Yinka Olatunbosun
IA scene from Kakadu the Musical n many developed cities in the world, the theatres open daily with shows and audience to watch them. In Nigeria, the theatres are occasional phenomenon, with most venues opening on public holidays. Even at that, you must have heard about it on radio or read it in the newspaper or an online platform to be sure. If you assume that on a public holiday, the National Troupe will stage a play at the National Theatre, Iganmu, you’d be in for a surprise. You may likely meet a church service or a social gathering like a birthday, memorial service or at best a private theatre company with a production that its value falls far below the gate fee. Except for Terra Kulture, you can hardly find a venue where stage plays are performed weekly in Lagos. Maybe Freedom Park, you’d say, but then we all know that there are more bottles than productions on display.
To stage a play requires funding and that’s a no- brainer. There was an evening at Live Tiata in GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, where a theatre production, with free entry, ended and the director asked that a basket be passed around the guests to obtain voluntary donations otherwise known as “offering”. Nigerian theatre practice had been thoroughly reduced to that due to poor funding. In spite of the existence of brilliant plays by Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, Bode Sowande and Ola Rotimi with time- tested directors around the country, corporate sponsorships almost never come to this side of the entertainment industry.
There are some few individuals, who feel very strongly about the theatre. They have travelled beyond the Nigerian shores and watched plays on week days with full theatre audience. They return to Nigeria with a view to changing the template for theatre. One of such individuals is Uche Nwokedi, a senior advocate of Nigeria who is consciously advocating for theatre to thrive. He is an oil and gas lawyer and by reasonable standards, doesn’t need extra cash from theatre to live a good life. But, there are many Nigerians who will not study law or medicine or engineering and may have talent and skills in acting, directing, script- writing, costume designing, make-up artistry, set- designing, stage and props management, theatre marketing, textual and performance criticism and more. These ones don’t have to join the endless queue in the labour market after graduation if there are theatre companies to work for. That was the genesis of The Playhouse Initiative.
Nwokedi’s love for music must have been the trigger. You need a few minutes with him to tell. His ring tones are heavenly, soulful and soothing. His I- pod has at least 6,000 songs from various artists and genres. That would explain why he had lyrics written in his heart just as he has cases and judgements recorded for well- timed references in court.
He and his wife, Winifred, established the Playhouse initiative in 2007 as non- profit organisation to mentor young adults, using music and drama as a medium for youth development. It boasts