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As He Marks His 40th Anniversary On Stage
Popular actor, Dele Odule, is in a happy mood right now. This is because he is celebrating his 40th year on stage. And how does he plan to do that? By going back to stage drama. From this point, Dele Odule has decided to encourage more and more actors and actresses to go back to stage performance, which he described as real acting. He has started that already by staging 4 performances in Ilorin and Abeokuta. What is the motivation, he was asked last week when he visited City People headquarters, Gbagada in Lagos. He explained: In 1977, I had my first shot at drama on stage as an actor. Stage theatre was the rave of the moment at the time as the likes of Hubert Ogunde, Duro Ladipo, Ojo Ladipo, Akin Ogungbe, Oyin Adejobi, The Jesters, Ishola Ogunsola, Moses Adejumo (Baba Sala) and a host of others, dominated the Theatre world. Stage, and not Television drama was the order of the day at the time as the existing drama groups took stage performances from one town to another, one school to another and one stage to another. The aesthetics, flavour and class that went with the stage drama then made it more appealing to people than television productions.
“Now 40 years down the lane, the same cannot be said of travelling theatre as it was in the 70’s and 80’s. Satellite television, home videos and online television have taken over the minds of our viewers. The practitioners do not even have the time and would not risk any resource to go into stage drama again. And since the people are not encouraged, they are content with watching home videos from the comfort of their homes and when they choose to go out to relax, they go to cinemas to watch more motion picture stuffs.
“Back then in the 70’s, only 3 stage dramas by 3 prominent theatre legends stood out. The three dramas are:
Kola Ogunmola’s ‘Lanke Omu’, Duro Ladipo’s ‘Oba Koso’ and Hubert Ogunde’s Dance Company. Not that other artistes did not do well with their productions, but the point here is that those 3 mentioned drama legends went extra miles in making the best out of their stage productions. They engaged the services of people from the academia, who were trained for stage. This single venture gave their productions unprecedented prominence and popularity as they took their productions outside Nigeria for live performances.
“It is on this premise that my 40th Anniversary as a practitioner is designed to showcase a stage drama called Ojukelekun. I have deviated from the normal jamboree and opted for a kind of celebration that would make a positive impact on the lives of the youth and bring about the sustainability of the legacy of our theatre forebears, which hitherto had looked as gone with them. For about 4 weeks, I assembled a team of more than 100 professionals from both the academia and Yoruba theatre industry. We camped in Ado Ekiti for the rehearsals of Ojukelekun. “The highpoint of this venture was the engagement of Professor Bakare Ojo Rasaki, a foremost theatre practitioner and the first professor of Choreography ‘in Nigeria to direct the play. The experience, lessons and knowledge acquired in the last four weeks of our camping would last long in the memory of every individual involved in the project. I can emphatically say that the purpose of embarking on the rare venture has been achieved. About 100 artistes have been engaged, trained and have been given the opportunity and the platform to go back and revive the Yoruba travelling theatre movement.
“I have also used the project to engage some of our elders in the industry, who hitherto might have been forgotten by many film producers, although some of them are still very active in theatre practice. The likes of Ayo Ogunsina Williams (Papalolo), Ola Omonitan (Ajimajasan), Tubosun Odunsi, Mistura Asunmo, Tayo Adejumo, Ojo Olowojolu are some of our elders in the industry, who are not usually engaged. This is an ample opportunity for them to get themselves engaged and refresh their memory in the trade they practised even when many ofthe participants of this project were yet unborn.
“On a last note, I want to appreciate all those who have shared in my vision to make the dream come true. I want to particularly thank Prof. Bakare Ojo Rasaki and his team from the academia for giving their time and knowledge to the course of this dream. I also thank Prof. Ayo AKinwale for also giving his time to the course. These two scholars have given the production a boost with their no hold barred contributions during the 4-week rehearsals in Ado Ekiti. This, I see as the greatest achievement of the project because, it is not a child’s play to have two foremost professors sharing in your dream. I am equally grateful to my allies and colleagues for standing with me and making themselves part of history. You all sacrificed your time and energy to make the dream come true, and I appreciate you all for this. Together, we have made this happen and it is my candid belief and prayer is that the project would be the beginning of revival of travelling theatre in Nigeria”.
Many people don’t know Dele Odule’s past. Only very few know he has a rich pedigree. David Odubamidele Odule. He is one of the most talented and consistent actors in Nigeria. Born over 5 decades ago in Oru-Ijebu (a sleepy town near Ijebu-Ode) and lost both of his parents at a very tender age.
This probably accounted for his going into acting in a bid to fend for himself. In 1977, he began his illustrious career as a theatre artiste with Dele Ogunsanya, whom he met, while he was a modern school pupil. After his modern school education, he joined Abaru Oloko Theatre Group (led by Mukaila Adebisi Oloko) in 1978. He quickly gathered some money to go to Teacher Training College and it was there he met Deji Adenuga and Yomi Faleye (Osagie). The trio collaborated to form Yomi-Odus Theatre Group, which existed for about three years before it was disbanded. He moved to Abeokuta in 1983 and was discovered by Olatubosun Odunsi later that year. The latter invited him to join Bosun Theatre Group. Together with his new boss, they performed television series such as Eleti-Ofe (on BCOS), Baba Amoye (OGTV) and many other television plays and series.
He would later go on to become more popular when his career took a great leap in 1992 when he starred in Mainframe’s ‘Ti Oluwa Ni Ile.’ Since then, it has been the rise and rise of Dele Odule as he became one of the major forces in the Nigerian Theatre circle. In 1996 and while he was just in his 30s, he became the ANTP Vice President to Chief Jimoli Aliu, who was the President. It was during their tenure that the association was officially registered. Also in 2006, he was the ANTP National Deputy President to Prince Jide Kosoko. When it was his turn to become the National President ofANTP, the association was beset by anti-progress forces and the resultant hullabaloo lasted for more than four years. The imminent total collapse of ANTP became more pronounced and irreversible and a mass exodus of Odule’s loyalists formed a new association- Theatre and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association Nigeria (TAMPAN). And when it was time to elect the association’s president, Odule became the first elected president of TAMPAN in an election he won unopposed; the position he enjoys till today. In 2013, Odule produced a stage drama entitled: Lanke Omu” in commemoration of Kola Ogunmola’s 40th memorial anniversary, sponsored by the Ekiti State Government.
Dele is not just a sectional artiste. He has traversed the length and breadth of Nigeria and major countries of the world to project and preserve the rich cultural heritage of Nigeria. Odule is a recipient of many local and international awards. He was a member, National Film Policy Review 2005-2006 and also a member, Motion Picture Producers Association of Nigeria (MOPICON) Review Committee. In 2015, he was the first Yoruba actor to be presented a distinguished visitor’s award by the Mayor, Miami- Dade County, Florida, USA. Dele is a graduate of Mass Communication from Olabisi Onabanjo University. He is married to Barrister Olabisi and the union is blessed with children.
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