Ghosting, a footprint of David, monster truck

The world premiere of Ghosting, Nigerian-German theatre collaboration, is set for today. It will be premiered in Nigeria on March 20, 2021. Footprints of David and Monster Truck are in co-production with Ballhaus Ost for this inspiring theatrical performance. It is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe and the Performing Arts Fund.

The virtual premiere is the result of ‘a new normal’ in the Culture Creative Industries (CCIs), where performances are now streamed or zoomed.

Since the Coronavirus outbreak was first announced in late 2019, almost every country has put in place, one measure or the other, to curtail its spread and stem deaths recorded.

One industry that suffered heavily from the lockdown was the CCIs, as creatives did not have opportunity to express themselves, because of the COVID-19 protocol, which prevented large gathering, and convergence in places such as cinemas and theatre halls as well as event centres. The world, for a first time, was boxed in virtual reality.

Amidst the lockdown, a convergence of thoughts across two nations in different continents birthed Ghosting!
Inspired by the traumatic experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghosting interrogates the veering course of humanity.

Born of two different continents, it breeds spirituality rather than an absenteeism of physical touch. Ghosting divines, a translocation of the cast to a Patmos of solitude, primal existence and experimentation of newness.

The lead role, Sahar Rahimi in Germany reveals the masked alter egos of her imagination —entrenched in the soul of seven other performers in faraway Nigeria. Sahar pours her heart in cast in other places — with reflective moods foreshadowing images culled from Berlin and Lagos. The message carried on in a younger cast, Anjoola Faniyi.

A cross-continental theatrical exploration – Monster Truck (Germany) and Footprints of David Arts (Nigeria) – both companies uniquely juxtaposing characters in seamless chain of performance brings to life the import of Ghosting.

The performance features acts such as Ololade Adebayo, Eniola Balogun, Anjoola Faniyi, Olabisi John, Boluwatito Ogundare, Esther Ogungbamila, Mariam Olawale, Sahar Rahimi, Victoria Umoru, Sahar Rahimi, Segun Adefila, Manuel Gerst, Oluwaseun Awobajo, Golnaz Farmani, Niki Neecke, Joscha Eckert and Jere Ikongio.

Footprints of David is one of the best children theatre troupes in Africa. It is a multiple-award winning children/student dance theatre group with vast experience in performances both at home and internationally, the F.O.D based in Bariga area of Lagos, enjoys patronage and support from numerous eminent Nigerians, and has received commendation in “performance excellence” from the former German president, Joachim Gauck, Emmanuel Macron — French president when they visited Nigeria few years ago. Led by the multi-skilled artiste, Seun Awobajo, the FoD has travelled extensively in Europe, especially in Germany.

Monster Truck was founded in 2005 at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen. The group produces theatre/performance, scenic installations and video work and in most productions cooperates with other performers, directors, musicians and other project-related specialists. A key aspect of Monster Truck’s work is their examination of images, spaces and structures that influence society’s subconscious just as much as our alleged consciousness. In the deconstruction of these mechanisms and representations, science fiction comes up against images of past eras, Hollywood blockbuster aesthetics come face to face with 19th century vaudeville, artistic convention meets natural history, politics and entertainment. In everything that Monster Truck does, the love of the spectacle and its critical examination are always in balance.