Theatre feast lights up Lagos

From February 27 to March 1, the Centre of Excellence will be agog with theatrical feast, as this year’s Lagos Theatre Festival holds in four venues across the city. They are National Museum, Freedom Park, Alliance Francais and British Council. The theme for Lagos Theatre Festival (LTF) 2020 is Going out of Bounds.

Now in its seventh edition, this year’s festival will feature a variety of artistic expressions such as, drama, dance, comedy, spoken words, concerts, film and others in unconventional spaces and traditional theatres.

The festival was conceived and launched in 2013 with four shows as a fringe festival by the United Kingdom’s cultural organisation, British Council, in response to the inspiration to provide a platform for theatre makers in Nigeria, to develop audiences for theatre productions and to produce theatre works for unconventional spaces.

Between 2013 and 2019, there have been seven editions of LTF, over 420 shows, with over 42,800 overall attendance, 50 workshops, 260 production campanies, with 15 countries in participation.

LTF is aimed at promoting theatre in Nigeria, and thus, interested in works that are unique and can be adapted to unconventional spaces —works that are multi-disciplinary and combine various art forms to create pieces that are thought-provoking, engaging and entertaining.

British Council’s Head of Arts in West Africa, Ojoma Ochai, said, “from inception, one major vision of the Lagos Theatre Festival was to enable an experimental platform of expression from theatre producers and performers. Companies and individuals who participated in past editions of the festival have testified to the successes recorded. There is no restriction. We are going to ensure that people are able to express themselves through performing art and we hope to have more of such stories this year.”

Primary among Lagos Theatre Festival objectives is the showcasing of innovative ideas that inspire new audiences and new creative work that spark conversation.