| The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Company | Bombay Republic |
| Date of premiere | June 7, 2018 |
| Final show | July 21, 2018 |
| Location | Arcola Theatre |
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives is a stage play by Rotimi Babatunde based on a 2010 novel of the same name by Nigerian poet, Lola Shoneyin. It was directed by Femi Elufowoju Jr and showed at the Arcola Theatre in London. [1] [2]
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives explores the themes of polygamy, rivalry, sexuality, mental health and the struggles of African women. The story follows the titular Baba Segi, his 4 wives, 7 children and a secret as it unravels. Baba Segi is an unlettered but rich patriarch of a large household. There is an ongoing supremacy battle amongst the wives which Baba Segi is not aware of. He leaves his wives to their devices and marries Bolanle, a young university graduate whose naïveté leads to her struggles in Baba Segi's household. Bolanle's naïveté also leads to her unwitting unraveling of the untold secrets of Baba Segi's wives. [1] [2]
Choreography - Kemi Durosinmi and Uche Onah
Costume - Shola Ajayi
Henry Hitchings of the Evening Standard rated the show 4/5. In his review, he said, "This is an exuberantly entertaining show. Although the humour is often broad, there’s an unflinching seriousness in its depiction of violent abuse (and worse). Tellingly, too, it portrays a society that may notionally be overseen by men yet is actually run by women, and the line that lives in the memory is Iya Segi’s withering observation that “men are like yam — you cut them how you like”." [1] It was also rated 4/5 by Whats On Stage and Londonist. [4] [5]
Femi Elufowoju Jr won an Off-West End Award for Best Director for the play. [6]
Prior to the London production, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives also showed in Abekouta featuring Adesua Etomi and Joke Silva. [7]
Netflix is set to release a series of the same name produced by Mo Abudu. Lola Shoneyin disclosed that she would like the movie to be shot in Ibadan. [8]
Beth Leavel is a Tony Award-winning American stage and screen actress and singer.
Barbara Walsh is an American musical theatre actress who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions. Walsh is known for her Drama Desk Award and Tony Award nominated role as Trina in the original Broadway production of Falsettos, as well as her turn as Joanne in the 2006 Broadway Revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company.
Annaleigh Amanda Ashford is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She is known for her work on television as Betty DiMello on the Showtime period drama Masters of Sex, and on Broadway as Lauren in Kinky Boots (2013–14) and her Tony Award–winning performance as Essie Carmichael in You Can't Take it With You (2014–15). In 2017, Ashford starred in the critically acclaimed, limited-run revival of Sunday in the Park with George opposite Jake Gyllenhaal.
Autumn Marie Hurlbert is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Hurlbert is best known as the runner-up on the reality competition series Legally Blonde: The Musical – The Search for Elle Woods. After taping the competition, Hurlbert served as a member of the Broadway cast in Legally Blonde: The Musical until its closing on Oct 19, 2008. She also understudied the parts of Elle and Margot on Broadway. Ultimately, Hurlbert did headline as Elle Woods in an October 2012 version of the production, directed by Denis Jones in North Carolina.
Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian poet and author who launched her debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, in the UK in May 2010. Shoneyin has forged a reputation as an adventurous, humorous and outspoken poet, having published three volumes of poetry. Her writing delves into themes related to female sexuality and the difficulties of domestic life in Africa.In April 2014 she was named on the Hay Festival's Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature. Lola won the PEN Award in America as well as the Ken Saro-Wiwa Award for prose in Nigeria. She was also on the list for the Orange Prize in the UK for her debut novel, The Secret of Baba Segi's Wives, in 2010. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria, where she runs the annual Aké Arts and Book Festival. In 2017, she was named African Literary Person of the Year by Brittle Paper.
Jessica Ruth Mueller is an American actress and singer. She started her acting career in Chicago and won two Joseph Jefferson Awards in 2008 and 2011 for her roles as Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel and Amalia Balash in She Loves Me. In 2011, she moved to New York City to star in a Broadway revival of musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her performance as Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. She went on to receive two additional Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award nominations for her leading roles in Waitress (2016) and the Broadway revival of Carousel (2018).
Femi Adebayo Salami(Listen) is a Nigerian film director, film actor, lawyer, producer and Special Adviser to the Governor of Kwara State on Arts, Culture and Tourism. He is the son of the veteran actor Adebayo Salami.
The Aké Arts and Book Festival is a literary and artistic event held annually in Nigeria. It was founded in 2013 by Lola Shoneyin, a Nigerian writer and poet, in Abeokuta. It features new and established writers from across the world, and its primary focus has been to promote, develop, and celebrate the creativity of African writers, poets, and artists. The Aké Arts and Book Festival has been described as the African continent's biggest annual gathering of literary writers, editors, critics, and readers. The festival has an official website and a dedicated magazine, known as the Aké Review.
Femi Elufowoju jrListen is a Nigerian theatre and opera director. After Alton Kumalo's Temba Theatre Company, he is the second theatre director of African descent to establish a national touring company in the UK. Elufowoju's stage work has been seen across most key flagship theatres in the UK, and has collaborated extensively with notable creatives within the film, television and radio sectors.
Martyna Majok is a Polish-born American playwright who received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Cost of Living. She emigrated to the United States as a child and grew up in New Jersey. Majok studied playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and Juilliard School. Her plays are often politically engaged, feature dark humor, and experiment with structure and time.
The Last Tree is a 2019 British drama film directed by Shola Amoo. It premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was released in the UK on 27 September 2019.
The Bling Lagosians is a 2019 Nigerian drama film, written by Anthony Kehinde Joseph and directed and co-produced by Bolanle Austen-Peters. It premiered on June 16, 2019 in Lagos. It stars Bunmi Aboderin, Toyin Abraham, Tana Adelana, Osas Ighodaro, Alexx Ekubo, Ayoola Ayolola, and Jide Kosoko.
Dele Bakare is a Nigerian software developer and entrepreneur from Ibadan, Oyo State in Nigeria. He is the founder and CEO of Findworka, a Nigerian startup that hires software developers and builds custom software products. He formerly served as a senior software developer at Infinion Technologies and technology lead at BudgIT. In 2016, he was nominated for the Future Awards Africa Prize for Science and Technology.
First ladies and gentlemen of Pakistan is an unofficial title traditionally given, often interchangeably, to the wife or husband of the president and prime minister of Pakistan. The current First Ladies of Pakistan are Samina Alvi, wife of president Arif Alvi and Nusrat Shehbaz and Tehmina Durrani, wives of prime minister Shehbaz Sharif. Along with their spouse and children, the First Lady or Gentleman is a member of the First Family of Pakistan.
Elvina Esewvre Ibru is a Nigerian actress and On Air Personality from Delta State.
Realwheels Theatre is a Canadian disability theatre company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Realwheels was founded in 2003 by James Sanders and has since received multiple Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards and nominations.
Saro the Musical is a Nigerian Broadway-style musical showcase produced by Bolanle Austen Peters Production.
Omorinmade Kuti known professionally as Made Kuti, is a Nigerian afrobeat singer, songwriter and instrumentalist. He released his debut album titled For(e)ward in 2021.
Hartford Stage is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit regional theatre company located on Church Street in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Since its founding in 1963, Hartford Stage has won the Regional Theatre Tony Award (1989) and many Connecticut Critics Circle and other awards.
Susku Ekim Kaya is a British-Turkish actress.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)