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| Arubuola Cultural Ensemble, Ile-Ife, Osun State |
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| Gbekude |
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| Gelede |
From April 18 to 25, 2015, people from all walks of life
will converge at The Freedom Park, Old Broad Street Prison, Lagos, to celebrate
Lagos Black Heritage Festival
2015.
This year’s festival
focuses on drama and dance-drama. It was inspired by the extraordinary
theatrical group, ‘Hamlet’ Globe to
Globe that played in Lagos on 4th and 5th March 2015, at
the MUSON Centre and St. Saviours School, Ikoyi, Lagos.
According to the Festival
Consultant, Prof. Wole Soyinka, news of an impending visit by the
historic Globe Theatre in England was a major factor in LBHF’s decision to
prolong its break from the geography based thematic series - The Black in theMediterraneanBlue - on
which the Festival embarked in 2012. “The visit of a famed professional theatre
seemed too good an opportunity to miss for calling attention to the yet
impoverished local status of Theatre. Thus, for this year’s edition, it was
decided to centre activities around – drama!
“Alas, we were not to
know that the real-life drama of the Nigerian elections would be extended by a
full month, compelling the Festival’s shift of dates in turn. Our expected
collateral harvest of attention through immediacy is somewhat diminished.
Nonetheless, we still hope that the passage of these professionals, will linger
as the Festival picks up the gauntlet, even a month later. It should at least
invigorate interest in the theatrical arts, underlining the practical
challenges with which the home-grown version has to contend in virtually every
aspect of dramatic presentation,” he said.
This year’s excursion into drama
as central theme, he explained further, does however offer a special
contribution to the artistic trail blazed by these visitors. Its format was
inspired by an increasing awareness of the need to bring theatre closer to the
people, not merely confine it to predictable, albeit efficiently structured
venues. “Directors were selected, then encouraged to scout for optional spaces
that they find most appropriate to their choice of plays – bare spaces, night
clubs, open pavilions and so on- thus weaning drama of domination by ‘congenial
confinement.’ Freedom Park will therefore constitute only one of this year’s
drama venues, though without abandoning its role as the hub of the Festival.”
Soyinka highlighted other
activities to include the pilot edition of the Mentor/Protégé project. “Experienced
hands in the sub-disciplines of the Dramatic Arts – playwriting, acting,
directing, technical theatre, dance-drama and so on. – have been invited to
mentor one aspiring theatre practitioner each, in a learning collaboration
lasting six weeks. At the end of this period, protégés will showcase their
projects. This, we hope, will become a regular feature, not only in Drama but
in other Arts disciplines. Interested audiences will be permitted to observe
some of this aspect of “passing the baton”, a condensed exercise in what is
also known as apprenticeship, or passing on skills – in short, a mission is to
preserve a continuity of experience in specialized skills.
“This year also, the Festival
will pay homage to one of the Nigerian theatre veterans with a wide experience
of the stage both abroad and in Nigeria, and who has been a source of
inspiration to a whole generation of theatre artistes. If even a small measure
of professional discipline has succeeded in penetrating the glut of video drama
in what is now known as ‘Nollywood’, it
is only thanks to this artiste who will be our Guest in the Meet The Artiste series.
“And then - a different kind of
preservation – starring the veteran of veterans, the late Hubert Ogunde who
will be the subject of an exhibition. New generation enthusiasts and those who
simply wish to stroll down memory lane can look forward to browsing through the
memorabilia of the indisputable pioneer of Nigerian theatre. Whenever the
expressions ‘Folk theatre’, ‘Folk Opera’, ‘Traveling Theatre’ etc. are uttered,
the image that springs to mind throughout West Africa is – Hubert Ogunde.
“The other partnering pillars
that uphold the Heritage Week continue to surpass expectations. The Boat
Regatta waits yet again to light up the lagoon that gave name to the City of
Waters, while the Street Carnival constantly re-invents itself in the capacity
to dazzle and inebriate with its cocktail of extravagant costuming, music and design
through the streets of Lagos. Not to be missed of course, is the now ritual
opening - the Masquerade Parade. This year, we give pride of place to
Masquerades exclusively from the partnering City --Badagry.
“Ever mindful of the
entitlement of the upcoming generation, and to remind the adult world of the
brimful of talent that ensures artistic continuity and innovation, as well as
imparting early understanding of Art as an expression of life itself with all
its joys, anguish, triumphs and challenges
- LBHF continues its quest of The Vision of the Child. This year, there is a small innovation.
