By Prisca Sam-Duru
The sheer stamina required was visible from the moment the curtain rose. Actors Precious Ojo (as Dotun) and Susan Ajibade (as Mariam) navigated lengthy monologues and energetic movements in the challenging two-person play, ”The Embalmer Inside,” delivering a powerful and ultimately entertaining performance.
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The production by Langfield Pictures, which explores the distressing realities of migration otherwise known as the ‘Japa’ syndrome, has already proven its critical acclaim, captivating audiences at the 2025 Lagos Fringe Festival at Freedom Park. This was as the play left a strong impression at the recent Brighton Fringe outing. Directed by Babatunde Mayokun and produced by Yemi Olanrewaju, Creative Director of Langfield Pictures, the play tackles a heavy, timely plot. Yet, its brilliance lies in the expert use of humour, preventing the audience from being overwhelmed by the distress of the subject. Producer Yemi Olanrewaju explained the creative decision to employ humour as a survival tool: “We realized that people don’t want to come and watch a play and leave the place crying… If you want to talk about such a serious matter, you can brilliantly put a little bit of humour into it so that people won’t leave your show depressed. They have to go home excited knowing that there’s hope for the future.” This approach was highly successful, ensuring the serious messages were soaked in while the audience remained thoroughly entertained. The play opens in a mortuary, where Dotun, a Nigerian immigrant in the UK working a demeaning night-shift job to please his wife and seek ‘greener pastures,’ is preparing to embalm a fresh corpse. The body belongs to another Nigerian, a girl known as Mariam. The drama ignites when the seemingly dead Mariam abruptly sits up and asks for water, launching a long, vital conversation. The dialogue tackles life in the UK, the crushing burden of expectations from home, the toll on mental health, relationships, and the inevitable reality of death. Mariam, who literally worked herself to death abroad, offers Dotun, whose own mental health is breaking down, life-changing lessons to navigate his difficult environment. The core social message is unambiguous: speak out, seek help, and prioritize mental health. ”Your mental health is paramount in all that you do. Also, you want to move abroad? Nothing wrong with moving abroad but know that it comes with challenges. So, prepare your mind for those challenges. Don’t expect that it’s going to be a bed of roses,” Olanrewaju stressed, adding the play’s philosophy, ”when life throws you lemons, you make lemonade out of it.” The technical demands of the play were immense, yet the actors rose to the challenge. The mastery in performance was top notch.
The post ‘The Embalmer Inside’: Transforming migration’s agony into triumph appeared first on Vanguard News.
