The hall at MUSON Center was bursting at the seams on the evening of November 15, 2025 and the buzz was electric as theatre goers gathered for another night of the Lagos International Theatre Festival
Why? Bolanle Austen Peters was back with her stage sensation, Dear Kaffy: Diary of a Single Woman in Lagos.
Tickets? Sold out days in advance. Seats? Scarce. Standing room? A luxury. The crowd didn’t mind the fashionably late start (6:30 p.m. instead of 6:00) because they were ready to be dazzled.
And dazzled they were.
The curtains parted to reveal three fierce femmes in stunning adire ensembles, rocking bangs and pixie cuts sharp enough to slice through any heartbreak. They opened with a harmony so rich and slick; it could butter Agege bread.
But just as the audience began to wonder if they’d mistakenly walked into a musical concert, the lead actress stepped forward and dropped a truth bomb: what it means to be 35, single, and surviving in the chaotic love jungle that is Lagos.
A living in horror as we would soon find out.
The actors spoke directly to the audience, dragging us into their world with sass, soul, and side-eyes. “Who here knows a single woman in Lagos?” they asked. Cue the knowing laughter, the side glances, the “na me be dat” murmurs. This wasn’t your average agony aunt column; it was a full-blown therapy session with jazz riffs enveloping the hall and a rich array of adire styles in full display.
Enter Kike Olota: born with a silver spoon but served a rusty fork in the romance department. She aced school, nailed her career, but when it came to love? Let’s just say the universe threw her a curve ball.
First came Femi, the quintessential Yoruba demon. Fine boy, fantastic physique, sweet tongue, and a PhD in heartbreak. Kike thought she’d found her prince. Instead, she got a masterclass in gaslighting and a front-row seat to his parade of side chicks. Femi is a real demon with huge biceps, piercing eyes and all!
Image credit: bapproduction.comThen came Tamuno. Tall, dark, and… broke. He loved Kike’s bank account more than her heart and he cared only for his gym more than any marital commitment. Another round of tears and tissue.
At this point, Kike swore off men like expired suya. But of course, every queen has her court, and Kike’s two ride-or-die girlfriends were there with comforting words, wisdom, and wicked clap backs. As they say on social media – they listened but they didn’t judge; they dragged the men and hyped their girl. Because every broken heart deserves a hype squad, they were labelled “witches” by the ex-boyfriends.
Dear Kaffy isn’t just a rom com, it is a mirror. And looking at their reflection in the mirror the play held up, women in the audience nodded, laughed, sighed.
The men? They squirmed as the spotlight turned on them with Kike and her friends pointing and cursing them out. “You! Yes, thunder fire you! E no go beta for you…”
And yet, even the men couldn’t help but feel for Kike. She wasn’t just a character; she was every woman who has been dealt a bad hand by love.
“And that’s s practically every woman here,” one woman in the audience said.
Dear Kaffy has the emotional gut punch of Hamilton the musical with the sass of Sex and the City.
But just when you think Kike’s love life is a wrap, in walks Debo, the “boring” son of her dad’s friend. The one she dismissed faster than a bad date. But plot twist: Debo is the real deal. Turns out, love doesn’t always come in big biceps and “steeze.” Sometimes, it’s the quiet one with steady eyes and a steady job, what Femi and Tamuno clearly lacked.
As Kike’s sister Tolani wisely said, “It’s not that love isn’t important. It’s just that love will come… later.”
The stage was minimalist, but the story telling? Maximalist magic. With clever lighting, scene-shifting backdrops, and choreography that slapped (hello, salsa and pole dancing!), the production left nothing to be desired.
Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” made a cheeky cameo, and what of Femi’s hip-thrusting apology dance? Let’s just say the audience was howling.
Dear Kaffy is a riot of laughter, a river of tears, and a reminder that love, real, messy, unexpected love, can bloom in the most unlikely places.
Cast:
Kike (Kikelomo Olota): Uzo Osimkpa
Tolani: Yewande Osamein
Bidemi: Abiola Lepe
Shalewa: Sharon Onyegbula
Tamuno: Ralph Okoro
Debo: Hector Amiwero and Obiora Maduegbuna
Femi: Floyd Igbo
Father: Bimbo Manuel
Mother: Bukola Ogunnote
Producer/Director: Bolanle Austen-Peters
