One of the visitors to the recently-concluded Ake Arts and Book Festival (AABF) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, was the teacher, actor, director and playwright, Yinka Ola-Williams. Formerly Lagos-based, it was not a surprise to find the Institute of International Education (IIE) grant recipient at the gathering, considering that he is a lover of the arts and now based in Abeokuta.
Ola-Williams is putting to good use the grant, which came through the Ford Foundation with which he trained in drama at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and business creativity at the Felix Meritis European Centre for Arts, Culture and Science, Netherlands.
Apart from his love for theatre, which he is actively pursuing, he released two works this year. The first a little book titled, Commentary on the Four Lepers: A New Perspective on Science and Spirit, as well as a video and song called ‘The Happening’ in which he performs.
Commentary on the Four Lepers takes the story of the Biblical four lepers, further examining the subject matter of God, Jesus, man and science in order to change the general perspective on this. ‘The Happening’, which is more or a continuation of the book, is inspired by Pastor Paul Adefarasin’s sermon titled ‘Dream Dawn’.
Ola-Williams, who said he had fallen in love with the sermon and consequently internalised it to a point of recalling it from memory, explained that it was while he was in The Netherlands that the idea of recording it came to him. He wasted no time in getting Dumnac Goulet (who did the music) and Galahad (who directed) involved.
Asked if he got permission to use Adefarasin’s ‘Dream Dawn’ in the project, and the reply is in the affirmative.
Speaking further about himself, Ola-Williams, who at some point had worked at the National Theatre in Lagos and as the business development manager at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, said the new works did not indicate that he was bidding theatre farewell.
“For the last eight months, I have been looking for a space that we can call a theatre in Abeokuta where 100 people can sit,” said the chairman of the Ogun State chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP).
Asked whether he has considered the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto in his search, Ola-Williams’ response is that it is owned by government, explaining that not much happens there after the annual Ake festival.
“It has become an event centre. And that is the situation in most Cultural Centres across the country. The thinking is not professional; rather it is political. It kills the industry. It needs a private venture intervention. Government alone cannot run the sector, but they can’t give us land to build the theatres,” he lamented.
At the National Theatre, Ola-Williams was in charge of the section where the focus is on children’s theatre. He worked with children in primary schools and ran an educational development programme that took theatre on tour from one school to another. While that lasted, secondary school students benefitted, in the sense that the project each year dramatised a recommended text for the junior and senior secondary school levels.
“Macbeth and The Merchant of Venice were produced for students who would learn and their understanding of the texts would be aided. It was very lucrative,” he said.
He decried the fact that some of these students have left behind the love of theatre, since they are not encouraged after school, and partly blamed the brands which spend huge budgets on television reality shows rather than invest in a venue for theatre productions.