Sogie Guobadia has said that her first love is stage and that she would always be part of drama in the theatre, no matter what she finds herself doing.
The actor, make-up artist and photographer spoke to TheNiche against the backdrop of the recent ninth Jos Festival of Theatre, in Jos, Plateau State, in which she not only acted but also so excellently directed the play, Body Parts, by Adinoyi-Ojo Onukaba.
“I love to do stage any day, any time. Stage is my first love,” said Sogie, who had intended to study law before drama came along.
Now with a degree in film studies from the National Film Institute (NFI), Jos, she intends to study photo journalism for a master’s degree. But before her degree, she obtained a diploma in sociology. This is why it is believable when she says that the one thing bedevilling Nigerian film is lack of the desire to seek training by practitioners.
“We have a lot of stories to tell, but the painful thing is that most people that are in the industry are learning on the job; they don’t want to go out and get formal training. So it has become a guerrilla production: let’s just do it, it will sell. And then, it ends up rubbing off on us. People would say: Nigerian film? We always know how the story will end. Just looking at our movie posters, you can say: “this man is going to marry this woman and they are going to die,” she said.
Sogie, who has made steady inroad into Nigerian film and television while ruling the stage in Jos, said she hopes to direct music videos in the future.
“If I like any music video, it has to be 2face’s ‘African Queen’ because for me, when I have to cover any job that has to do with the camera, I have a motto, and it is KISS – keeping it simply simple. ‘African Queen’ was so simple, but till date that song still stands and everybody still goes back to it. No matter what 2face does right now, ‘African Queen’ set him on that path and I love that video,” she explained.
Currently serving the country in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme in Jos, Sogie said she got into the Jos Repertory Theatre (JRT) circuit when a friend saw her during a rehearsal.
“I actually accompanied a friend to an audition and she was asked to audition for a particular role. She did. They saw me sitting down by the corner and asked what I was doing there, I told them I had accompanied my friend. They asked me to try for the role. I said no, but they kept on insisting. So I eventually did. The role my friend was meant to play was given to me,” she explained.
This was at the now defunct Artists’ Resort Centre also in Jos before another of her friends introduced her to the JRT.
She may have loved to act at the initial stage, but was concerned about what her parents would say; so she decided to sneak to rehearsals.
“But one day, my mum asked me, ‘where are you always going to? I know all your friends and whenever you are not around, they all come; so where are you always going to?’ So I had to open up to her. And she said, you should have told me,” she recalled.
Her mother made the discovery two months after she started out. Her very first role was as Sidi in Wole Soyinka’s play, The Lion and the Jewel.
“I worked with them for a year. I was enjoying it, and funny enough, we never negotiated (payment). I was just working for free. For me, it was just the best time of my life. It was while there that I met a friend and colleague who told me that I was too good for the place. ‘There is a place I need to take you to. This one, they will ask you if you want 50 per cent upfront before the performance and after you can collect the balance’.
“It sounded too good to be true; so I went for the audition for Death and the King’s Horsemen, and was given the role of Jane Pilkings, the white lady. That was how I got into the Jos Repertory Theatre and I have been with JRT for 13 years now,” said Sogie.
She has also been in television series, Nollywood movies and even shot her own films, one of which won the award for up-and-coming best student film in November last year for the African Student Film Festival in Lagos.
Titled, Lost Thoughts, Sogie said it is basically about a girl who seems to be in love or is lusting after a lecturer. But in her wild imaginations, he is also liking her and she goes on telling her friends that he likes her. This is not the case however and the ending is as charged as Sogie’s career so far. No doubt she will go far.