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Kurunmi Returns To Lagos Stage

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Fifty-three years old Kurunmi, a play written by Prof. Ola Rotimi, returned to stage in Lagos last Thursday and Friday at the Alliance Francaise, Ikoyi, Lagos, courtesy of Stagecraft Studios & Film Productions Limited.

Kurunmi is a historical tragedy that centres on the exploits of Kurunmi as an African chief of the 19th century Yoruba kingdom. It recounts Kurunmi, as a war general, who fought a war to maintain a dying tradition.

It is directed by Nollywood actor, Muyideen Oladapo (Lala), and produced by Stagecraft Studios & Film Productions Ltd, the performance will also hold at Terra Kulture, Arena, Victoria Island, Lagos, on July 20th and 21st.

The play has Adefila, as choreographer, and featuring talented actors such as Tunji Sotimirin, Philippe Leporcher, Toyin Buraimoh, Pascale Oluwamayowa, Wale Lanpejo and several others.

The highly anticipated performance promises to thrill audiences with riveting tales of courage, intrigue and resilience.

Kurunmi is a historical tragedy that centres on the exploits of Kurunmi as an African chief of the 19th century Yoruba kingdom, a war general, who fought a war to maintain a dying tradition. Set against a backdrop of Nigeria’s pre-independence struggle, Kurunmi explores the complexities of power, loyalty, and love in the face of colonial rule.
The play centres around Kurunmi, a fearless leader of the Ekiti Parapo alliance, as he fiercely resists British encroachment on Yoruba land.

Production Manager, Michelle Adebola, disclosed that Stage Craft Studios & Film Production is a production house that started in 2024, and is about telling the African story and keeping our cultural heritage. She noted that times are changing and there are generations that have forgotten our history.

According to her, what a better way to launch out than using Ola Rotimi ‘s Kurunmi? “It is important for us to know our story and where we are coming from.

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The play is centred on Kurunmi, according to the tradition, when the king dies, the first son is buried with the king. This was at the advent of religious era. And all of a sudden he rose up to change the narrative saying his son will not die.”

Director of the play, Nurudeen Oladapo (Lala) who spoke at a rehearsal session in Bariga, said: “Kurunmi is an epic story; it has been staged severally. We they are staging it play because of what is going on in our society, same thing keep repeating itself. There are plays that address issues in the society, so we picked Kurunmi. I have staged the play personally when I was in school, my final year project 2015.

“I picked Kurunmi because I majored in directing. When I was called to direct the play, I thought of what to add to make it different from what others have been staging.” He noted that in theatre now there is fusion of technology, “we have to make use of technology: screen and stage. I know much about screen and stage , how are we going to merge the two together. I want people to be watching the play live on stage and be seeing some parts on the screen. We picked all the war scenes in the play, we went to Oyo Kingdom to shoot all the scene, when they are preparing war on the stage, war will be happening on the screen as if you are in cinema hall. I have that approach. The audience will see that the war actually happened and the people were killed, children were killed.”

Veteran actor, musician and broadcaster, Tunji Sotimirin, who will be playing multiple roles said Kurumi will always be current, in the sense that it is a narrative that essentially ‘explores the subject of how you tenaciously hold on to what you believe in, and in this sense we are talking about culture and it is also about patriotism.

Kurumi is someone who rose up to uphold his culture in spite of the intervention by Western people and the argument by other chiefs.’

Sotimirin noted that the young minds that are put together for the performance have done incredible work and have given all their all in the rehearsals.

“I can tell you there is no point expressing any anxiety but of course you know it’s normal when you want to put up a play and the audience, and it is the very first one, first in the sense that you are showing it to that audience for the very first time this particular version of Kurumi by fresh team of people, there is a tendency to feel how are they going to receive it, but I can tell you the food is done.”

“I accepted to be on the cast list because of the wealth of knowledge that the director who is richly endowed with traditional, cultural orientation, is bringing to it. It is not as if Ola Rotimi and the rest didn’t do enough but he is well vast with the knowledge of Yoruba culture and has also acquired education at the university level, the combination of these two is what will come to play in this performance. As someone from the great Ife, and someone who has worked with various producers from Yoruba culture, he can sing, dance, and he can deploy the arsenal of that Yoruba cultural background into the production.”

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