Nigeria’s literary and theatre communities are marking Professor Femi Osofisan’s 80th birthday this June with a programme of stage productions, academic roundtables, and film screenings across Lagos and Ibadan.
The celebrations, tagged FO@80, run in Lagos from June 11 to 15 before moving to Ibadan on June 17 and 18. They bring together theatre practitioners, filmmakers, scholars, and students to honour the playwright whose work has interrogated power, history, and justice for over five decades.
The Lagos leg opens with three consecutive performances of Yungba Yungba and the Dance Contest, directed by Bunmi Adedina, at the Department of Theatre Arts, Lagos State University of Education, Ijanikin. On June 14, events will move to JRandle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History in Onikan, where veteran dramatist Ben Tomoloju delivers a personal tribute titled “The Femi Osofisan I Know,” followed by the unveiling of 100 Songs of Femi Osofisan.
Screenings of Maami and Cordelia, both film adaptations by Tunde Kelani, close the final two evenings respectively. Other productions planned for the Lagos period include No More the Wasted Breed, directed by Segun Adefila, and The Engagement, directed by Shola Adenugba.
Two roundtables anchor the Lagos programme. The first, on June 14, examines Osofisan’s drama and the Nigerian postcolonial state, featuring Tunde Kelani alongside scholars from the University of Abuja, University of Lagos, University of Uyo, and Indiana University in the United States. The second, on June 15, turns to the question of interpreting Osofisan for the stage, with veteran actress Joke Silva and theatre practitioners including Segun Adefila and Dr Toyin Ogundeji among the speakers. Both roundtables are also accessible via Zoom.
The Ibadan programme at the University of Ibadan Staff Club features recorded performances of Yungba Yungba and Farewell to a Cannibal Rage, both directed by Professor Grace Adinku, followed by tributes and discussions. A commemorative exhibition also runs throughout June at the Prince Tunde Odunlade Arts and Culture Connections in New Bodija, alongside a playwriting masterclass at the Wole Soyinka Arts Theatre from June 8 to 12.
Osofisan, who also writes under the pseudonym Okinba Launko, was born on June 16, 1946, and retired from the University of Ibadan as Emeritus Professor in 2014. He remains widely regarded as one of Africa’s most significant living playwrights, with over 40 plays, five novellas, and six volumes of poetry to his name.
The Nollywood Reporter spoke with him last year on the occasion of Cordelia’s cinema release, when he reflected on his decades-long collaboration with Tunde Kelani and the creative silence that has gripped him in recent years.
The Association of Nigerian Authors has separately announced plans to dedicate a Mbari Lecture, a national Playwriting Competition, and a Festschrift publication to him later in the year.