Lagos Theatre Festival 2020 To Hold At Multiple Locations

HARRISON IYOHA 

The organizers of the Lagos Theatre Festival (LTF) have announced the date and venues for the 7th edition of the Lagos Theatre Festival which will hold at multiple locations within the Lagos metropolis.

According to the organizers, the event, which  will hold from 27 January through 1 March, 2020, will see various venue hosting participants, vendors and performers from across the world gathering in the following venues National Museum Lagos, African Artists Foundation, British Council, Alliance Française with Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos Island as the main Festival Hub.

This year’s festival, according to the organizers, will explore the theme, ‘Going out of Bounds’ and will feature over 120 events – drama, opera, dance, comedy, and spoken wordd with evening events of karaoke, comedy, music performances and disco.

There will also be side attractions to include the famous LTF Leisure Market bringing together vendors providing food, art and crafts, and services for the pleasure of attendants (families included) during the Festival.

There will also be learning opportunities with workshops and panel discussions included in festival activities for talent development.

During a press conference held at Freedom Park, Lagos, the chairman of LTF Foundation Olasupo Shasore (SAN) revealed that the festival is aimed at portraying Lagos as the home of artistic expressions.

This year’s edition, which is in partnership with the British Council, is aimed at exceeding bounds.

The chairman of the event told reporters that the Lagos Theatre Festival is the largest performing arts festival in Nigeria and indeed West Africa.

”It 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 is now managed by the Lagos Theatre Festival Foundation, a not-for-profit organization. The foundation is run by a Board of Directors including Olasupo Shasore SAN, Ajoke Jacobs, Tosin Oshinowo, David Evans, Bolanle Austen-Peters and Ojoma Ochai.

Also speaking at the conference, The Festival Executive Director, Bikiya Graham-Douglas shared that LTF remains focused on creating opportunities for upcoming performing artists through its site-specific scope of presentations outside the traditional theatre.

“This festival will create platforms for many. We want local and international production companies to see the Lagos Theatre Festival 2020 as a hub that fosters exchange and collaborations while telling our stories and promoting our culture,” he said.

The Festival was founded by British Council in 2013 as part of its ambitions of fostering exchange, collaboration and strengthening relationships between Nigerian and British artists through the presentation of high quality Nigerian and British theatre.

The Artistic Director, Lydia Idakula-Sobogun added that the event will bring together shows and events by over 45 production companies from home and abroad selected specifically to suit this year’s theme “Going out of Bounds” and the selection was made from over 300 entries for LTF2020.

Festival tickets are available for purchase on Ariiya Tickets, www.lagostheatrefestival.org, and Freedom Park Lagos.

Tickets prices range from N2,000 to N10,000 with limited festival passes available at N10,000 and N25,000.