Instead of just one medium, painting, the Festival has invited the expression
of that vision in a duo fold encounter – Word, and - Image. Seeking to enhance
the powers of observation and representation, children are being encouraged to
express themselves annually on a chosen theme – drawn from the entire gamut of
life and surrounding phenomena. For this year, 2015, the selected theme
is: The
Road to Sambisa,” he added.
Highlights:
Vision
of the Child -- Children/Pupils Competition
and Exhibition Programme
Masquerade
Parade from Badagry
Exhibitions
– Children Art and Art fair/Bazaar
Do
Your own Thing – Talent hunt programme for youths
Drama
and Dance Drama – six plays on showcase
Poetry
and Music – Night of the Poets
Meet
The Artiste Showcase – The Stage and Screen Career of Olu Jacobs
Film
Screenings – Documentary & Experimental Films
Music
Performances – Live from Emukay; Jimi Solanke; Eko Brass Band and more
Notes
on performances
1. The beatification of area boy (Written and directed by Wole Soyinka)
Tuesday April 21 (Nigeria
premiere);
Wednesday, April 22, and
Thursday, April 23; Freedom Park, Lagos)
A play with a ‘love angle’ from
the hands of playwright, Wole Soyinka. ‘Unlikely’ to ‘Impossible’ would be the
response. Well, here is one, sort of, but not without its astringents, as the
audience will discover. Subtitled “A Lagosian Kaleidoscope”, the action takes
us through the seamy underbelly of a bustling, chaotic and predatory
environment that still seethes beneath the surface of the city, despite all
physical transformation since the departure of the military. Indeed, Lagos
would no longer be Lagos without that underbelly.
Area Boy was fated to premiere
in Leeds, England, from where it toured a number of European cities and
Australia. Eventually directed by the author himself in Kingston, Jamaica on
invitation from a company known simply as ‘The Company’, the
playwright/director worked with a group of disadvantaged youngsters. Soyinka
has occasionally remarked that the Jamaican production was one of the most
hair-raising in which he was ever involved – thanks to the violence of the
environment, compared to which Lagos sometimes seemed a children’s play ground.
The play is set in the middle
of a military dictatorship. Action centres on a day in the life of a rather
unusual ‘megadi’ in charge of an upscale plaza which jostles with a slum
environment. The ‘megadi’ not only looks after the plaza but oversees the local
habituees, shoppers, and other oddities to the area, among them a disbarred
lawyer with a slippery seizure on reality.
Here is a historical note that
may help audiences situate themselves in the time in which the action takes
place:
The play was written in 1990,
during – if anyone needs reminding – the Abacha season of terror. It was in fact already in the preliminary
stages of rehearsal when – to quote the author himself – he was strongly urged
to take a “sabbatical leave” for health reasons! LBHF is grateful that he
survived the health alert to bring the play back to where it originally
belonged.
1. Seizing Sambisa
(Dance
Drama written by Francesca Emanuel and Ogochukwu
Promise; Conceptualised by Segun Adefila;
directed by Seun Awobajo;
Produced byFootprints
of David Academy)
Thursday,
April 23, 1pm; at Main Stage, Freedom Park, Lagos
Seizing
Sambisa is a dance drama woven around the ravaging story
of the 276 female students kidnapped in the night of April 14-15 2014 from Government
Secondary School, Chibok town in Borno State. Members of the notorious Boko
Haram sect later claimed responsibility for the kidnap. The girls were said to
have been taken into the ‘Sambisa Forest’ – a former colonial forest reserve --
said to cover about 60,000 square kilometers and straddling the North-Eastern states of Borno, Yobe, Gombe, and Bauch! Though some of the
girls were reported to have eventually escaped, about 219 of them are yet to be
accounted for -- one year after! Deploying sarcastic humour to blunt
the edge of pain, the dance piece explores the fate of these school children,
the impact on the psyche of parents, companions and the community from which
they have been plucked. It provokes reflections on the paradox of power and
powerlessness, the seemingly intractable reign of impunity in society.
Folklore, dance and music hold the audience in thrall. This experimental
dance drama is a work in progress, inspired by this year’s Festival Theme for
the Vision
of the Child, and presented as its companion piece. This offering also
reveals possibilities of a multi-media performance format for a future
Children’s Theatre.
