Notable Nollywood actress Monalisa Chinda, Charles Inojie, Ejike Asiegbu and Francis Duru are amongst Nollywood A-listers who will breathe real life into the characters of the stage play, Philomena: Interview With A Prostitute that will be staged in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital from February 11 till 14 February.
Produced by K’Ike Productions Ltd, a theatre-focused production company, Philomena is written by Nollywood veteran, Bimbo Manuel who doubles as the director of the play. The play centres on three characters who find themselves, by pure chance, in the same space at the same time, each with his and her personal issues that they would have carried with them if events do not force them out.
In the play, the fairly ordered lives of Philomena, a prostitute in her last laps, ‘Area’ her regular customer, frustrated master’s degree holder and primary school teacher is disrupted by the arrival of Wesley, a bombastic journalist with an inflated view of himself when he gets his sack on the phone while sitting in Philomena’s beer parlour for a consolatory drink. Wesley would later get back at society for the ‘injustice of his sack over the phone’.
Monalisa Chinda who is joint Executive Producer with the writer Bimbo Manuel said Philomena: Interview With A Prostitute is a story that must be told.
‘‘From my first encounter with the play, it became a story that demanded to be told,’’ she said. To ensure a hitch free production of the play, which has been carefully timed for the Valentine season, the Company has also engaged one of the leading lights of theatre productions in Nigeria, Bikiya Graham-Douglas as Producer and she said, “I am happy to be doing this. What is even more enthralling is that it is happening in The Garden City. I believe it is the beginning of greater things to come to our beloved city, Port Harcourt. It is phenomenal that we are bringing Nollywood veterans and homegrown talents together in one performance space in our city. I am happy to be doing this at home in Rivers State.”
Presented by Amstel Malta, Rivers State Tourism Development Agency and supported by The Envoy Hotel, Abuja, FourOTwo Entertainment and others, the performances kick off on February 11, 2022, at the Atlantic Hall of the Hotel Presidential, in Port Harcourt and there will be a Red Carpet and Variety Edition and choice dining at the February 14 Special Performance.
