Actors must return to stage to master craft — NATAP president

President of the National Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners, Makinde Adeniran, has warned that Nigeria’s theatre industry risks losing its role in developing actors and preserving performing arts without deliberate government policies and investment in sustainable structures.

The NATAP president said the theatre remained the foundation for training performers across the creative industry, warning that neglecting it could weaken the wider ecosystem, including the film industry.

Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Sunday, he described theatre as a training ground where actors could develop and reinvent their craft, arguing that film productions alone could not provide the same learning experience.

“For every performative arts, the theatre is a laboratory. You don’t take care of it, the ecosystem will fall,” he said.

He explained that actors could not rely solely on film productions to develop their skills because directors might focus on particular aspects of their performances.

“You want to learn acting? You don’t learn acting in film. Because you may be doing your best acting, right, and the director of film may just be focussing on one button. So learning acting really is on stage. To reinvent yourself as an actor, no matter who you are.”

The NATAP president said Nigeria’s creative industry had enormous potential but lacked deliberate government policies to support its growth.

He argued that successive government initiatives had focused excessively on individual projects and infrastructure without establishing sustainable policies to guide the sector.

“And that is one thing that is bedevilling the industry. We have it as a potential. Now that we are even talking about creative economy.”

Adeniran said infrastructure alone could not sustain the creative industry, stressing the need for structures that would ensure long-term benefits from government investments.

“We cannot say building is the life of the industry. You may have infrastructure. I’m not one of those who are quick to say government must throw money. As a matter of fact, I always say, when you throw money first, you are throwing it into open air. Because there’s no structure that will contain the money you are throwing.”

He called for a clearer definition of the creative economy and specific policies to guide its different sectors.

“Sometimes when we use this creative economy, I think it’s a carpet. Because under creative economy, there’s so much. So let’s narrow down to what we are doing under it so that we can have a focus, we can build for the future.”

Adeniran also warned against government projects driven by individual interests rather than long-term national objectives.

“Some of the projects I’ve seen, most of them are happenstance. Yes, our people will rush. You see, there’s always a life for every project they bring up. And the life is just one individual who is saying this is what I want to get out of it. We don’t have the time.

“But what is the country, the collective going to get out of that thing? That is the way we should reason.”

He said the absence of proper preservation systems meant that theatrical performances could end without leaving records for future generations to study and build upon.

“And the fear, for me now, that is the fear as an individual practitioner, that’s the fear I battle with daily. And I say, we just put everything in the air and it’s gone.”

He added that experienced practitioners had a responsibility to guide younger entrants into the industry so they would not repeat past mistakes.

“Now we are back to the point where you are looking at the future and then you are seeing kids who are coming into the space that you have come through. The best you can do at that point is to begin to advise them so that they don’t commit the same mistakes that you have done.”

The NATAP president also recalled the contribution of the 1986 Agiofest festival, which brought four Nigerian plays to the National Theatre and helped inspire the formation of the association.

He said the festival brought together young theatre practitioners who recognised the need to organise and protect their collective interests.

“You see, Agilefest was a little bit before NATAP because Agilefest would be part of the trigger element for NATAP.”

He described the gathering as an important moment for practitioners and the National Theatre.

“It was a big thing around the National Theatre. They even gave life to the National Theatre. The National Theatre as a building, as an architectural masterpiece, was lacking content after the first act.”

Adeniran said the association would continue using policy engagement and annual gatherings to address challenges facing the industry, adding that the 40th anniversary reunion of Agiofest could provide an opportunity to sustain the conversation.

“Even if every year we are looking forward to that, maybe after the conversation today, the reunion today, we will then decide how to carry Agrofest further, you know. Maybe you become a kind of brand that is a conversation or policy driver, you know. We come together every year to talk about, look at the current situation, make a position.”