British Council Nigeria, in conjunction with three of Nigeria 's
most exciting theatre companies, and award-winning British-Nigerian actor, Inua
Ellams, presents the Lagos Theatre Festival 2013.
"We're infusing cutting-edge techniques and tools to bring
theatre, historically a rich part of Nigerian culture, to an even
wider range of arts consumers," says Ojoma Ochai, Assistant Director of
the British Council. "The idea is to create a platform for theatre away
from conventional theatre spaces, which sadly are in short supply in
these parts."
Renegade Theatre's 'The Waiting Room' (Directed by Wole
Oguntokun) is a place where luck will save no one; where natural cunning and
innate intelligence must be put to the ultimate test.
In it, even the most
street-wise will come face-to-face with frail mortality. An exciting,
thought-provoking performance on the meaning of existence and pre-destination,
it was the Festival play for the Lagos Book and Arts Festival, The Festival of
Nigerian Plays (FESTINA) and the Lagos State Government-sponsored Black
Heritage Festival all in 2011.
In the pidgin English comedy Grip Am (Directed by Deleke Gbolade),
an experimental reworking of Ola Rotimi's classic, revolving around a
scatter-brained trickster who uses his wits to con death into giving him and
his ever-belligerent wife eternal reprieve. Black Soul Performance
Company's production, strewn with brazenly loud eccentric action, has
gripped audiences into frenzied laughter over a dozen times since 2012. The
magic continues at the Lagos Theatre Festival where this rebellious production
will be transformed in a unique way, leaving only chuckles and smiles in its
aftertaste.
House of Tales (led by Ifeanyi Dibia) makes an ambitious debut
with Bode Asiyanbi’s 2011 BBC African Performance winning play ‘Shattered’, a
deeply moving story which exposes in a powerful way the silence that often
surrounds the issue of rape, when victims are often reluctant to come forward
and disclose what has happened to them - especially when the perpetrator is
someone very close. Without preaching or condescension, Shattered sheds
generous light and heart on what is, across and beyond Africa , a truly complex
issue.
To complete the line-up will be the Nigeria premiere of The 14th
Tale, by British-Nigerian playwright, poet and actor, Inua Ellams. Ellams, who
was born in Nigeria and moved to the UK as a child, describes himself as being
"from a long line of troublemakers, of ash-skinned Africans, born with
clenched fists and a natural thirst for battle, only quenched by breast
milk."
Tickets for the Lagos Theatre Festival will go on sale on
Tuesday 5th February 2013 at British Council Office (Ikoyi), Terra Kulture (VI)
and Bogobiri (Ikoyi)
Like the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/BritishCouncilNigeriaArts
Call us: Toyin - 07067061972, Bukky - 08107803938 or Fusi –
08035250515
Ticket Price: N2,000 (Students: N1,000)
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