Nigeria’s theatre and literary communities will gather in Lagos and Ibadan this June to celebrate Professor Femi Osofisan on his 80th birthday, with a programme spanning stage productions, film screenings and critical symposia running from June 11–18.
The FO@80 celebrations open in Lagos with a three-day run of Osofisan’s Yungba Yungba and the Dance Contest, directed by Bunmi Adedina at the Department of Theatre Arts, Lagos State University of Education, Ijanikin. Performances run daily at 2pm from June 11–13, with a command performance at 1pm on June 11. Productions of No More the Wasted Breed, directed by Segun Adefila, and The Engagement, directed by Shola Adenugba, are also planned during the Lagos leg.
On June 14, events move to the JRandle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History in Onikan, Lagos, beginning at 3pm with a talk by dramatist Ben Omowafola Tomoloju titled “The Femi Osofisan I Know.” The talk will be followed by the unveiling of “100 Songs of Femi Osofisan,” produced by Semoore Badejo for Concrete Studios, and a roundtable on “Femi Osofisan’s Drama and the Deconstruction of the Nigerian Postcolonial State” at 4pm. Panellists include filmmaker Tunde Kelani, and scholars from the University of Abuja, the University of Lagos, Indiana University Bloomington, and the University of Uyo. The evening concludes with a 6pm screening of Maami, Kelani’s film adaptation of Osofisan’s original work.
The Lagos programme closes on June 15 with a second roundtable at 4pm on the theme “Interpreting Femi Osofisan for the Stage,” featuring veteran actress Joke Silva and theatre practitioners Segun Adefila and Makinde Adeniran, among others, moderated by Professor Tunji Azeez. A screening of Cordelia, adapted from Osofisan’s novella by Tunde Kelani, follows at 6pm. All talks and roundtables will be accessible via Zoom; audiences may register at https://bit.ly/3PLZrN6.
The Ibadan leg, held at the University of Ibadan Staff Club, opens on June 17 with a recorded screening of Yungba Yungba and the Dance Contest as performed at the University of Ghana, Legon, directed by Grace Adinku, followed by a Q&A. On June 18, a recorded performance of Farewell to a Cannibal Rage, staged at Texas A&M University, screens at 2pm before a roundtable and tribute session.
Born in Erunwon on June 16, 1946, Osofisan studied at the University of Ibadan, where he later obtained his PhD in 1974 and rose to Professor in 1985, before being conferred Emeritus Professor on retirement in 2014. He has published more than 40 plays, five novellas and six volumes of poetry. A former president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), PEN-Nigeria and the Pan African Writers Association, he received the French National Order of Merit in 1991, the Nigerian National Order of Merit for the Humanities in 2004, and in 2016 became the first African honoured with the Thalia Prize of the International Association of Theatre Critics.
Partner institutions include the University of Ibadan, Lagos State University of Education, Texas A&M University, the University of East Anglia and the Ibadan Literary Society.
