By Anote Ajeluorou
Last year when boss of upscale culture centre, Terra Kulture
boss, Mrs. Bolanle Austin-Peters embarked on the audacious journey of producing
a Broadway-style Musical Theatre, Saro
the Musical, not many believed Nigeria was ripe for such grand artistic
vision. But she pulled it off, and today, many corporate bodies, which are
still skeptical about supporting theatre, are having a serious rethink.
In the past few
months, several corporate bodies have had Saro
the Musical performed for their exclusive pleasure. Suddenly, theatre, and
not music or comedy, is the big entertainment in high demand. This month Saro 2, a modified version of what was
offered last year, will be put on stage again at MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos,
for six days from December 23 -26.
In a recent chat,
Austin-Peters is boastful of what her theatre company, BAP Production has to
offer, when she said, “We will take Lagos by storm even as we get bigger and
better. The idea is to have annual performances. Six years ago, there was
nothing happening in the theatre. Then we started Theatre@Terra, but there was
no audience. Those I started with gave up, but I stayed on until Segun Adefila
and Wole Oguntokun came on board.
“It was a small seed
we sowed back then. When we started, it was tentative; we were burnt slightly,
but we remained. I’m genuinely excited about Saro 2. Think about the jobs and value we’re adding; think about
the publicity we’re giving to Nigeria. Last year was a learning curve”.
Although she lost
money last year, she has learnt to plan on a small scale and achieve even
better result. While budget for Saro was
between N80 to N100 million last year, this year it has been pruned down to a
tidy N50 million. This is what experience has brought into the picture, to shed
all the excesses. As she said, “We didn’t break even last year; it was
experimental. The experience has been positive, but financially, it was
negative. But we’re not in a hurry. This year we intend to make money”.
Part of
Austin-Peters’ confidence lies in her doggedness ,and it’s beginning to yield
positive results with some corporate organisations already falling over
themselves to be part of this grand artistic production. As she put it, “If I
told you somebody would support a N80 – N100 million theatre project, you won’t
believe. Now it’s happening. We’re getting to a point where theatre is getting
serious”.
PART of rebranding Saro
2 is that new, seasoned artists have been brought into the production to
give it a bite. Bimbo Manuel and Gideon Okeke are such two new faces in Saro 2. While Manuel will mentor the
four young musicians on their mission to musical self-discovery, Okeke will be
one of the four musical arrowheads pointing to a certain direction.
For Austin-Peters,
“It’s an honour having Manuel; this means the game is changing. He’s a veteran,
who is bringing his expertise. He will also be father-figure to the boys, who
will mentor them and help them find direction to move forward. It’s important for
the young men as they form a career”.
Bringing established
film and TV stars into Saro 2 is
strictly business sense designed to attract more people to the theatre to
recover its glory days long lost, according to madam Austin-Peters. As she put
it, “We’re trying to attract movie and TV stars to theatre; there’s a mileage
they bring into theatre. We can’t afford Manuel, but he is in it because of the
love. The tide is changing; people are noticing and seeing theatre as a source
of entertainment, especially corporate bodies”.
If there’s one
compelling factor in Austin-Peters’ drive, a trained international attorney, to
promote theatre it has to be her passion for it. This much she admitted, when
she said, “The people in theatre made me passionate about it. In the theatre
you see people bonding like family. In fact, people in theatre are permanently
happy even when they are being paid so little. I also love the aesthetics that
come with it!”
Saro 2 directors remain the same - Kenneth Uphopho (drama), Gbenga
Yusuf (dance) and Ayo Ajayi (music).
Acceptance is also
coming the way of Saro the Musical 2,
as Access Bank Plc, AfricaMagic and
Etisalat have lined up to support the musical, just as other companies are
waiting in the wings to also support it.
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