The Bambu Centre, producers of the Heritage Theatre Series, a project which seeks to reenact the entire history of Ghana in a theatre production, has officially launched another play to immortalise Ghana’s boxing legend, Azumah Nelson.
Titled ‘Zoom Zoom, once upon a champion’, the play will trace the life of Azumah as a young aspiring boxer at Bukom, a suburb of Accra, to the celebrated champion on the international stage.
At the launch in Accra on August 28, playwright Chief Moomen, who staged the highly acclaimed play Mansa Musa, said Zoom Zoom was part of the second phase of the Heritage Series project, where individual personalities and the monumental history of the country would be celebrated.
He said the play would tell the story of how far the country had come, with regard to sporting activities, especially boxing, and use it as moments of education and inspiration for the youth.
That, he said, would enable young people who desired to take up boxing as a career to emulate the relentless efforts Azumah made to become the greatest boxer in the world.
“I grew up in the late 80s where Azumah had a great impact in our national life. He is a man whose prominence came around the time when our nation was going through hard moments such as military rule and a struggling economy.
Azumah came in as a young man who inspired a sense of nationalism in the people of Ghana through boxing.
He was the light that guided us through this taut moment in our history,” he said.
Chief Moomen said although the Ministry of Sports and the boxing federation were doing everything necessary to celebrate Azumah, there was also the need to put his heritage in a play for posterity to appreciate his achievements.
Synopsis of the Play
The play will tell a detailed story of the life of Azumah Nelson as a child at Bukom and how he struggled to become a world champion in boxing.
It would also be used to celebrate the Ga-Adangbe culture because Azumah is a Ga and, most importantly, how the culture of the people of Ga inspire boxing in the country.
Additionally, the play would talk about other sportsmen whose contributions resulted in a strong and vibrant boxing sector, especially in the early 90s.
Premiering
According to Chief Moomen, who is also a poet, the play is set to be staged in December this year if they are able to raise the requisite funding and support from the government, corporate institutions and individuals.
He said there would be three shows of the play, with the first one being a VIP section where officials such as traditional rulers and government officials would be invited to watch the play.
“For the second section, which will be a regular event, an opportunity will be given to the general public to buy tickets and watch it in the various regions,” he explained.
He indicated that the final section would be staged at Bukom, where the story of Azumah started, for the community, especially the young ones who have the ambition to become champions, to know that it was possible to live in places such as Bukom and still become a champion.
Even though the first two shows would be in English, Chief Moomen said the ones to be staged at Bukom would be in Ga to enable the indigenes to understand and appreciate the play.
–graphic.com.gh
