It costs GH₵300,000 to get into The Pants Of A Woman –Kobina Ansah

GETTING into the pants of a woman often comes at a cost and with a lot of hustle, and for Kobina Ansah, it literally cost him a little over GHS300,000 to get In The Pants Of A Woman. And no, that is not a steamy scandal, but the staggering price tag for the celebrated playwright to stage his latest production.

This jaw-dropping expense highlights the financial toll playwrights and producers face in bringing high-quality theatre play to audiences in Ghana, prompting Mr Ansah to make a clarion call to corporate Ghana for financial support to keep the nation’s theatre industry alive and to grow.

Mr Ansah, admits Ghana’s theatre sector has huge potential but is stifled due to financial constraints. And as a result, many playwrights and stakeholders are constrained in their ability to come out with stage productions, and for those who manage to put together stage plays delivering high-quality works and the consistency of such productions become huge challenge.

His sentiments are also shared by George Quaye, Director/Producer and Team Lead of Image Bureau, whose productions The Gods Are Not to Blame and The Legend of Aku Sika cost a whopping GH₵700,000 and GH₵1 million, respectively.

 Mr Quaye pointed out that without corporate support, it would be difficult to produce high quality plays to grow and sustain the industry.

Mr Ansah made the passionate appeal to corporate Ghana in an exclusive interview with Graphic Showbiz, on the sidelines at the re-run of In The Pants of A Woman, staged at the National Theatre on Saturday, July 20, 2024.

The play, which was first shown early this year, is a musical featuring 16 original songs encouraging victims of sexual abuse to speak out, voice out their pain, and share their stories.

According to Mr Ansah, the high cost associated with producing quality plays, especially musicals, often discouraged playwrights and producers from pursuing this line of production.

He revealed that In The Pant of a Woman cost over GH₵300,000 to produce and wondered how often producers could dole out that kind of money and ensure consistency in production without external financial support from the corporate world.

“It costs a fortune to produce musicals, especially original musicals. They are more expensive because everything has to be done from scratch. With my latest play, we spent a little over GH₵300,000. Going forward, we pray for support from the corporate world to cushion us," he appealed.

Despite the high cost of production, he said his latest work was worthy of support from corporate Ghana because it could bring about positive change in society in addition to a return on the investment.

“The worth of an investment is not only in financial returns. Largely, for an investment in a play such as In The Pants of a Woman, the returns we are also looking at is social transformation. Money is important. However, if we get all the money and society is sick, we cannot even enjoy it. Thus, we prioritise transformation above money even though the latter is needed to keep us going,” he added.

Throwing more light on how viable it is for corporate Ghana to support the theatre sector, Mr Quaye said entities would get all their target audience in one place to sell their products to.

“Coprporate Ghana spend money on advertising and by supporting us, we are able to bring all their target audience to one venue. In addition to that, we run promotions consistently for months on various media platforms and we them carry along with us – prime time on radio and TV, full page advert in newspapers, billboards, and consistently every day on new media.

‘“In addition to that, corporate outfits who lend their support get the opportunity to set up and sell to the large number of people we deliver on the day of showing the play, they can share fliers, among others. In fact, it turns cheaper for them promote their products and services’, he said.

Asked what makes it so expensive to produce plays, Mr Quaye revealed that the cost of publicity and artiste fees take the chunk of production cost.

“Publicity is very expensive; running promos on prime time radio and TV and full page adverts is costly. Beyond that, talk of billboards and digital media, props, among others. And when you want to deliver a good production and attract a large patronage, you cast certain people and such names don’t come cheap”, he added.

Beyond these costs enumerated, Mr Quaye explained that the cost of rehearsals daily for, say 200 cast for three months, constituted a significant part of the cost of production. Personnel involved in delivering such shows on the day increase to include crew, security, ushers, among others, who will be provided with refreshment at a cost.