Sogie Guobadia completed the cast of The Tragedy of King Christophe staged by the Jos Repertory Theatre (JRT) at the recently concluded Lagos Black Heritage Festival (LBHF) where she was narrator. Back in Jos, Plateau State during the Jos Theatre Festival in which she participated fully as director, actor, make-up artist, photographer and so on, she told Assistant Life Editor, TERH AGBEDEH, the story of her life on the stage, film and photography.
How did you get into the Jos Repertory Theatre (JRT)?
It started with a friend who saw me during a rehearsal. I 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 me to audition and I said no but they kept on insisting. So I eventually did. The role my friend was meant to play was given to me.
What year and what role was that?
That was 2007, no 2008.
For someone who crams those many lines one who think that you would have the day, time and so on.
It is conflicting for me because I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to go into it. Yes, I have always wanted to act but now I was wondering what my parents would say. So, even when I accepted the role, I was sneaking to rehearsals, I didn’t want my parents to know. 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.
How long after was this?
It was over two months.
What play was that?
Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka.
Were you Sidi?
Yeah, and that was at Artistes’ Resort Centre in Jos. 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. There 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 I 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.
Is the Artistes’ Resource Centre still out there?
No, they folded up two years after I left.
Do you plan to get into the movies, television?
I do movies and stage because I have a degree in film.
That from the University of Jos?
The National Film Institute (NFI), I am a graduate and I am serving (National Youth Service Corps) presently and they posted me to Jos.
Have you tried to apply for film-related courses?
I have sent in my works for screening and I got nominated for the African Student Film Festival (ASFF) in Lagos and won the award for up-and-coming best student film in November last year.
That is for a short film?
A short film.
What is it about?
It is titled, Lust Thoughts and 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 this. She is from a low class and everyone would expect someone from a high background. Anytime he is in class she is absent-minded but on this very day he decides to take it out with her. While she is in class, she is daydreaming; dreaming of this guy inviting her out for a day. When she is about crossing the road to meet him, she is hit by a car. This turns out to be the lecturer beating her out of her daydream right in the class. And somehow you get to know that all the while, you have just been living in your imagination and it has never been true.
So, she doesn’t die in the car crash?
She doesn’t die in the car crash.
Was that your project work at NFI?
Yes. I also did another one, which I hope to send in for a festival. It is called, Nyama Nyama, it talks about our, restaurants and the hygiene that goes into the preparation of food in such places.
Which other films have you done?
I have done a couple. I have also done some series; presently one is airing in Lagos, Band of Five, which I acted in and was also make-up artist. Then Our Lives here in Jos, which stopped airing last year. Then some films in Nollywood and in Abuja as well.
You also take pictures?
I actually picked up that interest in school at the NFI because back in school you had to choose an area of specialisation; major in one thing and minor in another. But when I got into school I was stereotyped as a costume and make-up person because anytime you call on Sogie, she would do it because she knows how to do it well. Overtime, I also helped bring up some junior students, teach them about costume and make-up, merging colours with mood and all that. My lecturer kind of liked it so whenever she is not around she would say, ‘Sogie, handle this class on my behalf’. And I am like, ‘how would I be teaching my mates, it is not possible’.
That is the mark of a special person, which is why you directed Body Parts (one of the plays at the festival in Jos) so well. Do you use the camera to document what you have been doing?
I use it to document and I also use it to cover weddings. I am into wedding photography.
He must be feeling very bad; do you have time for him at all?
Who?
There is no him?
There is a him; he understands and he knows. Incidentally, the distance is saving us, he is busy, am busy so we can always find a way around it.
Was Dul Johnson one of your teachers?
He left a year after I got into NFI.
How do you view Nigerian films generally as a fresh person coming out of NFI, doing a lot of works?
The truth is, painfully, I am a Nigerian. I like it but painfully we are not exploring our options. We have a lot of stories but we still are not tapping into them, we are not thinking out of the box, I mean, think of something little and then elaborate on it. There is something Rita Dominic did with The Meeting, wonderful film, beautiful. It is just a simple storyline but the way she goes around building round it and just brings everybody together and they connect. This is what I am talking about when it comes to storytelling. She is able to hold her audience spellbound.
That film calls to mind Phone Booth, did you see Phone Booth?
Yes, Phone Booth was just a one location film.
And maybe Cast Away….
Yes, I mean, you can imagine, so, we have a lot of stories to tell. For me, I always say, we have untapped resources. 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 will 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.
