By Anote Ajeluorou
TIME was when the Lagos mainland
played host to the bulk of artistic and cultural performances in Lagos. In
fact, back then Lagos Island, specifically Victoria Island, was in its
formative stage, a far off suburban area whose main attraction was the famous
and sometimes infamous Lagos Bar Beach that hosted beach lovers and firing
executions for armed robbers in alternate terms. But since Victoria Island took
over from Lagos Island as the financial capital of Nigeria, things have not
been the same for the mainland, as it lost its prime artistic position. Traffic
for virtually all artistic performances became directed towards Victoria Island;
it inevitably became the hub.
How can this trend be reversed for equilibrium to be achieved so the
mainland can as well play host to artistic expressions? This is the headache
for a few cultural producers on the mainland, especially so when, ironically,
majority of those who patronize cultural productions and artistic performances
are on Lagos Mainland. Mainlanders are forced to take a trip to the island to
experience a performance and do a return trip back home. Ironically, they find
it difficult to patronize such productions in their neighbourhoods no matter
how attractive. Attending a performance on the islands has since become a
status symbol of sorts. Also, almost if not all the producers of artistic and
cultural expressions are from the mainland, even the nouveau riche of the
comedy and music genres who migrated to live in the posh neighbourhod of Lekki
were struggling mainlanders of yesteryears before they hit it big!
Before Victoria Island overtook the mainland as cultural hub, the
National Theatre was a prime facility for artistic and cultural expressions and
patronage. It was the beacon and cultural producers and lovers alike flocked to
it with uncommon zeal. But as is synonymous with all government facilities in
this part of the world, the National Theatre soon fell into bad times, as one
bad manager after another left their poor imprint and the facility fell out of
repute in the eyes of culture producers and patrons alike. It soon alienated
everyone in the cultural community and patrons alike. Insecurity was the first
major cause, as art lovers were brazenly robbed after seeing a production. The car
park became a den for all forms of attack. Then poor air-conditioning and
ventilation followed due to poor maintenance and power outages during
performances. MUSON Centre on Lagos Island had readied itself for the
depreciation of the national edifice, and it became the centre-piece of
cultural expressions.
But even when the National Theatre was at its peak, there were other
smaller performance centres on the mainland. Majekodunmi’s Jazzhole at Onike,
Yaba, had its good days as a place for young musicians to expose their skills.
Older ones also took to the stage to entertain the audience. Nightshift
Coliseum on Salvation Road, Ikeja, also provided a rich outlet for musical
performances for old and young artists. Also in Ikeja, there was La Campagne Tropicana on Adeniyi Jones Avenue,
Ikeja that served as watering hole for art lovers. Not least was Fela’s Afrika
Shrine in its old, hay days when the maestro was alive and later when his son,
Femi built a new one at Agidingbi, Ikeja.
But these places have since fallen out of favour. In their places have
emerged, and even become triumphant, such performance and artistic centres as
Terra Kulture, Eko, Oriental and Intercontinental Hotels, all in Victoria
Island. Now Freedom Park has joined the fray as the newest art centre on the
island. Although these centres, especially the hotels, are not purpose built
for performances like theatre productions, the ample space they offer is the
main attraction. For instance, performing Saro
the Musical last year at Oriental Hotel was a big challenge for the
producers; the acoustic output was appalling. It nearly marred an otherwise
great production. Even Fela! On
Broadway some two years at Eko Hotel didn’t come off as well as it should.
Therein lies the bane of cultural productions in the country. With the
National Theatre still being bogged down by the vice and incompetence that
civil service now represents in Nigeria, and investors not looking to invest in
appropriate venues for cultural productions, the country will be the worse for
it for a long to come. Though MUSON Centre is a great venue, it has a limited
space and cannot always guarantee returns on investment for a stage performance,
for instance. What is worse, corporate sponsorship isn’t forthcoming to help
cover some of the costs of putting up productions. But the few restless and
relentless producers are marching on nonetheless in spite of glaring sponsorship
handicap.
IKENNA Jude Okpala, who
describes himself as a creative entrepreneur and a staunch theatre practitioner,
is preaching the gospel of Mobile
Theatre Series with his Wazobia Theatre House. Alejo is the first in the Mobile Theatre Series, aimed
at bridging the gap between theatre enthusiasts and location-based productions. He has worked at Terra Kulture’s
Theatre@Terra. But he’s a mainlander, and is sad that his beloved mainland is
bereft of cultural productions and is sad that mainlanders have had to go to
the other islands before enjoying art and cultural productions. He is desirous
of reawakening the artistic scene in the mainland, and determined at his quest
to stage drama performances on the mainland, but the obvious challenges of lack
of venues and poor attendance dodge his path. Which way to go?
“We will have to keep doing it till we get it right”, he said ruefully
at QDance Centre on 194 Herbert Macualay Way, Yaba, venue for his experimental stage
performance Alejo, last Sunday. He
had seats for only 20 people in the small, seminar hall at the centre, but almost
an hour gone, there’s no one yet to occupy the seats. But he’s undaunted. Two shows
were advertised for 3pm and 6pm. But it’s past 4pm already, and it was becoming
clear he’d have to merge the two shows as audience for the first show was still
being awaited.
“We have venue problem on the mainland,” he noted, “but not the
audience. Sadly, the audience that goes to the islands (Lagos Island and
Victoria Island) to see productions is from the mainland here. I think
producers didn’t do a balancing act from start; we took all productions to the
islands, and forgot the mainland where we all came from. How to reverse the
trend and bring mainland audience to see productions in their backyard have now
become our headache”.
A certain mindset is also at play in the neglect of the mainland for
artistic and cultural productions. As the financial hub of the city and the
posh part of town as well, culture producers naturally felt inclined to tap
into the wealth of the islands. But what they forgot was that most of the
operators of that wealth travel daily from the mainland to work on the islands.
So much so that even the operators of that wealth have begun to see themselves
as the two islands’ citizens and if it’s not happening on the islands it wasn’t
worth the effort. So, they’d rather do another round trip - at great traffic
cost to their time and health - to go back to the islands to see a stage
production, an art exhibition, a book reading, a book launch, an art auction,
and musical and comedy concerts during weekends rather than have them at their
backyards on the mainland at Ikeja, Yaba, Surulere, Apapa or FESTAC Town. It
doesn’t matter that the over-priced venues of the islands necessarily make
ticket costs spiral out of the reach of a majority who would have seen the
shows to make life easy for producers.
ARTZERO, jointly coordinated by
the duo of Ato Arinze and Muraino Akeem, is another body keen on showcasing art
expressions and cultural productions on the mainland. But they’ve been having a
hard time maintaining their mission of “creating a platform and avenue to show
their works and bring art closer to the people and market our products to
people around us on the mainland. The major challenge we have is that we don’t
get sponsorship and we record small attendance in our shows; and then the
people don’t buy art”.
But lack of sponsorship and patronage to drive their mission sent them
on a 3-year recess. Although they are back in business, they are still battling
with the old challenges. But they are undaunted in their resolve to get mainlanders.
Like Okpala, Akeem and Arinze are determined to wake up the slumbering
artistic and cultural spirits of mainlanders, and if possible, reverse the
traffic of art and culture patronage from the twin islands of Victoria and
Lagos back to Lagos Mainland. This objective seems high, but the trio is not
short on optimism either, as they march on doggedly to fulfill their quest.