‘Publishers believe plays don’t sell but I don’t buy that’

Your latest work, ‘Our Son The Minister’ was staged last weakened in Lagos. What did you make of the experience? It’s surreal. Picture this scenario: grab a whiff of dream and pour it in a bottle; then get a ‘nobody’ and put him or her in that bottle of dream. It’s that feeling of seeing […]

Your latest work, ‘Our Son The Minister’ was staged last weakened in Lagos. What did you make of the experience?

It’s surreal. Picture this scenario: grab a whiff of dream and pour it in a bottle; then get a ‘nobody’ and put him or her in that bottle of dream. It’s that feeling of seeing his or her every dream come true. I don’t know how to explain it. I mean I’ve been performing plays but this is different. ‘Our Son the Minister’ is a journey that began with me winning a competition. To go through the process of seeing the play published and then seeing it performed is an experience that will live with me forever. 

The play highlighted the role of the family in propagating the corruption that has crippled Nigeria for long. What prompted you to explore corruption from this perspective?

I believe corruption no matter how big we think it might be starts from the family. And it all hinges on family values. What does a family hold dear? Is it the sanctity of human life or is it the erroneous maxim that the end justifies the means? When the family value is strong, such a family will build leaders who will frown on corruption. A family that has no value for humanity will always put personal and selfish interests first. I thought, okay let us stop looking at corruption from that high window from afar. Let us bring it down to the basic, to how it affects you and me. This way, no one will point a finger at another person because we are all involved. ‘Our son the Minister’ helps us to hold a mirror at our faces and see clearly the role we play as individuals and families in giving birth to corrupt leaders.

Speaking about winning prizes, the play won the inaugural Beeta Playwriting Competition, another feather to your cap. What was that experience like for you, especially considering the neglect playwriting has been facing in Nigeria?

A friend of mine sent me the link to the competition. I have a lot of plays but why I decided to put in ‘Our Son the Minister’ is still what I cannot explain. Maybe it is because the play holds me by the shirt any time I read it. I don’t know. But I entered the competition. I was returning from my dad’s burial when I received the text from Beeta Universal Art Foundation that my play was one of the nine plays shortlisted from a pool of over 120. That news lifted my spirit a little but I didn’t tell anyone, not even my wife. I was like, okay this is as far as I will get. So when I went for the workshop with Ahmed Yerima, Keneth Uphopho and the other judges and I saw the other shortlisted playwrights, I did not give myself a shot. I mean I know I write good plays but I’m from the North and this is Lagos. I mean, it wasn’t going to happen. Even when they asked us to come with our family members, I didn’t come with mine. That was how much I never believed in myself. And then I was announced the winner. And I was like, for real? I won? I was dazed. Even when I went home with my award, I still didn’t believe it. It was when the media started calling that I realised I have stumbled into something big.  Now the play has been published and performed. What next?

The next thing is the reality which is that playwrights are neglected in Nigeria. Playwrights are not as courted as their prose counterparts. You don’t see publishing houses seeking for playwrights. Prose writers enjoy all the space and attention. There was a time when playwrights could easily find publishers but things have changed. When it changed I don’t know but it is affecting us. I am fortunate to have won this award which came with a cash prize and a publishing contract. But how many others can be this lucky? Very soon, another edition of Beeta Playwright Competition will begin and a winner will emerge. That is just one in a pool of a thousand. NLNG will also come up with the prize for drama and a winner will emerge. That is one in a million. What happens to the rest? Will the others find publishers who will give them a contract? I guess not. Publishers believe plays don’t sell but I don’t buy that. It is all about strategies and building a working team. That’s why most playwrights go through the difficult journey of self-publishing. 

This is not your first experience staging one of the plays you scripted as you were very prominent as a playwright in your university days in Jos. Which of your plays that was staged was the most memorable for you?

Every play of mine that has been performed holds a memorable experience. There is nothing as exhilarating to a playwright as seeing characters you have developed suddenly take life of their own. I mean that’s like playing God and it is a wonderful experience. Of course each experience is different. I see my plays as my children. Each of their birth brings joy and happiness. But as mothers, the birth of the first child holds a unique experience. It is the proof that you too can be counted among mothers. It is that kind of memories I have with ‘Trading Places’, my first play that was performed. I was still in University of Jos then. I wrote that play for Women in Society class and I was happy when Professor Irene Salami Agunloye agreed that it should be performed. My course mates performing it made it more special. I can’t explain that feeling of seeing your course mates acting in your own play. Both casts and audience were rolling on the ground with laughter because ‘Trading Places’ is a hilarious comedy. I think it announced me to the department. It also gave me the confidence to lace my work with humour. Of course I was called a chief clown in school because everything was humour to me. ‘Trading Places’ is an experiment on clowning. It wouldn’t have been possible if lecturers like Professor Dugga and Professor Tor Ioorapuu did not give me the theatre stage to explore my skills. I think graduating from Theatre and Mass Communication in University of Jos helped me in the sense that our lecturers gave us the opportunity to explore. ‘Trading Places’ was the fruit of such opportunity.

