Literature
Of the three main genres of literature, drama is the most practicable. Unlike poetry and prose that are mainly read and hardly performed, plays are meant to be performed. That is why the playwright goes the extra mile to ensure that whatever he has written could be given life on stage.
Due to the practical nature of plays, they get to wider audience at the same and tend to have more impact on people. This makes it easier for the author to get his message across to all classes of people including those who cannot read or write. Femi Osofisan, a renowned playwright, theatre director and poet, stressed this fact in an interview with me some time ago.
Asked why he preferred writing plays to other genres, he said it is mainly because they are more direct in their impact on the audience; the theatre has a way of bridging the communication gap between author and audience in a very direct, practical manner.
He further explained that plays are more relevant and useful in our circumstances where we use English as the medium of communication. ?As you know, a majority of our people still do not speak English. In the theatre, the audience doesn?t have to understand the language being used in the dialogue in order to comprehend the message of the play. And my major concern when I started writing was to communicate, to enlighten the people on the drift our society was going through.?
From Osofisan?s argument, and considering the fact that the ultimate aim of the writer is to communicate his ideas and change the society for the better, drama could be said to be the most effective literary tool for the job. Especially in this era of intellectual laziness, where people prefer watching television and browsing the internet to reading, only something as practical as stage performance can attract their attention.
And this is why the Jos based theatre outfit, Jos Repertory Theatre, has consistently promoted the theatre tradition in Nigeria, particularly the northern part of the country. Founded in 1997 as a non-profit making, independent organization aimed at using the theatre as a means of confronting and challenging crucial societal issues, it has staged a number of plays, the latest one being Wale Ogunyemi?s Queen Amina of Zaazau, performed at the Merit House, Abuja, last weekend.
The outfit, under the artistic directorship of Patrick-Jude Oteh, holder of Master of Arts, Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan, has gained prominence due to its zeal to achieve its objective of reviving the theatre tradition which is at the risk of extinction globally due to the new information technology. Way back in 2003 it was involved in the cultural component of the All Africa Games (COJA-ABUJA 2003) with a presentation of Yahaya Dangana?s The Royal Chamber.
Its fame could be attributed to its innovations and the courage to undertake big projects. For instance, it is the only private theatre group that holds an annual festival in the North. The festival, tagged Jos Festival of Theatre, founded in 2004 with the support of organisations like the Ford Foundation and British Council, had been held regularly till recently when the incessant Jos communal crisis interrupted the programme. The event ran for five weekends during the months of March/April, featuring various plays. The first edition featured four plays and a dance drama including the premiere of Our House which was part of the British Council?s Connecting Futures programme. The group subsequently toured the UK in 2005 with Our House.
With time the festival developed rapidly. The second edition, which took place in 2006, was more successful than the first one, as it featured the participation of the Glasgow based Clyde Unity Theatre, as well as Project Phakama, the youth project arm of the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT).
Having made the initial impression, there was no turning back. When the Jos crisis threatened its activities it shifted base to other cities like Abuja, staging both old and new plays. The plays it has featured so far, which have contributed to its fame, include Ola Rotimi?s The Gods Are Not To Blame, Biyi Bandele?s adaptation of Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart, Peter Luke?s Hadrian The Seventh and Wole Soyinka?s The Lion and the Jewel and Death and the King?s Horseman.
Apart staging of plays, the Jos Repertory Theatre has also taken part in other theatre related activities such as workshops in Sierra Leone, Cote d?Ivoire, Kenya, Italy, United States of America, United Kingdom. And having firmly established its presence as a theatre outfit to be reckoned with in Nigeria, through the successful staging of the enumerated plays and other activities within and outside the country, it is now posed to push the boundary even further.
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The Nigerian Pidgin English has an ironic stigma that even language experts find difficult to understand. It is the most widely spoken language, the only unbiased lingua franca with interjections of many indigenous languages across the country, and it...
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Literature
JRT and theatre promotion in Nigeria
Of the three main genres of literature, drama is the most practicable. Unlike poetry and prose that are mainly read and hardly performed, plays are meant to be performed. That is why the playwright goes the extra mile to ensure that whatever he has written could be given life on stage.
Due to the practical nature of plays, they get to wider audience at the same and tend to have more impact on people. This makes it easier for the author to get his message across to all classes of people including those who cannot read or write. Femi Osofisan, a renowned playwright, theatre director and poet, stressed this fact in an interview with me some time ago.
Asked why he preferred writing plays to other genres, he said it is mainly because they are more direct in their impact on the audience; the theatre has a way of bridging the communication gap between author and audience in a very direct, practical manner.
