Lagos Theatre Festival’s new world ranking is surprising —Ojoma Ochai •I used to make fun of LTF —Joke Silva reveals

Major stakeholders in the Nigerian theatre space have lauded the achievements of the Lagos Theatre Festival (LTF), especially its recent ranking as the 15th most popular theatre festival in the world.

Mrs Ojoma Ochai, the Head of Arts, West Africa, British Council and Chair of the Theatre Festival Advisory Board, who made the announcement during the 5th edition of the Lagos Theatre Festival held last week, described the new LTF ranking as coming “so quickly”.

She said in a statement that “From the first festival in 2013 at the Eko Hotel at which we featured four companies in sixteen shows…to the 2018 festival at which we expect over 40 companies from Ghana, Nigeria, the UK and USA and over 100 shows… I never imagined that together we would achieve so quickly what we have achieved in the amount of time.”

And she also attributed the achievements to the festival’s “impact across the Lagos theatre ecosystem” and beyond.

Also, Nollywood veteran actress, Joke Silva, who was newly-appointed member of the LTF Board of Trustees, expressed delight at the creativity and the “buy-in of young people” in the theatre industry, pointing out, however, that she was initially disinclined towards the concept of the Lagos Theatre Festival, particularly the concept of “unconventional spaces”.

“I used to make fun of the organisers of Lagos Theatre Festival”, she told Saturday Tribune. “I was like we have always done theatre in unconventional spaces because we didn’t have much theatre to begin with.

“It came to the point where the theatre we had ran into disuse for want of a better word. So, it is like bringing sand to bar beach when I heard of the unconventional spaces.

“But I have grown to like the concept and the creativity that it fosters and I have grown to love the ownership, the buy-in of young people into the festival. And I was ever so proud when I heard that the Lagos Theatre Festival is one of the most respected festival in the world. It is number 15 in the world. I thought that was absolutely wonderful,” she said

But speaking about the renaissance taking place in the industry, highlighting the economic potential of the industry, Mrs. Bolanle Austen-Peters, the founder of Terrakulture, said, “Theatre is experiencing a renaissance now, and it is due to so many factors, people who have refused to stop performing, people who have come into the industry with innovative ideas and the Lagos State government that is building 6 new theatres.

“It is a fact that the intangible industries are responsible for growing the economies of most part of the developed world and theatre belongs to that industry. We must leverage this aspect of creative industry because it is very easy to involve people especially in Africa where our biggest demography is the youth.”

The Lagos Theatre Festival is the initiative of the British Council, organised in collaboration with Nigerian and British theatre companies since 2013.

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