About Footprints of David Art Academy: Since
inception in December 2005, Footprints of David Art Academy has been using art
as a tool for change in the society and beyond. Its members are mostlychildren,
and pupils and students in elementary and secondary schools. The troupe,
however, strives to perform to international standard in performing arts, and
has been a key feature in the Lagos cultural circuit.
2.
Snapshots
(Written & directed by Bode Sowande; Produced by Odu Themes)
Thursday, April 23, 6pm @ Terra Kulture, VI;
Friday, April 24, 7pm @ Freedom Park, Lagos
Baba Gentle is a landlord in a Lagos slum. He is not at peace with
himself because of a failed investment. He is not at peace in his habitat when
he gets a sneak revelation that his property is marked for demolition. Confused
by the notion of the urban Master Plan, Baba Gentle seeks the assistance of his
elder sibling, Brother Agba, a land speculator and a godfather in
State politics. Between dusk and dawn of the same day, the entire
community of street ladies, homeless lay-abouts, with cunning, desperation
and frenzy, at first surrender to fate, and then resort to mischief
and crime. A bulldozer driver is abducted and then released, in a kafkaesque plot and counter-plot, as the
community seeks to halt the bulldozer. The politician Honourable (When Able)
soon arrives with the favela formula that makes the ghetto a tourist and
cultural destination, with a promised utopia. The community climbs down the
cliff hanger to celebrate in a street fuji music party, with satirical lyrics,
and the theme of inclusion as the correct Master Plan. Snapshots was premiered October 20, 2014 -- World Habitat Day-- on
commission by Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Planning.
About Odu themes: Launched by Bode Sowande in February 1972 at the Arts Theatre
University of Ibadan, with Duro Oni, Funmi Joshua (now Funmi Dominu), Lekan Oyejide,
Bimbola Adeniji, Dasuku Harry, and Gbemi Sodipo. Same year the group went on
television for many years of unbroken chronology, at WNTV (NTA Ibadan). It went
on NTA national network with Acada Campus
with concurrent programming on BCOS, Ibadan. The company has had regular
stage productions, at least once a year, since 1972. It has a repertory in
international festivals and professional productions, in the United Kingdom,
and continental Europe. Co-production with BBC Africa Service comprised Alarm On Lagoon Street, and Regina's Golden Goal, on location in
Ibadan. MTN Nigeria recently sponsored the 40th Anniversary Festival of Odu
Themes in Ibadan. The outfit has enjoyed funding support from Italian Cultural
Institute, French Cultural Centre, Afrique en Creation, Ford Foundation,
Rockefeller Foundation, British Council, Prince's Trust, UK, and others.
4.
The Tarzan Monologues
(Written and directed by Wole Oguntokun;
Produced by Renegade Theatre)
Friday,
April 24, 6pm; at Terra Kulture, VI
AN international award-winning production written and
directed by Wole Oguntokun, the Tarzan
Monologues is a theatrical compilation of global topics as seen through the
eyes of African men. The issues dealt
with include the societal pressure on men to succeed, the dilemma of
finances, women and children, sexual abuse, religion and infidelity among many
others. These monologues humorously but accurately provide insight into
the complexities in the nature of men, their world, their pains, tragedies,
triumphs and frustrations. The Tarzan Monologues encourage the scrutiny of
stances on gender relations through the use of drama, music and dance.The stage
becomes a metaphor for life and its challenges, allowing audience members, male
and female, see their own lives represented through performances
deliberately designed to encourage interactions between actor and
on-looker.
About Renegade Theatre: Renegade
Theatre was the only company from West Africa to perform at the Shakespeare
Olympiad hosted by the Globe Theatre, London, in May 2012 with its production
of “The Winter’s Tale”. It was the
first Nigerian theatre company to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with
productions of “The Waiting Room”
(August 1-26, 2013 at Assembly) and “The Tarzan Monologues” (July 31-August 24, 2014 at The Underbelly)
Renegade Theatre presented full length plays at the Lagos Theatre Festival
(2013, 2014); Festival of Nigerian Plays (FESTINA 2011); Lagos Book and Arts
Festival (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011) and at the National Theatre of Ghana (2010)
among others.In 2007, it initiated the “Theatre@Terra”
project where it produced and presented stage works every Sunday for three and
half years without interruption.Over the years, Renegade Theatre has staged
more than 70 productions at the MUSON Centre in Lagos, including three times for
the yearly MUSON Festival. The company also presented plays in the
2010-2013 editions of the Lagos Black Heritage Festival.