He further explained that plays are more relevant and useful in our circumstances where we use English as the medium of communication. ?As you know, a majority of our people still do not speak English. In the theatre, the audience doesn?t have to understand the language being used in the dialogue in order to comprehend the message of the play. And my major concern when I started writing was to communicate, to enlighten the people on the drift our society was going through.?
From Osofisan?s argument, and considering the fact that the ultimate aim of the writer is to communicate his ideas and change the society for the better, drama could be said to be the most effective literary tool for the job. Especially in this era of intellectual laziness, where people prefer watching television and browsing the internet to reading, only something as practical as stage performance can attract their attention.
And this is why the Jos based theatre outfit, Jos Repertory Theatre, has consistently promoted the theatre tradition in Nigeria, particularly the northern part of the country. Founded in 1997 as a non-profit making, independent organization aimed at using the theatre as a means of confronting and challenging crucial societal issues, it has staged a number of plays, the latest one being Wale Ogunyemi?s Queen Amina of Zaazau, performed at the Merit House, Abuja, last weekend.
The outfit, under the artistic directorship of Patrick-Jude Oteh, holder of Master of Arts, Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan, has gained prominence due to its zeal to achieve its objective of reviving the theatre tradition which is at the risk of extinction globally due to the new information technology. Way back in 2003 it was involved in the cultural component of the All Africa Games (COJA-ABUJA 2003) with a presentation of Yahaya Dangana?s The Royal Chamber.
Its fame could be attributed to its innovations and the courage to undertake big projects. For instance, it is the only private theatre group that holds an annual festival in the North. The festival, tagged Jos Festival of Theatre, founded in 2004 with the support of organisations like the Ford Foundation and British Council, had been held regularly till recently when the incessant Jos communal crisis interrupted the programme. The event ran for five weekends during the months of March/April, featuring various plays. The first edition featured four plays and a dance drama including the premiere of Our House which was part of the British Council?s Connecting Futures programme. The group subsequently toured the UK in 2005 with Our House.
With time the festival developed rapidly. The second edition, which took place in 2006, was more successful than the first one, as it featured the participation of the Glasgow based Clyde Unity Theatre, as well as Project Phakama, the youth project arm of the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT).
Having made the initial impression, there was no turning back. When the Jos crisis threatened its activities it shifted base to other cities like Abuja, staging both old and new plays. The plays it has featured so far, which have contributed to its fame, include Ola Rotimi?s The Gods Are Not To Blame, Biyi Bandele?s adaptation of Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart, Peter Luke?s Hadrian The Seventh and Wole Soyinka?s The Lion and the Jewel and Death and the King?s Horseman.
Apart staging of plays, the Jos Repertory Theatre has also taken part in other theatre related activities such as workshops in Sierra Leone, Cote d?Ivoire, Kenya, Italy, United States of America, United Kingdom. And having firmly established its presence as a theatre outfit to be reckoned with in Nigeria, through the successful staging of the enumerated plays and other activities within and outside the country, it is now posed to push the boundary even further.
- Osonye Tess Onwueme: Staging Women, Youth, Globalization, And Eco-literature
An international conference tagged "Osonye Tess Onwueme: Staging Women, Youth, Globalization, and Eco-literature" holds at the University of Abuja, Nigeria, from November 11 ? 14, 2009. The conference focuses centrally on Tess Onwueme as a playwright,...
- Jos Repertory Theatre Is Growing - Oteh (interview)
PATRICK-JUDE OTEH, the founder and Artistic Director of Jos Repertory Theatre, JRT, who holds Diploma, Bachelor degree (upper class) and Masters in Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan and a Masters degree in International Law and Diplomacy from...
- National Sports Festival As Cultural Showcase (report & Photos)
The National Sports Festival holding in Kaduna (15th ? 25th February, 2009) is a proof of the fact that the biennial event is not just about sports but also about arts and culture, as various activities portraying Nigeria?s rich cultural heritage were...
- Promoting The Nigerian Pidgin English
The Nigerian Pidgin English has an ironic stigma that even language experts find difficult to understand. It is the most widely spoken language, the only unbiased lingua franca with interjections of many indigenous languages across the country, and it...
- Patrick-jude Oteh - 'there?ll Be More Theatre Outfits In The North' (interview)
A conference aimed at raising awareness on how to harness the untapped resources in the arts, culture and heritage areas of our national life was held from 13th to 16th November, 2007, by the Development Alternative Resource Centre in collaboration with...