Have you ever watched one of the plays of Uncle Ebo Whyte? If you
have then you most likely are in a quandary like me – which one is the
best show ever?Having written close to a dozen stories on his plays, I have run out of adjectives to describe the latest masterpiece of craft laden with enough truism about Ghanaians and our susceptibility to corruption.
In One Million Pounds, Uncle Ebo distilled and condensed a nation and a continent’s biggest problem – corruption – into two hours of drama with characteristic flair and dexterity.
Obviously modeled on the historic participation in this year’s edition of X Factor UK by Ghanaian duo Reggie N Bollie, One Million Pounds exposes with exacting clarity the tendency to sell oneself cheap and be bought for a pittance.
Three young men and lady from Ghana are participating in a music reality show in the UK and are performing to the admiration of many.
Their leader is befriending the only lady amongst them whose father, by the way, is their manager.
Just before the final, organizers of the show decide that it would hurt the brand of the show if the Africans should win so the show host wants to buy them out of the finale.
He budgets one million Pounds for this but when the manager of the musicians appears before him, he bargains for less – he takes 500,000 Pounds.
This is where it gets interesting, in fact frustratingly annoying.
After receiving the half a million pounds to take his artistes out of
the finale, he bundles 10,000 Pounds each into four envelopes and hands
them to the musicians and demands praise for his ingenuity.
Two of the artistes grabbed the money with alacrity, imagining what 10,000 Pounds at an exchange rate of 5.6 cedis can do for their lives.
The leader of the group fought a lost battle to gain the support of his colleagues for them to reject the money. When they took a vote on the issue, only his girlfriend stood by him, the other two followed the money.
As a face-saving measure, their manager suggests that upon arriving at Kotoka, they should issue a false statement saying they abandoned the finals in solidarity with the leader who had to be by his mother in hospital back in Ghana.
The artistes who took the 10,000 Pounds realized they had been cheated when robbers attacked and took away all the money.
I have seen many Uncle Ebo plays but One Million Pounds is in a class of its own. No wonder, therefore, that the ladies watching the play shouted excitedly as though they were paid to shout.
Please grab a ticket for only 80 Ghana cedis at Joy FM’s Front Desk, Airtel shops, Baatsona Total, etc. and you will never regret you did. It shows this holiday and next weekend at 4 and 8pm daily.
Two of the artistes grabbed the money with alacrity, imagining what 10,000 Pounds at an exchange rate of 5.6 cedis can do for their lives.
The leader of the group fought a lost battle to gain the support of his colleagues for them to reject the money. When they took a vote on the issue, only his girlfriend stood by him, the other two followed the money.
As a face-saving measure, their manager suggests that upon arriving at Kotoka, they should issue a false statement saying they abandoned the finals in solidarity with the leader who had to be by his mother in hospital back in Ghana.
The artistes who took the 10,000 Pounds realized they had been cheated when robbers attacked and took away all the money.
I have seen many Uncle Ebo plays but One Million Pounds is in a class of its own. No wonder, therefore, that the ladies watching the play shouted excitedly as though they were paid to shout.
Please grab a ticket for only 80 Ghana cedis at Joy FM’s Front Desk, Airtel shops, Baatsona Total, etc. and you will never regret you did. It shows this holiday and next weekend at 4 and 8pm daily.
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