By Anote Ajeluorou
Award-winning
performer and culture producer Bikiya Graham-Douglas performed Wait at Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin,
Ireland, to give a voice to African women and restate the importance of
education, as a defining index of women empowerment
When Nigerian actress and culture
advocate Bikiya Graham-Douglas left the country weeks back to perform an
eclectic piece on the potential of the African woman at this year’s African
Week in Dublin, Ireland, United Kingdom. it was with high hopes. Now,
Graham-Douglas is back and thoroughly excited at her performance that put
African women in proper perspectives.
The
African Week is organised by Irish Aid, an Irish Government shuttle diplomacy
programme held 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 performed Wait, a piece written 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.
Graham-Douglas,
who is the founder of Beeta Universal Arts Foundation, expressed satisfaction
at the honour accorded her, as she was also selected as ambassador. She brimmed
with excitement before she left for the show. She’d expressed how honoured she
was to be chosen to showcase the resourcefulness of the African woman to such a
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 Samuel
Beckett Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin. I’m very excited and nervous about
it. The story of the African woman is about having freedom to be herself, to
have 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 performing the usual stereotypical woman’s duties
society ascribes to her.
“There are 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 and it will trickle down to her environment. It’s
taken for granted how powerful a woman can be. The saying, ‘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”.
During
the week in Lagos, Graham-Douglas said Wait,
which she performed in Dublin “focused on the empowerment of the African woman;
it highlights the importance of education to the African woman. I must tell you
it well really well; it was well received. After the event, it became the trend
on social media and the watchword became ‘I will not wait; I will walk into my
future,’ which is a line taken from the monologue”.
Her
film Flower Girl also had a private
screening at the event to the delight of the ambassadors in attendance.
Graham-Douglas
also took time to speak on her other projects, a new film she just made, a
performance in the offing and a playwriting competition. She also 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, which is yet to be out; it’s a film
devoted to the talents and ability of children where she canvases helping them
to develop in whichever direction their talent takes them.
“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 film and 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 live audience
that is absent 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”.
Also,
Graham-Douglas is looking to giving a bigger performance of Obele and the Storyteller at Easter next
year. However, her next project is a playwriting competition with which she
hopes to expose and empower young playwrights in the country. The best scripts
will be performed at a grand event sometime in September.
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