Ladepo Duro-Ladipo is son of the late Duro Ladipo, a notable dramatist whose innovative folk operas, ritual poetry and traditional rhythms were a beauty to behold. Ladipo gained prominence in 1965 at the first Commonwealth Arts Festival. Years after his passing, the young Duro-Ladipo speaks to OMIKO AWA about how he intends to revisit his father’s plays, as a way to immortalise him.
For quite sometimes you have not put up any performance, why is it so? The answer is obvious: the economy. The economic downturn has affected most businesses including theatre and other aspect of entertainment industry. Despite this, I have tried to put up one or two productions.
Looking at the country today, you will discover that the economy is not encouraging theatre entrepreneurs, especially the small ones, to put up shows as frequently as they used to do. How then are you coping with your large cast and crew? Yes, I am engaged in street theatre and my plays project the reality of life. I do this, because I want the audience to learn from any of my plays.
Today, ticket sales cannot support street theatre because of the huge sums of money involved to keep cast and crew together, especially as sponsors are showing apathy because of the economic downturn. Some sponsors, instead of giving money, would prefer to give their products for you to sale and use the proceeds for production or may even come to showcase their products at the venue. These are not exactly what we want because we need money .