Two Lagosian writers explain what’s special about their city and how they captured that in stories performed as plays at the Lagos Theatre Festival last weekend. The stories had been selected as part of a British Council competition in 2013.
Femi Kayode Amogunla on his story ‘Waiting for a Lottery’, about how Lagosians pursue their dreams and how Lagos transforms its people
Every Lagosian has a story. Usually, that story is one of persistence, even as the protagonist awaits a miracle. My story follows a Lagosian actor awaiting the outcome of an audition.
I wanted to capture two things about Lagos, which explains my choice of setting:
First, Lagosians are relentless and expend a lot of energy on daily endeavours to see their dreams come true. These are people who defy all odds to make sure they are seen or heard. The figurative idea of a ‘lottery’ in the story refers to anything that Lagosians perceive as being able to change their lives for the better. In this case, the protagonist’s ‘lottery’ is his endeavour to ‘win’ a good role in a movie or a reality show.
Second, Lagos is a place where anyone can become anything. The city has a way of throwing its people here and there, of transforming them. In Lagos, you are never sure who someone really is, which is why the setting had to be one of performance: a reality show.
I was excited and anxious before seeing my work come alive on stage and the characters personified – how much more on a British Council platform.
Bode Asiyanbi on his story ‘Diagnosis’, about how Lagos separates its people into winners and losers
My play is a ‘Diagnosis’ of Lagos as a city where what separates winners from losers is the uncanny ability to sieve out truth and reality from its many illusions.
Lagos is Macondo, that fiery town of dreams and magic [Macondo is a fictional town in Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude – the editor]. The story is based on what a Lagos ‘hustler’ once said in a moment of epiphany: ‘Everything in this city, every reality of this city is an illusion.’ My story is about the fine distinction between reality and illusion in an impatient city brimming with expectations.
Lagos is unique in its ability to offer a myriad of experiences. Lagos could be a lover, a friend, a shaman, an adversary, a politician, an illusion or the dream of a dreamer. That is why the Lagos prayer goes thus: May this city always turn to us only its benevolent face.
I felt excited and expectant about my story being performed as a play last weekend. I felt like Lagos.
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Photo (cropped; levels adjusted) by William Muzi on Flickr under Creative Commons licence.
