Man Enough set for Abuja stage

Following the overwhelming success of its shows across the country, BAP Productions is set to stage another captivating drama titled, Man Enough.

In a chat with the producer and director, Bolanle Austen-Peters, in Lagos recently, she said Man Enough x-rays the reality of today’s man, as he tries to create his world in an upwardly mobile society. More than ever before, man’s vulnerability becomes glaring. “We see his fear, and most of all, the choices he has to make for self, family and society as he tries to maintain the traditional masculinity,” Austen-Peters noted.

Most people, she explained, “think men don’t cry; but they are wrong. Everyday, men all over the world buckle under the burden of trying to be ‘men enough’. The pressure of trying to meet up with the ever increasing demands of an insensitive and over demanding society continues to weigh down the modern man: Man Enough is the voice of man crying to be heard, yelling to be saved from a world that thinks he is ‘super man’; it is the story of man and the fear to speak; it is the story of man speaking for the first time.”

Continuing, she observed: “For the first time on stage, we are faced with the various pressures man has to struggle with — financial, rejection or acceptance by the women folk, extended family and that which the society puts on man in his quest to prove he is man enough. Man Enough reflects the conversation to be had, of changing gender roles and stereotypes in recent public discourse.

“’Boys are not smiling’ cannot be truer in a society that has no pity for the men; it is time to see how stereotypical narratives hurt not just the women alone; they hurt the men too. Man Enough is not the story of three men; it is the story of every man — from Africa to Asia, to Europe and America — everyman who must prove to the world that he is man enough.”

Looking at the major characters, she said, “Bruno is your everyday alpha male; old, egoistic, rich, full of himself and ready to play. But under the puffed underbelly is a morbid fear he is desperately trying to hide. Onyilo comes to you as a regular guy who is trying to run a more-than-regular studio. But to achieve the more-than-regular-dream, you must do the more-than-regular… or not. With his world trying to explode before his very eyes, time may not be on his side and Thino lives in a world where it is better to deny the existence of your reality by putting on the religious cloak; a typical example of religion being the opium…but this opium will wear off soon and he will be faced with the reality of the choices he has to make.”

She disclosed that the play, featuring Tana Adelana, Gideon Okeke, Juliana Olayode, Ayo Ayoola, Moshood Fattah, Ralph Okoro, Josephine Ewuru, Iyke Okechukwu and more would be staged in Abuja on Friday, October 11, Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13.

Founded by Bolanle Austen-Peters, BAP Productions is a Nigerian theatre and movie production company. The company raised the bar in theatrical productions with SARO the Musical in 2013. The show enjoyed rave reviews both at home and abroad. It has since produced five additional plays despite the poor infrastructural support.

Responding to these reviews, in December 2014 and April 2015, the company produced SARO THE MUSICAL 2 at the MUSON Centre. The shows were sold out and there has been increasing demand since then.

To further stimulate interest in Nigerian theatrical production, the company equally premiered its second Broadway style musical production titled, WAKAA! The Musical from December 30, 2015 to January 3, 2016 at the MUSON Centre Onikan, Lagos.

Both musicals have gone on to become huge successes in London, breaking new grounds and transcending the demographic barriers of London’s theatrical landscape, showing that there is high demand for production of African and indeed Nigerian origin.

Fela and The Kalakuta Queens was also staged in December 2017/ January 2018 and again in March/ April 2018 before hitting the big stage in Abuja in June 2018, with over 20,000 people seeing the show.

In further celebration of our history and heritage, BAP Productions, with the support of the House of Oduduwa and Rejuvenee, enacted on stage the amazing story of Queen Moremi in December 2018. His Imperial Majesty the Ooni of Ife alongside other first class monarchs, CEOs, diplomats and top government officials graced the performance in Lagos.

BAP Productions has also co-produced the movie 93 Days, a feature film on the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria, which premiered on September 13, 2016 in Lagos Nigeria. Also selected for premiering and viewing at the Toronto Film Festival, Chicago Film Festival and the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, the movie has been described by industry experts as “powerful”, “incredible”, “Best of Nigeria” and “a new dawn for Nigerian movies”.

BAP Productions latest movie The Bling Lagosian is currently the highest grossing Nollywood movie in 2019.