By Anote
Ajeluorou
Nigeria’s
Bikiya Graham-Douglas will next week perform an eclectic piece on the potential
of the African woman at this year’s African Week in Dublin. African Week is an
Irish Government shuttle diplomacy programme in association with African
Ambassadors to celebrate Africa and interactions for trade and commerce with a
view to strengthening relationships between the Republic of Ireland and Africa.
Graham-Douglas will perform a piece by Dipo Agboluaje, who is also the writer
for the classic African narrative Obele
and the Storyteller, which was recently performed in Port Harcourt at the
closing ceremony of UNESCO Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014.
Shortly before she jetted off to Ireland last
week, Graham-Douglas, who is also the founder of Beeta Universal Arts
Foundation, said from her Ikoyi home in Lagos how excited and honoured she was
to be chosen to showcase the resourcefulness of the African woman at such distinguished
event. She said it was an opportunity for the African woman to shine and tell
her own story in her own unique ways to the world.
According to her, “I’m performing a piece
about the African woman. It’s a piece about the empowerment of the African woman
and it will be held at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin. I’m very excited and
nervous about it. The story of the African woman is about her having freedom,
having education, the right to be free from violence, and her right to be
heard. Her story is about how she could recognize her capacity to perform and
not just her capacity as a woman to perform the usual stereotypical woman’s
duties society ascribes to her.
“Some of these woman who are educated and
highly experienced, but they are not seen beyond being a woman. If she is given
a voice and allowed to succeed, she will affect her community positively and it
will trickle down to her environment. It’s taken for granted how powerful a
woman can be. Educate a woman and you educate an entire community is a truism. I’m
really excited to be able to contribute to the growth of the African woman and
to perform at the African Week in Dublin”.
Graham-Douglas also took time to speak on her
other projects, a new film she just made that will come out soon, a theatre performance
in the offing and a playwriting competition. She affirmed how rooted her love
for the theatre is in spite of the occasional pull from the filmic sub-genre of
the performance art.
Lunchtime
Heroes is the new movie she just made; it’s a film devoted to the talents
and ability of children where she believes they need to be helped to develop in
whichever direction their talent takes.
“Lunchtime
Heroes is a film I just did with Seye Babatope,” she said. “In the training
for theatre you equip yourself with techniques and skills to perform and
experiment with different forms. Film and theatre resonate with people
differently. I’m happy to be a part of either film or theatre. I enjoy film but
I get an explosion on stage; there’s a satisfaction that comes from stage, a
satisfaction you get with the audience that is not in film. With theatre it’s a
powerful connection one has with the audience – they laugh, cry and hate with
you in the interaction on stage that’s absent in film”.
She is looking to giving a bigger performance
of Obele and the Storyteller at
Easter next year. However, Graham-Douglas’ next project is a playwriting
competition with which she aims to expose and empower young playwrights in the
country. The best scripts will be performed at a grand event sometime in July
or August.
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