The 5th edition of the Lagos Theatre Festival, LTF 2018 will be held from 27th of February till 4th of March 2018 in Lagos across various venues with focus on presenting innovative interpretations of new ideas that will inspire and challenge audiences, and new works that will spark conversations and debates. The theatre in unconventional spaces.
The festival organisers have also announced a call for participation in the fringe strand of the festival, which provides the opportunity for theatre performers or production companies to present their works without restrictions as an avenue to promote arts.
Lagos Theatre Festival was conceived and launched in 2013 by British Council, the United Kingdom’s cultural organisation, inspired by the need to provide a platform for theatre makers in Nigeria to produce works for unconventional spaces and develop audiences for theatre productions.
“We want to encourage more experimental works in unconventional spaces and foster more inclusion with this edition of the festival which will feature performances, a carnival, workshops and variety evening shows in 6 days.Our series of build-up activities to engage audiences and stakeholders towards the delivery of the festival have already commenced, so the festival has already started.” said Kenneth Uphopho, director of Lagos Theatre Festival
The 2017 edition featured over 80 events at 16 venues across Lagos and was well attended by over 5000 people, some of which include Connie Price, Country Director of British Council Nigeria, Bridget Oyefeso Odusami, Head Sponsorship’s and Events, First Bank Plc, Adebimpe Akinsola, Acting Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Obi Asika, Theo Lawson, Joke silva, Olu Jacobs and so many others
Following the 2017 outing, most of the works presented at the festival received commendable reviews and referrals to participate in other projects and festivals across the world. One of such is ‘Strelitzia’, an experiential poetry and art installation project which was produced by Poedio Productions and premiered at the last edition of the festival. It is a manifestation of the possibilities of experimenting new ideas and building a piece of theatrical work to theme. ‘Wedding Blues’, produced by Beeta Universal Arts Foundation, was one of the most successful shows during the festival and they had to include an extra show to accommodate audiences.To read more about some of the shows, please click here.
British Council’s Head of Arts in West Africa, Ojoma Ochai said, “From inception, one major vision of the Lagos Theatre Festival has been to enable an experimental platform of expression for theatre producers and performers, and companies and individuals who participated in past editions of the festival have been giving success testimonials. We hope to make more of such stories in 2018.”
Deadline to apply for participation in the fringe strand of the festival is midnight on Monday 11 September; shortlisted applications will receive responses by Monday 6 October.
Call out for the curated productions for the festival will be made public in the coming weeks.
ABOUT LAGOS THEATRE FESTIVAL
Lagos Theatre Festival (LTF) was created to promote theatre in unconventional spaces. Through the festival, theatre makers and producers are supported to expand their practice beyond traditional theatre spaces by creating work that responds to any given space.
The festival was founded by British Council in 2013 as part of its ambitions to foster exchanges, collaborations and strengthen relationships between Nigerian and British artists through the presentation of high quality Nigerian and British theatre.
LTF 2013 was held at Eko Hotel, and featured 4 shows over one weekend; LTF 2014 held at Freedom Park also featuring 4 shows over four days; Following a break in 2015, LTF 2016 featured 109 shows over 6 days in 19 venues working with 35 theatre companies and was supported by First Bank of Nigeria. The 2017 edition featured 86 events in 6 days at 16 venues with 40 production companies including 3 from South Africa, 1 from United States of America and 1 from the United Kingdom. It was supported by First Bank and Etisalat.
The fringe strand of the festival was introduced into the festival in 2016.
ABOUT BRITISH COUNCIL
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. Using the UK’s cultural resources we make a positive contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.
We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications.
Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. The majority of our income is raised delivering a range of projects and contracts in English teaching and examinations, education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. Eighteen per cent of our funding is received from the UK government.
