BRITISH COUNCIL ANNOUNCES FIRST EDITION OF LAGOS THEATRE FESTIVAL

BRITISH COUNCIL ANNOUNCES FIRST EDITION OF LAGOS THEATRE FESTIVAL

British Council Nigeria, in conjunction with three of Nigeria's most

exciting theatre companies, and award-winning British-Nigerian actor,

Inua Ellams, presents the Lagos Theatre Festival 2013.

For 2 days, on the 16th and 17th of February, 2013, Renegade Theatre,

Black Soul Performance Company, House of Tales and Fuel Theatre will

bring to life amazing performances across a number of unconventional

spaces - the Presidential Suite, Car Park, Petanque Area, and Casa

Chianti Restaurant - at the Eko Hotel & Suites.

"We're infusing cutting-edge techniques and tools to bring theatre,

historically a rich part of Nigerian culture, to an even wider range of

arts consumers," says Ojoma Ochai, Assistant Director of the British

Council. "The idea is to create a platform for theatre away from

conventional theatre spaces, which sadly are in short supply in these

parts."

Renegade Theatre's 'The Waiting Room' (Directed by Wole Oguntokun) is a place where luck will save no one; where natural cunning and innate

intelligence must be put to the ultimate test. In it, even the most

street-wise will come face-to-face with frail mortality. An exciting,

thought-provoking performance on the meaning of existence and

pre-destination, it was the Festival play for the Lagos Book and Arts

Festival, The Festival of Nigerian Plays (FESTINA) and the Lagos State

Government-sponsored Black Heritage Festival all in 2011.

In the pidgin English comedy Grip Am (Directed by Deleke Gbolade), an

experimental reworking of Ola Rotimi's classic, revolving around a

scatter-brained trickster who uses his wits to con death into giving him

and his ever-belligerent wife eternal reprieve. Black Soul Performance

Company's production, strewn with brazenly loud eccentric action, has

gripped audiences into frenzied laughter over a dozen times since 2012.

The magic continues at the Lagos Theatre Festival where this rebellious

production will be transformed in a unique way, leaving only chuckles

and smiles in its aftertaste.

House of Tales (led by Ifeanyi Dibia) makes an ambitious debut with Bode

Asiyanbi's 2011 BBC African Performance winning play 'Shattered', a

deeply moving story which exposes in a powerful way the silence that

often surrounds the issue of rape, when victims are often reluctant to

come forward and disclose what has happened to them - especially when

the perpetrator is someone very close. Without preaching or

condescension, Shattered sheds generous light and heart on what is,

across and beyond Africa, a truly complex issue.

To complete the line-up will be the Nigeria premiere of The 14th Tale,

by British-Nigerian playwright, poet and actor, Inua Ellams. Ellams, who

was born in Nigeria and moved to the UK as a child, describes himself as

being "from a long line of troublemakers, of ash-skinned Africans, born

with clenched fists and a natural thirst for battle, only quenched by

breast milk."

Tickets for the Lagos Theatre Festival will go on sale on Tuesday 5th

February 2013 at British Council Office (Ikoyi), Terra Kulture (VI) and

Bogobiri (Ikoyi)

"If you want to see Nigerian theatre in ways you have never seen it

performed before, then you want to be hanging out with us at Eko Hotel

on the 16th and 17th of February, 2013," says Ochai.

For more information, and to stand a chance to win free tickets: Follow

the Lagos Theatre Festival on Twitter @LagosTheatre13

Like the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/BritishCouncilNigeriaArts

Call us: Toyin - 07067061972, Bukky - 08107803938 or Fusi - 08035250515

Ticket Price: N2,000 (Students: N1,000)

The inaugural edition of the Lagos Theatre Festival is produced on

behalf of the British Council by Ben Evans for BeCreative, and in

partnership with Eko Hotel & Suites, BEAT FM and Classic FM.

*UK-based Inua Ellams and the Lagos-based Directors (Wole Oguntokun,

Ifeanyi Dibia and Deleke Gbolade) will be available for interviews, on

request.

The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We are a registered charity; 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland). We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide.

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