What prompted you to consider playwriting as your preferred form of creative expression?

I actually started as a prose writer. Between my SS1 and SS3, I had written two novels. I wrote them in exercise books. I was a science student then so you can imagine. Instead of reading Ababio, I was writing novels. When I gained admission to University of Jos, I came to continue writing prose. But a lecturer changed all that. Doctor Lateef Rasheed. Strict and intelligent. He read a play I wrote in my 100 level and told me I will make a great playwright. You see, when Lateef says something to you, just believe it. I believed him and here I am.

Is there a future for the play, especially in a competitive world where social media is distracting and publishers are shying away from publishing plays?

I think Social Media is helping young writers in more ways than we think. These days, writers can reach out to their audience without encumbrance. Playwrights will grab this opportunity and reach out to a ready market. I am thinking of social media performance where plays can boycott the traditional stage and use social media as the new stage. 

One of the challenges of playwriting is finding the funds to stage the plays. In a clime where grants and resources are not easily accessible to playwrights, how do you go about your craft?

A lot is changing for the better as it relates to stage production. A lot of young producers have changed the face of stage productions. Bolanle Austin Peters is an example. She has redefined stage production and through some of her works, sponsors are beginning to see the advantage in sponsoring sage plays. The effect is trickling down to younger stage producers and these days, stage producers can approach sponsors with confidence that they will be giving a listening ear. Things are slow now anyway but they will pick up soon. If the Nigeria Music Industry can enjoy so much sponsorship, anything can happen. It is this belief that is keeping me on.

And the lack of theatres, which is the heart of plays? Abuja, for instance, doesn’t have a purpose-built theatre. Do you think this is a reflection of how little value we place on our rather rich theatrical heritage?

Lack of theatres for stage performance is a fundamental issue. For a long time, the only real theatre Nigeria has is the National Theatre in Lagos. And then MUSON Centre. For a country of over 180 million, this is poor. Recently Bolanle Austen Peters built the Tera Arena which is becoming a theatre hub. All these theatres are in Lagos. Abuja doesn’t have a real theatre and for producers to produce their plays, they make do with unconventional spaces. It is the ability for the Nigerian man and woman to create things where there is nothing that is helping to keep theatre alive in Abuja and other states. Every state should have at least a functional theatre for production. This current Government promised to invest heavily in art and culture. Such promise should metamorphose into theatre spaces. Creating enabling environment for art to bloom will build confidence in the youths. 

Speaking of heritage, we have had the likes of Hubert Ogunde, Ola Rotimi and Wole Soyinka who have done great things for theatre. Which of these greats, or if not any of them, which playwrights have influenced your work the most?

I have taken a leaf from each of Nigeria’s great playwrights. Each of them has something I have taken so I see myself as a combination of all of them. I took language from Wole Soyinka. I took suspense from Ahmed Yerima. I took the radical theatre from Femi Osofisan. I took lyrical writing from Ola Rotimi. I took traditional story telling method from the sage Hubert Ogunde whose story actually fuelled my interest in Jos and theatre. What I have tried to do is merely to stand on the shoulders of giants.

And which contemporary playwrights should we look out for? Which of them have impressed you and why?

A lot of playwrights are beginning to emerge in the theatre scene. Once, there was a yearning gap between the old playwrights and the new breeds. But that gap is being bridged now as more and more young playwrights are taking the stage. They are many of them I admire. Because of their styles and because of ways they handle stories. I may not want to mention names.

What do you love about theatre? I for instance love the spectacle and the fluidity that brings the audience into the play as well as the holistic theatrical experience. What stands out for Paul Ugbede in the theatre?

Conflict. Conflict stands out for me. I love conflict in theatre. It is what makes me go to watch performances. I love to see people in situations. I love to see how they get out. I learn a lot from that you know.

I know you will be at the Lagos Theatre Festival this month. Would you like to tell us something about your entries?

Lagos Theatre Festival gave me my first professional opportunity. In 2016, my play, Dialling Love was performed at the LTF. In 2017 I also had A Slice of Good Things Performed. This year, Dialling Love will return due to popular demand. I also have Unspoken and August Meeting which I co-wrote with a young female playwright.  

I know you have numerous plays in your box somewhere. But following on the success of ‘Our Son the Minister’, what should we next expect from you?

I plan to publish four of my plays by the first quarter of this year. I have a dream. I will be forty next year. I dream that by my fortieth year, I must have published forty plays! People say it’s unrealistic but I know within my heart that it is possible.