Tears in the Cornfield

“Their farms were destroyed with impunity by herdsmen and their cows and on daily basis; they were raped, beaten or killed in their farms. They could no longer go to their farms alone. They must go in groups. “How can we feed our families if we cannot go to our farms? Where did they expect us to get money from to send our children to schools if we do not have access to our farms? Can’t you see the prices of goods in the market right now?”

The play, Tears in the Cornfield, is therefore, a story of our lives with no one and nowhere spared. From the traditional rulers, who sometimes are in cohort with the destroyers, to the market women, like Okpomote, who salivate from the spoils of an unholy marriage… You do not need any naysayers to paint a more horrendous colour for you before you see the fangs of the Hobbesian or the Biblical and mythological Leviathan… Tears in the Cornfield is a masterpiece, a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship. It is often said that ‘Masterpieces are not completed, they are abandoned.’ In this, Peter Omoko has disproved the dictum! I have no hesitation whatsoever in commending this new offering to the reading public and all lovers of good drama. – Adediran Kayode Ademiju-Bepo, Professor ofTheatre and Film Studies,Jos, Nigeria.