‘I fell in love with theatre watching masquerades’

Joshua Alabi is one of the young theatre producers to watch out for. The founder of Kininso Concepts talks about his love for theatre, current engagements and aspirations. Excerpts:

 

You got involved in theatre at a young age, and you have stayed faithful all these years. What has been the attraction?

I started theatre at a very young age when I followed my mum to the village when she went to festivals. I used to see masquerades parading and magic. I just fell in love, and that was the beginning of theatre for me. Years down the line, I joined the Association of Nigerian Theatre Practitioners (ANTP) while I was in secondary school. For me, theatre performance started at that point.

 

It was the love, attraction to culture, background, society, storytelling, colours, shapes, languages and symbols. Those were the things that attracted me, and with time, I realised how to put things together and use them to tell different kinds of stories.

I saw the importance of culture globally and as a tool for development. So, the attraction has been there. I am attracted to it so much now in different ways that I can’t even begin to explain. There are emotional and artistic attractions. There is attraction based on culture and that of connection. I mean, you have stayed, and it has become a career. Everyone has a career path, and it has become that path for me that needs to be nurtured.

 

Do you still organise the Kininso International Festival of Theatre (KIFT)?

Yes, KIFT is our baby. The last edition was in 2019, and it was massive and successful. It was the most successful so far. We had shows from Zimbabwe, South Africa and France. We had many local and international shows around several venues in Lagos, and some brands supported us.

We were looking forward to the 2020 edition where we would be able to do more. But thanks to COVID, KIFT did not happen last year because the target audience is children only, and it was impossible to bring them out. As part of KIFT, we also have workshops for both children and teachers. We teach the teachers alternative teaching methods. We hope that we would have a mini hybrid edition from this year, and from next year, it will get bigger. We are positive, and we are looking forward.

 

How far have you gone with the historical plays you are writing for the stage?

We started in 2019. We had written and premiered that of the late Funmilayo Ransom-Kuti called ‘Jogbo’. We had started to think of something with the producer for Samuel Ajayi Crowther but the series of other historical plays are on hold for now. We are working on the newer stuff, but because we don’t have fixed dates for the historical works, they are still in the pipeline. We are still researching them.

 

In 2019, you produced your first feature film, ‘Cluster’. How did it fare, and do you plan to make another?

‘Cluster’ was an experience. It was my directorial debut for film. It featured Tina Mba, Kehinde Bankole and other fantastic actors. We had a great team, and I also acted in ‘Cluster’, but we didn’t make our money in terms of returns. But it was worth the trial; it was a beautiful story that we told.

 

I’m passionate about what I do. I keep trying, and we keep working. As we speak, we have three movies that we are working on for this year. There are others with other producers and executive producers.

It might interest you to know that last year; we also launched the ‘The Home Theatre Project’. We shot most of our theatre works into digital formats and created about 25 different stories. We have been launching them since last year. Maybe the reason ‘Cream Body’ did well online this year was because we had started to help the audience to transition from physical theatre to online theatre. Or film theatre if that is the word to use. They are short videos. We worked with amazing actors, including Princess Egbuse, Tunji Sotimirin, Simi Hassan, William Benson, Nnamdi Agboho, Uzoamaka Onuoha and others. We worked with really great people that we are proud of, and as a matter of fact, we are shooting and releasing more.

 

As a young theatre director/producer, what’s your trajectory of film and stage in Nigeria?

My trajectory for Nigeria’s film and theatre industry is very big. Bigger than all of us. I know that everything that we are doing now, is for generations. I’m a positive thinker who believes that the Nigerian entertainment industry, film, theatre and other sectors will blossom because we have the foundation already. We have the human resources, the brain. We need collaboration and specific skills to harness to get to where it should be.

I’m a lover of training. With more training, actor training, producer training, director training, we will do much better. It has become an all-comers industry where anyone would wake up one morning and then launch into it. There is a need for thorough training because, without training, we are not going anywhere. The European and American industries are booming because they invest so much in training, and that is all you need. That is where we are going with Kininso.

Kininso will be an institution that offers practical training, good theoretical training, and excellent internship opportunities to showcase talents, perform and create. It’s going to be an institution that brings people together for theatre and film. We want to have a big theatre where we can watch stage plays, promote stage plays, and promote movies. That’s the future we are looking forward.

A future where we can graduate loads of young people that will stand shoulder to shoulder with any actor, director around the world. That is where we are going, and we know we will get there.

 

You have been part of the Lagos Theatre Festival since 2016; you had two productions in this year’s edition. Tell me about the plays and why you think Nigerians will pay to watch digital stage plays?

This year’s edition happened online, thanks to COVID-19. We were sceptical before the festival. How will people accept it? What would the reception be? What will the level of acceptance? Will people love it, and that is also what informed our choice of play and filming. That is why we created ‘Cream Body’ this year. ‘Cream Body’ didn’t just start, and we didn’t intend to make it for Lagos Theatre Festival.

We had started a project with the Frat Festival in Berlin last year where we were supposed to go to Germany but couldn’t attend due to COVID. We were in a research laboratory at the festival. Our project, ‘Skin Tone’, was about discrimination, colourism, identities, biases, and stereotypes. We did that last year. We did it virtually. We told ourselves this is an exciting topic that also borders on bleaching and skin toning. We shouldn’t let it just die. What else can we do with this? So, we created a show for children aged two to seven called ‘Colorful’. How do they react to colour, discrimination and biases? How do they respond to bleaching and toning? So that’s why we created ‘Colorful’.  We premiered it at a festival in Brazil early this year. After that, we thought we are a content creating company, and that was how ‘Cream Body’ came about. The audience engagement at the Lagos Theatre Festival was marvellous, and we got a lot of feedback. From July, we are starting a theatre series at our space in Oregun where ‘Cream Body’ will be the first show to happen for the month.

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