Hubert Ogunde
Mr Micheal Okorie, the Managing Director, Troopers Arts Production, has appealed to corporate organisations and investors to assist in sponsoring the staging of late Hubert Ogunde’s Alarinjo theatre plays and style in different parts of the nation.
Okorie told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos that this was important to familiarise people with the various cultural practices in the nation.
He said that Ogunde’s plays had been staged in Alarinjo style at: The palace of Oba Timson Jagunmolu of Bariga ; the Palace of Oba Onisiwo of Lagos Island, opposite Oba Akinolu Palace and at the Freedom Park.
Okorie said that the Alarinjo theatre style entailed transporting dramatists from one community to the other to stage plays revolving around the didactic and educational aspects of arts.
He said that the significance of such plays was to correct the societal ills.
The theatre travelling group used to satirise negative situations thereby effecting the positive changes the society needed.
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NAN reports that the late Ogunde, who founded the first contemporary professional theatrical company in Nigeria, is described as the father of the Nigerian theatre.
The playwright, actor, and musician, who died at 73 in 1990, wrote more than 50 plays during his career on stage, to reflect the political and social realities of the times.
Okorie said, “We call on sponsors, lovers of arts, corporate organisations and individuals to collaborate with us as a theatre troupe, to transport our culture around the country.
“We will stage plays that will make people know more about their cultures; this will be entertaining but positive messages will be delivered to the viewers.
“This kind of theatre allows passers-by to watch and learn just as we had in ” Eran Iya Agba,” the play staged in Lagos in 2017,” he said.
Okorie said that the troupe would want to stage plays in Alarinjo style in Ogun, Osun and Ekiti so that the indigenes of these states would further know the cultural differences and what they have in common.
“When we are done with the South-west, we will move to the East, until we are able to cover most communities in each of the geopolitical zones of the country, as soon as we get sponsors.
“Every aspect of our culture should be promoted, guarded and improved on, so that our children can know their source and still have some sense of identity ,” he said.
Source: G Entertainment
