Frills and thrill of Lagos Theatre Festival 2014

Cast of Make We Waka

By ADA DIKE

The entire city was indeed a stage at the second edition of Lagos Theatre Festival, which took place from Friday February 28, to March 2, 2014.

Organised by the British Council in Nigeria, the three-day event was the largest outdoor theatre festival held in Lagos recently, judging by the part theatrical experience comprising part real life and part city journey that spiced up the festival.

Tagged: “A city that never sleeps is full of stories that never end,” the festival truly transformed the venue of the event, Freedom Park on Broad Street, Lagos, which was formerly a colonial prison yard before it was modernised, reconstructed and transformed to preserve the history and cultural heritage of Nigeria.

Speaking at the opening of the festival, Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mr. Disu Holloway, commended the British Council in Nigeria for organising the unique festival that featured exciting, high profile and interesting theatre outside of traditional theatre spaces.

He hinted that there are about 5.6 million households in Lagos State which has about 21 million people and reiterated the administration of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola’s major focus – destination creation and gave Freedom Park as an example of destination creation.

“People wanted Freedom Park for a housing estate but Fashola said no and suggested it becomes a park,” says Holloway.

He further said that Lagos State government is grading hotels and rating them on star basis – five star, four star and so on, which according to him creates competition between hotels and tourists would benefit from it.

Also speaking, Creative Director of Lagos Theatre Festival, Kenneth Uphopho stresses that: “We had a theme inspired by a city to create a festival to show the vibrant people of Lagos State.”

In his speech, Connie Price, Director, British Council in Nigeria said: “It is tremendously exciting for the British Council to be working again on Lagos Theatre Festival. Our hope is that the new collaborations taking place will captivate audiences and stimulate future work as the British Council builds towards 2015, a year that will see a major season of cultural and educational programmes take place across Nigeria.”  

The maiden edition of the Lagos Theatre Festival took place in 2013 at Eko Hotel and Suites and curious spectators who graced the festival witnessed plays performed at unusual places such as a hotel bedroom, inside an underground car park, a garden, a restaurant and so on. Works showcased at the festival among others included: ‘The 14^th Tale’ by British-Nigerian playwright and ‘The Waiting Room,’ a play in which fate brought four people:  Keshi (Sunkanmi Adebayo), Aduke (Jumoke Bello) Kera (Anike Alli-Hakeem) and Don Flexy (Rotimi Fakunle) together.

Plays showed at this year’s festival included: ‘Make We Waka’ by Look Left Look Right, ‘Waiting for A Lottery’ by Oxzygen Koncepts, ‘Diagnosis’ by Imagine Nigeria and ‘Queen of the Night’ by Renegade Theatre.

The Queen of the Night

Some cast of 'The Queen of the Night'

“The Queen of the Night” is a play about a bar in Lagos where a queen (Tosin Adeyemi), the bar owner deals with whoever enters there to foment trouble or effect an arrest on any criminal because it is where nothing is good or bad; right and wrong, so everyone drops their issues at the door before entering the night spot or bar known as the “Queen of the Night”.
Having heard a lot of gory tales about the notorious bar, one fateful day, two policemen Kamal (Olarotimi Fakunle) and Pabina (Precious Anyanwu) decide to lay ambush there to arrest a fugitive, G.C (Paul Parsol Osanyande) who swindled people through his Wonder Bank and tries to pick her his sister Sheri (Anike Alli-Hakeem) who works as a bar-tender at the bar so they will run away from the arms of the law.
Just like in reality, where the police interact with people in a jovial way to get information, the cops play along and dance freely with other fun-lovers in the bar, but once in a while discuss how to achieve their aim. Kamal collects the microphone and entertains the audience by singing oldies.

The atmosphere changed when the Queen, clad in red attire enters and patrols round the bar to acquaint with the guests, who almost shed tears when she tells a story of two love birds Esther, a Nigerian lady and Johnny, a Briton who fell in love in 1969 and their love blossomed.

“Esther thought it is a golden opportunity for her gave Johnny her life savings to buy goods for her in the United Kingdom but news got to her that Johnny has got married to a white girl from his country with her money. He forgot that he owed a debt and smashed Esther’s heart. He returned to Nigeria after some years. Esther pretended as if she didn’t know what Johnny did and played along till one day, he pierced a knife into Johnny’s chest.”

The Queen advised men to stop breaking ladies’ hearts.

While different activities are going on at the night spot, Kamal strives to ensure that the bar is not free from the arm of law. Their task is not easy one as they have to contend with the law of the bar and its owner, the Queen who has mysterious power. Remember, there is a prize for disobedience in that bar. “Never forget, what happens in the Queen of the Night stays in the Queen of the Night,” said the queen.

