‘Organising festivals is a lot of details, attention’

Sola Oyebade aka Mr. Mahogany is the Lagos Theatre Festival Director. He speaks about organizing such festivals in Nigeria and bringing them to fruition.   What did you do before becoming director of the Lagos Theatre Festival? I have worked within the fashion and entertainment industry for over 37 as a creative director and CEO […]

Sola Oyebade aka Mr. Mahogany is the Lagos Theatre Festival Director. He speaks about organizing such festivals in Nigeria and bringing them to fruition.

 

What did you do before becoming director of the Lagos Theatre Festival?

I have worked within the fashion and entertainment industry for over 37 as a creative director and CEO of Mahogany International and Fashions Finest Africa which are entertainment and show production companies. I have worked on and produced some of the biggest events in Europe and Africa including GT Bank Fashions Weekend, London Fashion Weekend, Lagos Jazz Series to name but a few.

What informed this year’s theme?

The theme this year is ‘Imagine the Unimaginable.’ The idea behind it is that we want production houses to think outside the box and give the audience things that they would not expect. We want them to to really stretch the audience’s imagination. We want to attract a new theatre audience and let them understand the beauty and creativity of theatre.

 

What are your expectations for this year’s outing?

This year is going to be a very exciting year as it is the first year that the festival would be managed by an independent trustee board. We have over 130 shows, for seven days across 11 venues. We expect this to be the biggest Lagos Theatre Festival ever.

 

How different would the 2019 edition be from previous editions?

The first thing is that, this will be one of the biggest and the second is that, the production houses have really pushed themselves beyond all expectations. Thirdly, we have some of the best and biggest production houses in Africa involved in this year’s festival.

 

How has the Festival evolved since inception in 2013? Could you also tell us specifically, some of these evolutions?

With each passing year since 2013, the British Council and the Festival have continued to strive to improve and make the festival bigger and better. It is very clear that since 2013 the festival has gotten better and better that it is now one of the top festivals in the world and attracting plays from across the world.

Initially we started off with just doing the Festival at one venue and now we are at multiple venues across Lagos.

The team has gotten bigger and bigger each year. In addition, more and more celebrities are getting involved in the Festival.

What can you say about theatre festivals in Nigeria?

They are becoming more and more popular and in a lot of instances they are the starting point for a lot of actors and directors. Besides Lagos, there are other festivals springing up across Nigeria and with each new festival the popularity of theatre in Nigeria increases.

 

Would you say they are making impacts beyond the country?

Festivals are definitely making an impact as it enables us to spread the word of the great works we are producing on Nigeria. This has led to Nigerian plays such as ‘Hear Word,’ ‘Kakadu’ and ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens’ performing in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and South Africa. The more festivals we do and the bigger they are, the more impact Nigerian theatre would have across the world.

 

Who will be performing at this year’s outing?

There are 139 events which will take place during this festival, with 24 Production companies working tirelessly to present theatrical masterpieces to the enthusiastic audience. We have something for everyone – children and adults.

There is also the learning aspect of the festival with acting, children’s theatre and technical theatre master classes, a practical session on make-up and panel discussions on creative writing and theatre business/marketing.

 

Are there participants from out of Nigeria?

We had to change the festival week from March to April due to the just concluded election exercise in Nigeria, and most of the international participants were unable to continue due to the demands of other projects. However, there will be visitors from the United Kingdom and Germany.

 

What has been your experience as festival director?

It involves a lot of hard work and attention to details. There are many small pieces we must pull together to complete the jigsaw. At times it has been very challenging especially having to say no to some of the production houses that want to particularly in the festival. It has been fun and very exciting and I can’t wait for it to take place and to get the feedback from our guests.

 

Personally, what has directing this Festival meant for you?

It is a new and exciting challenge for me. It has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone, but my experience of working on big shows and theatre productions such as ‘Moremi’ and ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens’ has been of enormous benefit to me.

Working with an amazing team of professionals has made this such a joy to work on the Festival. I could not have done anything or achieved what we have without my great team supporting me.

 

What should audiences look forward to this year?

They should be prepared to ‘imagine the unimaginable’ I need say no more.

Please share your experience the good, bad, ugly, of deciding which plays features at the festival?

Deciding the plays to feature in the Festival is based on different factors such as the production company, genre, style adopted, and location amongst others. It was difficult choosing the curated plays because we wanted plays that were stimulating, and very creative. The pitch for the curated companies was very interesting, as we were able to really sieve out those that were realistic with their production outputs, than those that didn’t have anything figured out.

There were some times when we had to do call outs for more plays to be in the Festival because the turnout was low in the beginning. Although, we chose all the fringe plays that applied, some started dropping out due to logistical reasons.

However, the most disappointing was when some really creative plays we chose, couldn’t continue with the Festival due to the date changes caused by the election date changes.

 

What is/are the determining factors for a play to enter the festival?

Factors for plays to enter the festival are based on the synopsis, genre, artistic interpretation of the play, cast size, technical requirements, funding prospects of the company, and most importantly show duration.

Normally, we do not shortlist plays that run for 70 minutes or more. One of the reasons for this is because, there are lots of entries, and we want to keep the plays within the time frame of 60 minutes or less. This is also to ensure that other plays have more show time in the festival.

We often look out for plays that use the unconventional approach, because it was on this premise the festival was birthed. In addition, we welcome production companies that have their own venues other than the Festival hub. This helps us in expanding, thereby decongesting the Festival hub, Freedom Park.

In as much as we are very open to upcoming production companies, we are glad to accept established theatre companies at the Festival.

 

How many entries did you receive this year and how many did you decide to go with in the end?

We received up to 100 entries for the festival. We decided to go with 50, but due to change of festival dates as a result of national elections, we now have 35 companies in the Festival.

 

What’s the most interesting part of what you do?

The most interesting part of my job is that I get to meet all kinds of people from all walks of life.   Some very interesting characters that are very creative and challenging at the same time. It makes my job so interesting and varied as no two days or meetings are the same.

 

What’s the most challenging?

There are so many different components that have to be pulled together and this it is imperative not to drop the ball as missing out on one tiny aspect can affect the entire festival and trust me there are so, so many different components that make up a successful festival.

 

You’ve worked in different industries from fashion to entertainment, music now theatre. Do these interests sometimes conflict?

It is true that I have worked across many different entertainment genres but I am extremely disciplined and as such there is never a conflict. In fact, there are lots of things that cross over in terms of how you manage different genres of events. So that experience has been invaluable when working in theatre.

Furthermore, it must be stated that I have worked on theatre for many years as I have been the project manager for all of Terra Kulture productions.

 

Which production house(s) are you most looking forward to this year and why?

We are looking out for the performance of ‘Soyinka in the Eye of Shakespeare.’ This is because of the intertextual approach of the play which merges characters from well-known plays of Soyinka and Shakespeare. The protagonist and antagonist in plays like ‘Macbeth,’ ‘Hamlet,’ ‘Romeo & Juliet,’ ‘Lion and the Jewel,’ and ‘Death & the King’s Horseman,’ are brought together to confront each other’s reality. This is also one the plays that mirrors our theme for the year ‘Imagine the Unimaginable.’

 

Will there be theatre houses from the continent participating this year?

At the moment, we only have theatre houses from Nigeria. A production house from the UK dropped due to scheduling issues and postponement of the festival as earlier mentioned.