing of the play presented a challenge, because production coincided with the annual Hall Week celebrations of the Commonwealth Hall, which shares a wall with the Amphitheatre. This affected the turnout as most students attended the Hall Week programmes and missed the play.

There were some levels of poor organisation of the sound, with music playing even when the actors were on stage, making it difficult to hear them speak. There were also some minor problems with the lighting which one might overlook.

The 'Land of A Million Magicians' had many humorous scenes, but sometimes one couldn't tell whether it was the humour in the play, or whether it was the fumbling and misplaced lines of the players that caused the laughter from the audience. While some of the actors seemed to have a problem with gender (he instead of she), others had problems reciting their lines. This left them somewhat nervous and confused, but they quickly recovered their composure.

This notwithstanding, the performance was splendid. The men from the Internal Revenue Service, Magajiya, and Okomfo particularly stand out for mention.

The Land of a Million magicians is a wake-up call to all citizens of a country to work at their own development. I am just imagining what Ghana would be like, if indeed we were a country of twenty-two million magicians.

Ruth Adjei for kpokplomaja.com