Lasun Alagbe
The Thespian Family Theatre and Productions have a big deal of lovers of the stage this Easter as ‘ITAN the Story’, an exciting play directed by the company’s founder, Ayo Jaiyesinmi, will be performed at the MUSON Centre, Lagos. The play coming up on Saturday, April 20 and running till Monday, 22, is coming back repackaged, with a 70-man cast that comprise some of the best in the country.
These include Albert Akaeze, Nissi George, Efe Mayford Orhorha, Omololu Shodiya, Henry Arnold, and Omowumi Dada playing major roles. But it will also pleasantly the audience on the basis of some unusual faces it is parading. Among them is top fashion entrepreneur, Funmi Ajila-Ladipo and popular online comedian, Broda Shaggi. For those who might have also seen the play before, some surprises yet await them as the producer has reinforced its theme, structure and style so that it invokes new meanings and sensation.
The producer and director, Jaiyesinmi, is among the not too new theatre proprietors who restored hope to the stage art after it suffered decades of lull due to existential challenges and matters of insecurity, especially during and immediately after military rule.
One of the things that Jaiyesinmui did to redefine the theatre culture is boldly going for very engaging plays – including those by legendary playwrights such as Wole Soyinka and Ola Rotimi. In this wise, she has staged Soyinka’s Lion and the Jewel and The God’s are not to Blame by Rotimi. But she has also, along the line, procreated a new set of plays that reconcile modernity and old values. ITAN is simply one of them.
Another factor that endears the Thespian Theatre to many people is the fact that Jaiyesinmi always stages her plays at inspiring and safe venues, with the MUSON Centre, Lagos having provided a good base for her several times. It is again thus not surprising that it is hosting ITAN this April.
This is not surprising because Jaiyesinmi has gangrened a lot of experience working with different Thespians of different schools and generations.
She says in a recent interview, “I have done quite a number of productions considering that we started off 15 years ago. Some of the productions include Wole Soyinka’s Lion & the Jewel, Trials of Brother Jero; Femi Osofisan’s Altine’s Wrath; Midnight Hotel; Ahmed Yerima’s Tuti; The Wives Lottery Ticket; Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not To Blame; Grip Am and Zulu Sofola’s Wizard of Law.
“These authors really inspire me. Although, the works have been around for a while, they remain evergreen because of their unique styles of weaving together captivating stories that have lessons woven into them. In choosing productions, I look out for those that align with topical discussions or conversations that should be triggered. These timeless plays are usually visual storyboards that are etched on people’s hearts for a long time. Lion and the Jewel is a classic change management story. How on earth could teacher Lakunle change the village or Sidi’s point of view if he didn’t even understand what he was up against? Some of my plays have also been performed. Some of them are Five Maids of Fadaka; ITAN the Story; The Crystal Slipper; Under the Orombo; Beyond the Garb and Mad King of Ijudiya. My stories are written bearing my aim to subtly convey a message or trigger conversation.
“We’ve had over 500 shows in Lagos, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Abuja, Ghana and UK. I have also worked with a number of brilliant persons in the Nigerian theatre space- artistic and technical directors, actors, choreographers & dances, singer’s, designers. Every stage production is a ‘factory room’ of different skill-sets using their individual and collective creativity to birth what comes to stage. This, for me, is a unique blessing because I’ve not only had good quality productions but also been able to learn from some of the very best in the industry.”
Although Jaiyesinmi has also done theatre and hopes to later explore film, her passion for theatre is strong:
“I’m in theatre because it’s one of the loudest ‘voices’ if optimised. It’s a powerful tool for storytelling and storytelling is imperative for social reorientation and transformation. People, teams, communities don’t just change because they are mandated to. There has to be a compelling reason that they can align with and buy into a belief or ideology. As a change management professional, I’m aware that people volunteer to change because they have been able to see how it drills down to them. The stage touches the core of the heart and has the ability to paint vivid pictures of what needs to be discarded and the envisioned future. Sometimes a theatre ticket is a ticket to a long-term life-changing experience. I remember that after I watched ‘Wicked’, in the UK, anytime I felt weighed down, I would jump up spontaneously, saying: ‘I defy gravity’. For me, the experience at that point kept that line alive and has been a call to action. In Maya Angelou’s words, ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