5. The Tragedy
of King Christophe
(Written by Aime Cesaire; directed by
Patrick-Jude Oteh;
Produced
by Jos Repertory Theatre)
Sunday, April 19, 7pm; Mon.
April 20, 7pm; at Main Stage, Freedom Park, Lagos.
Aime
Cesaire (1913
– 2008), an Afro-Martinican Francophone poet, author and politician wrote The Tragedy of King Christophe in 1963
as a drama of decolonization of events in 19th century Haiti.Henri Christophe
(1767 – 1820) was a freed black slave and cook who aided Toussaint L'Ouverture
in the liberation of Haiti and was army chief under Dessalines. He waged a
savage and inconclusive struggle with AlexandrePetion, the champion of mulatto
supremacy who retained control of South Haiti.In 1811, entrenching himself in
Northern Haiti, Christophe declared himself King as Henri I and entered upon an
energetic but tyrannical reign. He created his own class of slaves and modeled
his Empire after the absolute monarchies of Europe. His dictatorship, was
translated into efforts to build a magnificent capital city upon the hill which
he called 'the citadel'. Money, labour and materials were not spared in the
efforts to build this modern city on the hill.King Christophe surrounded
himself with lavish and sometimes ludicrous magnificence. In 1820, when he was
suffering from partial paralysis, revolts against his rule broke out led by his
trusted lieutenants and generals. In despair, he committed suicide.
About
Jos Repertory Theatre: Founded
in November 1997, the JRT commenced programme implementation in 2000 as a
not-for-profit, independent theatre organization based in the ancient tin
mining city of Jos, Plateau State. The JRT utilizes theatre to confront and
challenge crucial issues which affect the society with the ultimate aim of
educating and entertaining audiences. The Jos Repertory Theatre presents the
annual Jos Festival of Theatre, which has become a nurturing ground for new
playwrights, new directors as well as creating an insight into the Nigerian
theatre repertory.
6. Gbekude
(Street
theatre devised by Gboyega Ajayi Bembe)
(Monday,
April 20, 12 noon; Wed. April 22, 12 noon; Thurs. April 23, 4pm; at Food Court,
Freedom Park, Lagos)
What
is the fate of a pauper, who in his youth, entered into marriage with a nagging
wife? Will he ever find the peace of mind needed to improve his lot? Or maybe Ise is reconciled to his lot, a patch
of ground with a single fruiting tree, while his wife, Aro, is not. The perfect setting for a discordant matrimony, which
Aro exploits to the full. Even when they are visited by a servant of Eledumare (God) who offers each a
single wish, guaranteed fulfillment, their choices prove fertile ground for
further acrimony. Finally, Death
visits, in keeping with the bargain one of them has made, but finds this is
more than a routine collection time. Ise uses his own part of the bargain to
devastating effect, extracting from Death a pledge that defeats his very
mission, but also ensures a permanence of incessant strife between the two. Gbekude(tying
up of Death) is a hilarious variation on the David and Goliath contest, with
human wit in place of David’s slingshot.
7. Sound
Verses and Senses: A Music-Poetry Cross-pollination
(Dedicated to the memory of Steve BankoleOmodele Rhodes)
(Conceived
and Directed by Jahman Anikulapo;
Produced
by Culture Advocates Caucus, CAC)
Saturday April 25, 7pm; at
Amphi Theatre, Freedom Park, Lagos
Preamble:
Before
he passed on six years ago, the Art impresario Steve Bankole Omodele Rhodes had been working on a sound fusion
experimentation through which he desired to explore the relationship between
rare traditional musical instruments and Western instruments in contemporary
urban Lagos musical forms. He had gone as far as collecting a lot of such rare,
almost extinct instruments and was already researching into their musical
implication for today’s sound. It seems that the idea of Uhuru Sound – a concept developed by the multi-instrumentalist,
Ceph and the poet AbdulrasakiIvori -- is a continuation of the Steve Rhodes
dream. This concept has been adopted into Sound
Verses & Senses for the LBHF.
This project is thus a tribute to the unfinished work of Steve Rhodes.
