The fifth edition of the Children’s Creative Station organised by the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN) came to an end with a fiesta-like performance on Sunday, August 31. The performances by the children, 85 of them, from different primary and secondary schools around Lagos, belie the thinking that the future of theatre cannot be guaranteed in the country.
A scene from Eriri
If children are truly the leaders of tomorrow, then these children will lead in theatre in the not too distant future, considering the skills at their disposal. More interesting is that it took them only one month to learn their theatrics.
From the choir-like welcome song, the traditional dances from across the country to the command performance of this year’s play, Eriri, written by Mike Anyanwu and directed by Josephine Igbaraese, who incidentally is NTN director of drama and coordinator of the project, it was pure magic.
Indeed, the overflowing Cinema Hall 2 of the National Theatre, Lagos, venue of the ceremony, is a true testament to the popularity the programme has garnered over the past five years.
Children’s Creative Station holds annually during the long vacation. This year’s classes started on August 1 and culminated in a command performance on the last day of the month. Essentially, the children, some of who were in nursery school, learned how to sing, dance, drum and act. It is this new knowledge that was on display on the last day of the programme.
Everyone could see that these children did not just learn new things; they had fun all the way, and pride reflected in the eyes of their parents and well-wishers who filled the hall.
After the songs, some of the children returned to the stage to dance to contemporary Nigerian hip-hop music. Then a duet by girls was followed by 17 scintillating drummer boys that heralded a cultural journey which took the audience to the different regions of the country – Hausa/Fulani, Efik, Yoruba, Tiv and Igbo dances, among others.
In every corner of the hall, one could see parents pointing to their children on the stage. Perhaps, the only problem some of them had was with the rendering of some of the songs by the NTN singers, which didn’t quite sound like the languages they were rendered in. But it was all joy when the stage was set for Eriri, in which Anne Njemanze featured a guest storyteller. That went really well, with the children delivering on what could be described as a more or less convoluted plot of unity in diversity.
It was an evening of pride for the Artistic Director of NTN, Martins Adaji, who spoke with the press after the event.
What is more; forms for the sixth edition, expected to take place August 2015, are already on sale.