Film  

Veteran actor, Lari Willaims, calls for professionalism in acting

By NAN

17 March 2017   |   2:59 pm

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Veteran actor and playwright, Lari Williams, has called on up-coming thespians in Nigeria to first master the rudiments of their trade before launching out big time.

Lari Willaims

Veteran actor and playwright, Lari Williams, has called on up-coming thespians in Nigeria to first master the rudiments of their trade before launching out big time.

Williams told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos that most thespians today do not possess the fundamentals of theatre acting before they move into movies.

Willaims, who will be celebrating his 50 years on stage soon, said there must be a paradigm shift to improve acting in the country.

“We keep talking about theatre arts in Nigeria; they are not producing actors. Since the generation of the Ogunde’s passed on, we have not seen real actors in Nigeria.

“If you think it is a joke, call out for audition to put a play-on. If it is stage, you are sure that there will be 10 people because they are afraid of stage.

“If you’re trained, you ought to train on stage. You don’t learn acting in front of camera, you learn acting on stage and then of course, the camera comes to you.’’

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NAN reports that Lari Williams produced his first full-length play titled ‘Cola nut Junction’ in 1971, which featured the likes of Olu Jacobs, Taiwo Ajayi-Lycet among others.