Concept:
Sound Verses and Senses is a surgical experiment to be
carried out in the full view of an ‘initiate’ audience. The surgery in place
here is Creative Sound. The surgeons are professional instrumentalists. The
anaesthetist shall be griots and poets. The surgical instruments are musical
instruments from the times when Africa thought and sang for itself… when Africa
wasn’t an award-winning student of western creative class… sounds spurned off
the resourcefulness of Africa in an era inspired by its own words, time and
space. SV&S is thus a
re-creational experiment between indigenous instruments and griots to
rediscover ‘lost’ folk sounds and invoke ‘vanishing’ memories. The idea is to
have a musical sound infusion on live stage, set in a theme reminiscent of
quintessential times when Africans congregated communally to display individual
or group talents and skills in the village square under moonlight -- oiled by
merriment, especially palm wine… a time when priests, griots and bards would
team up with sound makers to tell tales of history and the future to come.
Features:
Sound
fusions – This
showcases experimental instrumentalists who perform to expound on their new
compositions and theses…
Solos -- artistes renowned for their
innovative touch on a particular instrument are ‘unleashed’…
Chanters
and poets –
Renowned traditional praise poets -- chanters and ‘reciters’ – with ‘unique
acts’ dialogue with young and new poets to ‘foretell’ the future of African
poetry.
Lagos
Beats --
Musicians from ‘downtown Lagos sound enclaves’ in conversation with young
Afro-jazz fusionists.
Video and film
screenings
iMagineering Lagos in 2060
(30 mins; produced and presented by
the iMAgineering Lagos Team)
Saturday, April 18, 7pm at Amphi
Theatre, Freedom Park, Lagos
Lagos is a city worth deliberating
on. From a 19th century British colony and then Nigeria’s former capital, today
Lagos is the biggest node on a continuous urban corridor that stretches from
Abidjan to Ibadan. Given its history, growing population and position as a
regional catalyst, its possible futures raises questions on urbanization and
its effects on society for the African continent as a whole.
The science fiction collection Lagos
2060 captures some of those concerns. Published in 2013, it speculates
about what it will be like to live in Lagos 100 years after Nigeria gained
independence from the UK. But Lagos 2060
is only one example in a growing trend where the creative industries engage
common fears and hopes about the future and articulate these through fiction
(literature, movies, animation). Far more than aesthetic indulgence, these
renditions are a calibration of the changes deemed imminent or necessary in
today’s political, technical and cultural infrastructure.
These thoughts frame the iMagineering
Lagos team's presentation at FutureFest
2015 (14th - 15th March) in London, organized by Nesta and supported by British
Council. An installation (video and performance) made to highlight some
'imaginings' on the subject via a speculative news stand of the future is being
screened at the Lagos Black Heritage Festival to further expand conversation on
the project theme: iMagineering Lagos
in 2060.
The iMagineering Lagos team is a
collaborative group set up between partner organizations: Goethe Institut, Co
Creation Hub, Design And Dream Arts (DADA) Enterprises, Nsibidi Institute and
Video Art Network (VAN) Lagos.
Finding Fela (87
mins; 2014; directed by Alex Gibney;
Produced by Jigsaw Productions; Presented by Screen Citi)
Saturday, April 18, 8pm, at Amphi Theatre, Freedom Park,
Lagos
Premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival
on January 17, 2014, Finding Fela reflects on the life and career of the Afrobeat music legend,
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti -- his music, his social and
political importance. Fela created a new musical movement, Afrobeat, through
which he expresses his revolutionary political opinions against the dictatorial
Nigerian government of the 1970s through mid 1990s. His persistent criticisms
of military dictatorship and rascality of the political and economic elites
helped facilitate the attainment of democratic governance in Nigeria and
promoted Pan Africanist politics to the world. The power and potency of Fela’s
message remains current and is expressed in the political movements of
oppressed people, embracing Fela’s music and message in their struggle for
freedom. Finding Fela was directed by Alex Gibney, and produced by
Jigsaw Productions , in association with Knitting Factory Entertainment,
OkayPlayer, OkayAfrica.
Alex Gibney: Academy Award winner
Alex Gibney, known for his gripping, deeply insightful documentaries, is one of
the most accomplished non-fiction filmmakers working today. His 2008 film, Taxi
to the Dark Side, received an Oscar for Best Feature-Length Documentary.
Alex received another Academy Award nomination in 2006 for Enron: The
Smartest Guys in the Room.
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