@babalerin: Today we Remembering Doyen Of Theatre, "Hubert Ogunde" the father of Owobo Ogunde also known as the father of Nigeria theatre 35 Years After His Dèath Today Hubert Ogunde was born in Ososa, near Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria, to the family of Jeremiah Deinbo and Eunice Owotusan Ogunde. His father was a Baptist pastor, and his maternal grandfather was a pr|est of Ifa, an African tradit|onal relig|on. Ogunde briefly lived within the precīncts of his grandfather's compound and was exp0sed to Ifá, Ogun and many other traditional relīgious celebrations. Both the Chrìstian and traditi0nal religi0n of the Yoruba influenced his upbringing. His first contact with performance art was as a member of Egun Alarinjo during his elementary school days. After completing his education, he worked as a pupil-teacher at St. John's School and was also a church choirmaster and organist. He later joined the Nigerian p0lice f0rce in March 1941 in Ibadan Ogunde's African Music Research Party, founded in 1945 was the first contemporary professional theatre company in Yorubaland. Previous performance groups were masked theatre troupes called Alarinjo who were dependent on the court or church for support, and who grew in popularity as a result of word of mouth Ogunde distinguished his group by using promotion methods such as advertisements and posters, and by changing the round stage used by alarinjo performers to one with a pr0scenium. In addition, he introduced dramatic action and realism in his plays, depending on the audience for commercial support. Through these acts Ogunde began the rise of modern professional theatre in Nigeria, a movement in which he remains the most influential practitioner After leaving his job as a police constable, Ogunde moved away from his earlier focus on rèligious themes and started writing plays that were nati0nalistic and ànti-c0lonial in outlook, a trend in Lagos during the furi0us f0rties. During this period, many of his early operas were co-directed by G. B. Kuyinu. In early 1945, he produced W0rse than Cr|me, a po|itical play infused with Yoruba dance and ancient folk songs. Like most of his early plays, it premiered at Glover Memorial Hall, Lagos. Later in that year, he wrote The Black Forest and Journey to Heaven, two Yoruba operas that also improved his use of traditional Yoruba fo|klore. The latter also had a strong Christian influence. In November 1945, he wrote a pro-labour play, Str|ke and Hung£r, motivated by the events of a general strike by labour unions led by Michael Imoudu. In 1946 he wrote and produced Tiger's Empire. Premiering on 4 March 1946, Tiger's Empire was produced by The African Music Research Party and featured Ogunde, Beatrice Oyede and Abike Taiwo. The advertisement for the play was the result of Ogunde's call for "paid actresses". It marked the first time in Yoruba theatre that women were billed to appear in a play as professional artists in their own right. Tiger's Empire was an attàck on col0nial rule. He followed Tiger's Empire with Dàrkness and Light This writeup(Caption) is from Ayeni Abayomi page Later, in 1946, he produced D£vil's Money, an African story about a man who entered into a contract with an £vil spirit so in an effort to get rich. The folk opera was successful and had a set of twenty-four actors donning costumes. After the d£ath of Herbert Macaulay, he wrote the opera Herbert Macaulay to commemorate the life of the nationalist, who di£d in 1946. He then released another politīcally-themed play, Towards Liberty, in 1947. Before 1948, Ogunde's plays were staged in Lagos and occasionally in Abeokuta, but his growing popularity in other Western Nigeria pr0vinces made him think about traveling to other cities with his theatre troupe. In 1948, he went on a tour of major Western Nigerian cities with his group, including stops at Abeokuta, Ibadan, Oyo, Ede and Ogbomosho #yorubanollywood #nollywood #fyp #everyone #nollywoodactors

Baba Lerin

Open In TikTok:

Region: NG

Wednesday 22 July 2026 07:47:02 GMT