Did they arrest G.C ?

After watching the play, people learnt that this was what was happening in many bars in the past.

Written and directed by the multiple award-winning director and playwright, Wole Oguntokun, The Queen of the Night is an interactive performance set in a bar at the Freedom Park and some audience members participated in singing and dancing while Oguntokun played the role of a bouncer. Known for his expertise in writing, producing and directing plays that captivate audiences’ attention, Oguntokun really did a good job in the Queen of the Night. He received a thunderous ovation at the end of the play. The actors also performed also awesomely well.

Band members who churned out songs as the play was going on were: Olawande Bada, Segun Adeyemi, Taiwo ‘Keleko’ Adesoji, Wale Raman, Tayo Oluwasigba, Joshua Alabi and Ife Olojede. The lead singer was Olamide Fadiya.

Diagnosis
Diagnosis is a play produced by Imagine Nigeria, comprising Seyi Emmanuel and Ifeoma Fafunwa who met in 2007 when they worked on the premiere of Eve Ensler’s V Monologues in Lagos. Since then, they have worked on productions including Sefi Atta’s Bigger and Better and The Naming Ceremony at the 2012 Olympics in London.

Synopsis: Johnnie and Dan are good friends who have gone through hell and high water to escape the realities of Lagos living. They decide to pull off internet scams. After striking a chord with Canadian born Adeline who agrees to fund their imaginary non-governmental organisation (NGO) scheme, however, something goes wrong.

‘Make We Waka’

Another exciting participatory play at the Lagos Theatre Festival 2014 was ‘Make We Waka’ a play by Look Left Look Right, an award-winning site-specific theatre company making dynamic and interactive theatre inspired by and about the contemporary world.

Produced by prolific artistic directors Mimi Poskitt and Molly Taylor, the play unravels the history of Freedom Park.

 The duo said: “The city is chaotic and crazy, so we created a show about Lagos. It is a unique opportunity for us. This is the first time we are asked to create a show. Being in Lagos is fascinating and we have been inspired by the history of Freedom Park.”

Apart from the tour guides (actors), about 16 people including guests took part in the show which reveals the brief history of Freedom Park that hitherto served as a prison yard.

The 60 minutes show was indeed a theatrical experience that got everyone involved, engaged and informed about the history of the park. Participants, who converged at the prison yard were given tags and paired in twos and each group was given MP3 players that served as direction or guide round the park, a map and an umbrella.

This writer, being a participant walked with her partner through the amphitheatre where they met a tour guide, Victor (Frank Konwea), a professional dancer/performer who interacted with the tourists and said that amphitheatre is a place one gets to and meets an actor. Participants danced with him and moved to another scene where a well built, tall man known as a taxi driver was sitting on a bench, waiting for a passenger to pick a drop.

Typical of a Lagos taxi driver, he itemised his rules and regulations: “Use your seat belts; this motor is ‘Otumokpo’ (magical) so he hit the bonnet to start it, signifying it was not in a good condition, but had to be pushed or hit before it would start. Few minutes later, he started abusing his passengers because the amount they intended to pay did not favour him. He quickly asked them to alight and started looking for another passenger.

At the Kongi’s Harvest, Dr. Francis, dressed in a white shirt, red bow-tie and grey trousers, told a story of when he was student and had a friend in school that was always running into trouble. He later studied medicine and became a medical doctor at the Freedom Park treating the inmates while his friend ended up in jail due to his lifestyle.

Tourists also met a tour guide at the Hanging Garden or a Stage for the Dead that had rows of cells. He told stories of what happened in the 1950s in that garden and emphasised the importance of telling stories, listening and documenting stories told by old people. “Histories get lost in the country if it is not transferred from generation to generation. Talk to the older people and record oral history.”

At the large red metal structure, which was designed to indicate where cells once stood in the park, a tour guide, Agatha, gave reasons why the park should be converted to a housing estate or a shopping mall to yield millions of money to the state, but this writer kicked against her idea and insisted that the park remained the way it is to serve as a tourists’ site where people from different parts of the world can visit.

The last port of call before the participants converged and ended the show with some dance-steps was the Vason Gallery, where artworks were displayed. Participants lay with the tour guide on a mat and talked about issues bordering on love and freedom. Participants were given brushes and paints to draw images of their choice to honour the departed souls.

Whoever attended the maiden edition and the second edition of the Lagos Theatre Festival would truly look forward to the next edition because it is a festival without rival. Kudos to the British Council, which has over 700 staff in 100 countries that work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year through English, arts, education and society programmes.

 

Freedom Park