Playwright and lawyer Adenike Ojo’s ‘In Hiding’ centres on autism and its stigmatisation. In this interview, she speaks about the play, its successful run at the Tower Theatre and other plans.
Some assume the saying ‘Naija no dey carry last’ is an empty boast, but it’s not. Our enterprising, indomitable and relentless spirit drives us to excellence. No matter where we are on the globe, we always stand out. We excel just like playwright Adenike Ojo did recently in the UK with her play, ‘In Hiding’.
No play had sold out at the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington, London’s busiest non-professional theatre company in a long time but ‘In Hiding’ did just that during its run from June 21 to July 1, 2023.
The play, directed by Kanayo Omo and featuring an all-African cast, raises awareness about autism and its stigmatisation in the African community. It does this through Bimpe, a talk of the town who unfortunately has not been in town to hear it. She has been ‘in hiding’, shielding herself and her autistic son from the unforgiving gaze of Lagos high society. Her self-imposed exile is abruptly ruptured when she attends a lavish Owambe (party) and is forced to navigate the social norms of a world where tradition is at odds with her experience of motherhood.
Expectedly, the Hackney-born and raised writer is encouraged by the play’s successful run at Tower Theatre. “It’s been incredible in that it’s made history at this particular theatre; none of the shows had done this well. It sold out,” she said.
But having been born and raised in the UK, what motivated a play about autism in cosmopolitan Lagos? How was the creative process?
Ojo’s response was long and detailed. “I met a lady called Auntie Wanda Olusina. She’s one of the few black speech therapists in the UK and had seen one of my short plays in Theatre 503 called ‘Soupcase’. At the end of the play, she said, ‘I usually go back home to Nigeria to do workshops to raise awareness about special needs. And in particular, I want to raise awareness about autism. So, Nike, can you dramatise it?’ I was like, oh, my God! My sister has been working with young adults and children with special needs for over 15 years. So, coupled with my research, it’s taken three years to write ‘In Hiding.’ Last March, we had a short play at Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch. And it was before a very White audience. Because I had not compromised in terms of the language, there’s a lot of Pidgin in it, and they got it. So, there’s something in this play, and it has legs. I wanted to do the full-length script and keep on testing it. I got a very positive response; one of them said we could do an audio version.
“I applied to a company that allows creatives to test full-length scripts. So, I opted to have a private reading of the whole play. Two actors in Nigeria played two of the characters, and the rest of the cast were in the UK. We tested it again, and that’s when I got the green light from Tower Theatre. They said we want this play for our summer season. But one of the artistic directors said that I needed to engage a dramaturg to get under the hood of the script, to try to tease out the questions. So, I engaged about three dramaturgs in this process. And the director as well. So, we worked on the draft until I was happy with what we had, which ended with the completion in April of this year. And then they went into rehearsals, and then we had a show.
“In between all this, I applied to the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield. I completed the screenwriting course there. That was to try to elevate my writing and stretch myself as an individual because I’ve also scoped out a TV series for ‘In Hiding’. When people ask me about the creative process, one thing that’s been challenging is trying to find a black director in the UK. There are not many black directors, not many African directors, and Nigerian directors. Directors that would understand the nuances and actual dark spots within the play. I’m grateful I’ve got an outstanding mentor, Dipo Agboluaje. He went to university with the director, Kanayo Omo, so he connected me with Kanayo, and it’s just been an excellent process between me and him.”
Having been born and raised in the UK, does she know how autism is perceived in Nigeria?
“That’s the point. There was a lot of intention in my writing. A lot of times, autism is still stigmatised in the Nigerian community. The knowledge is only there some of the time. People still hide their children as well. They want to go to a party, or if they go to a party, they feel very uncomfortable because of what people are seeing and looking at. One of the characters in the play has three children, two of them have autism. And she says, ‘We have this African saying that it takes a village to raise a child. But in my case, the village excluded me and my children. So, it wasn’t easy. I felt very isolated; I felt that I was on my own.’
“What ‘In Hiding’ is trying to do is shed light on both families and individuals who feel that they are on their own; they don’t know where to get assistance from. That’s where my research came in. I spoke to a Nigerian doctor; she’s been working with special needs children for over 20 years. She said, ‘It takes years for the family to come to my office to get a diagnosis. Once I’ve diagnosed their children, the family flees, and it takes years for them to return to get the needed systems. And my concern was that when they’re fleeing, the child is growing, the needs are changing; what happens to that child in that situation?’
“I spoke to another lady, she is Ghanaian, but she lives in Nigeria, and her child is autistic. She said there are minimal places that she takes her child to. And if she takes her child to those places, it’s for a limited amount of time; she knows exactly how long she can be in those spaces. If she’s feeling this, how many other families feel the same way? I’m just taking it from the top level of Nigerian society; what about the people who live in the slums and villages? What happens to those children? What happens to the knowledge there as well?
“So, this is just more about raising awareness. And I’ve also used Nigeria as a metaphor. Weeks ago, I said on a radio interview that I was on a train, and a guy was sitting next to me, and he started to stim. Stimming is something that autistic people do. He began to rock backwards and forwards. All the people on the train were looking at us like, when will this girl move and remove herself from this situation? But I didn’t do that; I continued reading my book because the guy took a lot of courage to get on the train. I am using Nigeria as a metaphor in the play, but it is also right before our eyes, especially how we now treat it.”
Ojo features 12 Nigerian and two Ghanaian actors in the play, also directed by a Nigerian. But it wasn’t by choice. Circumstances forced her hand. It took a lot of work for her to cast for the play’s short version, and a scarcity of actors forced her to take a role.
“Fareeda, one of the characters, speaks Pidgin, and not many Nigerian actresses here can speak Pidgin. I had to play Fareeda on stage so that the production could continue. But I don’t want to be an actor. It was very scary. In terms of characters, I wanted to stay authentically Nigerian and showcase the beauty of Nigerian culture; it’s a beautiful and rich culture, and I did not want to compromise on that. I wanted people who understood what the script lines said and could put themselves in that situation. They can understand nuances of the culture and bring that into the script and bring it onto the stage as well.”
Since she decided to showcase how autism is perceived in Nigeria, how well is she connected to Nigerian society and culture, especially as she was born in London?
“My mommy is a very typical, very proud Ekiti woman. She raised me and my siblings as if we lived and were raised in Nigeria. When the door closes, it’s Yoruba, even Ekiti, Efon dialect. Omo Nija ni mi o. (I’m Nigerian) Even more Ekiti than Lagos. I’m extremely proud of how my parents raised me. I’m raised here, but I’m not lost.”
Following its successful outing at Tower Theatre, where the Speaker of Hackney Council, Anya Sizer, Councillors and others came to see the play, Ojo has many wishes for ‘In Hiding’. They include a UK and Nigerian tour and conversion into an audio drama and TV series.
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