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Toyin Oshinaike is
going about rejuvenating theatre in a special way: he is taking
performances to bars. Like other players in theatre, the talented actor
is unhappy with the deafening silence on stages across the country,
hence his decision to intervene.

“We designed the
Bar Theatre Series because we wanted to go into spaces where people
regularly gather and do theatre in a way that we do not short change
theatre,” he says of the initiative.

“We chose the bar
because it is a place where people regularly gather. If we can catch
people’s attention, we can also introduce theatre to them. We can also,
so to speak, freak them with the razzmatazz of theatre. People will
begin to accept theatre from that level and if we say we are happening
at the National Theatre or at the MUSON Centre, they will not hesitate
to come because they are already acquainted with it.”

Mobile play

The series started
last December with ‘Wat’s Dis All About’, Oshinaike’s adaptation of the
South African play, ‘Woza Albert’ at the Gazebo, Voice House, AVOA,
Surulere. “It was excellent, it blew my mind. It was just what I
wanted. People agreed with some of the issues we raised during the
course of the play and it was a wholesome evening,” he says of the
maiden performance.

Following the
successful outing at Surulere and a subsequent one on December 19 at
Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos, ‘Wat’s Dis All About’ will
return to Terra Kulture today. “‘Wat’s Dis All About’ is a play in our
repertoire that we have been staging for the past one year. When we
launched the Bar Theatre Series, we thought we should take one of the
plays in our repertoire suitable for bars; it is not all plays that are
suitable for the bar, you have to find one that can make impact. We are
going to Terra Kulture with the play because it is a very mobile,
minimalist play. It’s a two character play, very energetic. It’s
another kind of theatre entirely, a very robust play.”

Bare bums

A scene in the
original play sees the two actors pulling down their trousers and
showing the audience their bums on the orders of their master. Is the
scene retained in ‘Wat’s Dis All About’?

“We retain it,”
Oshinaike replies. “We retain the energy of ‘Woza Albert’ and some of
its absurdities as well. That part is still retained and it’s like a
shock therapy. People scream but it’s just to jolt them. Audience
participation, that’s what we derive from that part. We challenge the
audience and vice versa. The world over, the thinking in theatre now is
more audience participation. We will tour different communities with
the play. Apart from Terra, we are also going to Ajegunle, communities
in Ikorodu, Ketu, Bariga and we are doing it free because we believe
that theatre is a human right. Everybody, regardless of level and
colour, deserves to see good theatre.”

Continuing on
baring his bum, Oshinaike says, “You know that is dehumanising, when
you ask someone to strip. It still happens in airports when suspects
are asked to strip. And they don’t strip the whites, they strip the
blacks; they strip those from the Third World, mostly we from Nigeria.
It’s a dehumanising act and it’s shocking. There is shock therapy in
the theatre, we use it in all forms and that’s one of them. My wife has
seen the show and frowns at the fact that 200 people are seeing the
colour of my bum.”

Acting for survival

Seeing the quality
of Oshinaike’s acting, many would assume he received formal training in
acting. “People have wondered where I studied and they are shocked to
learn I did not study within the four walls of a university, I studied
on the job. When I came in, the gateway was through crew, props making
and supporting the crew. But sometimes an actor is not there, the
director is furious and asks me to play the role. That was the
beginning of my acting,” discloses the actor who started over two
decades ago.

He trained under a
number of renowned stage professionals including Segun Bankole, Ben
Tomoloju, Isaac John, Bode Osanyin and Chuck Mike. “I got the grilling
from people who were really grounded in theatre practice, which is why
I call myself a theatre practitioner and not just an actor. I also have
a flair for producing and directing. I act for survival but I produce
and direct.”

Obi Egbuna’s ‘Wind
Versus Polygamy’; Wole Soyinka’s ‘The Lion and the Jewel’ and ‘Echoes
From the Lagoon’ by Rasheed Gbadamosi are some of the plays he has
directed.

Ireke Onibudo

Oshinaike has
played different parts in several productions but one of his standout
roles is as Ireke in Femi Osofisan’s ‘Adventures of the Sugarcane Man’,
an adaptation of DO Fagunwa’s ‘Ireke Onibudo’. The play, staged in some
Nigerian cities in 2009, was sponsored by Chams Plc. Seeing his seeming
effortless portrayal of Ireke, one will assume the role was a piece of
cake for the actor. Or is it?

“The guy I am
playing with now in ‘Wat’s Dis All About’, Similoluwa Hassan, was also
my double cast in the role and he fitted in more than I did. It was
challenging because I had to play a much younger role and I was playing
with a double cast who was obviously younger. ‘Ireke Onibudo’ was
originally meant for that young man, I don’t know what happened but it
was not typecasting. I had to play a lover and I’m not very strong
playing love roles. I find it difficult to play romantic roles but as
an actor, I just have to play.”

Uniquely Relentless

Though he features
mostly in stage productions and TV series, Oshinaike also dabbles into
films occasionally. He was in Obafemi Lasode’s ‘Sango’, Tunde Kelani’s
‘Agogo Ewo’ and Michelle Bello’s ‘Small Boy’. He also played a role in
Andy Okoroafor’s wave making ‘Relentless’. He recalls the experience of
working with the France-based producer.

“Andy was
particular about the pictures; about the reality of the pictures, not
about make up or lighting. He came to Lagos and said he didn’t want to
remove the noise of Lagos from his film and I was tripped by that. I
wanted to know how he would go about it. There were little sparks that
I saw in the process of making the film that were not the usual sparks
that we have here. ‘Relentless’ is something that I am waiting to see.
Maybe what went for Andy is that he is coming from an environment where
there is stricter training and respect for modus operandi, especially
in the film business. There are some films I do, I don’t know when they
are released. I’m not eager to see them not because they are not nice,
it’s just survival. But this one, I’m eager to see it.”

Has theatre been worth his while?

“Yes, it is. I have
a large family, I have five children. And people wonder is it this
theatre you are doing to support everybody and I say yes.”

If he has the power
to change anything concerning theatre in Nigeria, Oshinaike discloses
that it will be, “The policy of theatre, the policy of arts and
culture. The policies they made but have made redundant.”

‘Wat’s Dis All About’ is at Terra Kulture, Tiamiyu Savage, Victoria Island, Lagos, today.