On the back of Awo-UK, I was today interviewed by a British journalist, and he said something that more than surprised me.
He said, “Edgar, let me look for your trouble. People say you are brash and bold and don’t really care about what people think about you, and you say things like, ‘Bolanle Austen Peters is the mother of Modern day theatre,’ which annoys people.”
I laughed.
This was a fight that happened on my brother Steve, the former Culture Commissioner for Lagos’ WhatsApp group. I had made that statement there and had received so much flak that if not that it was virtual, I would have received some physical bashing.
I eventually left the group on the back of another wahala I had caused and only just came back on it a few weeks ago.
And here I am taking questions all the way from London, and the statement comes back to haunt me.
I took a deep breath and mustered all the energy I could muster and said it very clearly to my interviewer – yes, I said it, and yes, in my estimation, she is the mother of modern-day Nigerian theatre.
I don’t make this assertion lightly as a man who is versed in quantitative analysis. I also do not make this statement lightly as one who looks at the facts, refusing to play in the emotional corridors that most stakeholders play in.
I used the word, ‘Modern,’ meaning that from my Political science background, I have been able to situate my periodicity to the 2000s effectively cutting off the Festac 77 era back to Hubert Ogunde or any respected precursor.
So for me, modern times are from the 2000s till date. I may also take into a little consideration the tipple that was the then Nigerian International Banks incursion with their Unilag shows and the coming of Umoja the south African Troupe.
If we agree with my periodicity, then you will now agree with me that nobody – male or female – has achieved any quantifiable landmarks than Mrs. Austen Peters.
Her first incursion with Saro beat all box office records in ticket sales, throwing up the spectre of a secondary market in ticket sales in Theatre, something that has never happened before.
From that point, she seized the market, breaking all sorts of milestones and taking cities like Abuja and London while redefining the genre with spectacular lights, set, sound, and choreography.
Sadly, watchers in the industry play a lot in the gray areas and would rather push emotional and subjective arguments when this issue comes up.
They would just say No without backing it up with any verifiable stats. The questions that need to be answered are:
Who surpasses her in ticket sales, number of sponsors, regularity in shows, length of a run, consistency, media positioning, size of Cast amongst others?
The closest we have seen is maybe Joke Silva’s Lufodo who slowed down for a bit but only just picked up after they won the concession for Glover Hall thereby lacking the consistency needed.
Others like Uche Nwokedi who just resuscitated his Kakadu after years of absence, Ayo Jaiyesinmi who we have not heard from in a bit and my sister Ify Fafunwa who have refused to bring anything outside the Vagina Monologues have all not really been able to match her energy.
She has undisputed size and very strong market presence. This December, the market witnessed a slew of productions from her reunion Saro to our two plays, the Makinde Adeniran penned History Sings and Dr. Erojikwe’s take on my satire Our Duke Has Gone Mad Again with Joke Silvas showing at the Glover Hall and Uche Nwokedi’s Kakadu which played after us throwing up one of the best seasons in recent times of Nigerian theatre.
She still came up tops at the box office as the rest except maybe us struggled to fill their seats.
I know because I monitored the big mainstream plays and not the ‘off-Broadway’ ones that dotted other venues like Eko Hotel and other such non-traditional theatre venues and saw a lot of empty seats.
One about Jesus Christ that took place beside us at the 1,000 seater Shell Hall of the Muson Centre could not even pull 50 people while the rest did slightly better but nowhere near us talk less of the giant Bolanle.
Bolanle filled her 450 capacity Tera Arena two times a day for 10 days very easily to the point that people were even scalping the tickets and making a quick buck by reselling.
Achieving this with a rehashed Saro that had been panned by some so-called theatre critics shows her market confidence and placements, and this is what sponsors who are the main fuel for growth in our industry look at in choosing who to back.
We at Duke of Shomolu have begun to boast of Stats in some indices that may question her leadership in one or two indices like the number of sponsors per show and number of shows per year.
If we with our stats dare not contend with her in market leadership nobody else in the industry can. It’s that simple. It’s not an emotional talk or whether she is fine or ugly, it is very clear and verifiable figures.
Finally, I dare say that Bolanle is the only one in the industry today that can do a major show only from advanced ticket sales. Nobody else can try it, not even us at Duke of Shomolu who is today a distant second from her.
If you see her sponsorship flow, you see only about 6-MTN, Ecobank, Dormen long, Amstel malt, and Africa magic and Beats Fm.
The last two are media outfits which means no cash. The others are long term contracts payable at the beginning of the year what this means is that, she has power in the retail market and my people that is where it matters and not if Bimbo Manuel is a better Actor than Yemi Shodimu for us business people.
Now on the very subjective area of technicals, I agree that I am not qualified to talk about that one, so I shut up and as such you guys should accept the fact that my position is based on clear areas that I can see as an Investment banker.
So my dear journalist, based on this empirical deductions, Bolanle Austen Peters is the mother of modern-day Nigerian theatre and will rule the roost for a long time to come.
Oya make una come beat me.
-Duke Of Shomolu
