Rehearsals of Ola Rotimi's Kurumi, the last play in the line-up of productions of the annual season of theatrical plays by the National Theatre/National Troupe of Nigeria is to begin next week. When ready, the production will be staged between December 22 and January 2, 2009 at the National Theatre.

To be directed by the renowned cultural activist, theatre director, playwright, one time Arts Editor and Deputy Editor of the Guardian Newspaper, Ben Omowafola Tomoloju, Kurumi hailed variously as a fast paced and deeply moving tragedy creates the turbulent rhythms of war to match the explosive clash of wills that brought about the gruesome Ijaiye War of the 19 century.

Published in 1971 but first performed in 1969 by the Ori Olokun Players of the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, under the direction of the late Professor Ola Rotimi, who was at the time a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ife, Kurumi vividly examines the conflict that arose between the two mainstays of the new Oyo Empire, Ibadan and Ijaiye. The play centres on Kurunmi, the Are-Ona Kakanfo of Ijaiye, the supporters of tradition and the Ibadan Chiefs led by Ibikunle who supported the recent change in Oyo Empire, which after the war, they were effectively to dominate.

The directing playwright, Ben Omowafola Tomoloju, has been engaged by the management of the National Theatre to direct this Ola Rotimi's classic. A native of Ilaje in Ondo State, 'Ben T' or 'Pappy Ben' as he is fondly called had his early education in various parts of the South West before proceeding to the University of Ibadan where he graduated with a degree in English and Literary Studies. It was at the University that Ben T had a comprehensive training in theatre and dramatic arts.

He effectively combines his career as a dramatist with that of a pace-setting arts journalist. A one -time Arts Editor of Weekly Focus, Leader Writer and Columnist with The Punch and Reviews Editor of The Democrat Weekly, Tomoloju's success as Reviews Editor in The Democrat Weekly led to his invitation by the management of The Guardian to open the newspaper's Arts Desk in April 1985. He later rose to become the paper's Deputy Editor before he retired for active theatre practice and culture advocacy and activism. A mentor to many of today's distinguished editors and writers in various Nigerian newspapers, Tomoloju, who enjoys a listing in the book, WHO IS WHO IN NIGERIA as the pioneer of professional arts journalism in Nigeria, has participated in various capacities in the evolution of national programme on culture, such as Management of the National Arts Theatre, the National Cultural Policy, the National Troupe of Nigeria and Copyright Implementation. One of the founding fathers of the National Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) and the Arts Writers Organisation of Nigeria (AWON),

Tomoloju even while attending to his journalistic duties established a multi-dimensional theatre group known as Kakaaki in 1980. Ben T led the group to celebrate Professor Wole Soyinka's winning of the Nobel Prize in Italy with his play Jankariwo and Soyinka's Jero Metamorphosis in 1987. That performance and the 20 state tour of his International Red Cross commissioned Askari marked a high point of Tomoloju's career as a dramatist.

Author of Janriwo (Einaudi, Turin, 1987) Askari (BTC, Lagos, 1997) and Aminatu (Orbit, Lagos, 2005), the directing playwright has also edited Ashes And Diamond, an anthology published by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) as well as Voter For Tolerance (ICR, Lagos 1997) in collaboration with Jahman Anikulapo. In further recognition of his contribution to the development of culture, the National Council for Arts and Culture in December 2007 honoured Ben Tomoloju with a National Merit Award for Professional Excellence. He currently runs his own company, BTC-BEN Tomoloju and Company, a Media and Creative Consultancy outfit. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the prestigious Nigeria Prize For Literature sponsored by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas.

This is Tomoloju's first outing as a director with the National Troupe. Bayo Oduneye, Makinde Adeniran, Felix Okolo, Don Pedro Obaseki and Niyi Akanni are some of the other guest directors the Troupe has engaged in the past for its play presentations.