‘I learnt value of diligence, hardwork, honesty from my father’
Celebrated Film and Theatre Director, Bolanle Austen-Peters, has affirmed the popular belief that Professor Wole Soyinka’s drama, ‘Death and the King’s Horseman’ might have played a huge role in the play winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.
Austen-Peters, in a post on her Instagram page, disclosed how she was approached by the grey-haired playwright, whom she described as a friend and mentor, to direct the 1975 play for stage.
According to her, she was “flattered but anxious” as her first contact with DKHM was during her A’ Level studies’ when she didn’t really understand the story.
BAP, as she is fondly called in film/theatre circles, further said that she feared the outcome of the play might be below expectations as she is mostly comfortable with contemporary plays like Saro, Wakaa and a host of others.
She wrote: “When Prof Wole Soyinka asked me to direct DKHM, I must confess I was flattered but anxious at the same time. First is that when I read DKHM in 1986 for my A levels at International School Ibadan, I didn’t really understand a lot of it. Years later, having watched it several times, I still didn’t understand a lot of what was being said so I was naturally anxious.
“Second is that I like my contemporary plays like Saro, Wakaa etc so I didn’t want this to be my waterloo. The story is deep, now I understand why Prof Soyinka got the Nobel Prize for Literature. Laced with riddles, proverbs, culture, history, tradition and talks about leadership and culture clash. So, I also went deep. I became Elesin Oba!
“I had to get into Elesin’s head. I wondered how I would feel knowing that I had to commit suicide to follow my King to another world. So someone must have to mess with my mind to believe this. Some level of spiritual brainwashing and belief had to take place. I then concocted my own spiritual walk. What kind of fortification would they have offered him to give him that emotional and mental stability.
“Basically, I just started creating sounds in my head, aided by my able sound engineer Daniel Olaoluwa. This was the scene that nailed it for me and Ola Rotimi’s performance and Lanre Adediwura’s chants nailed the scene and the other actors were simply incredible too! The rest is history! They say its the best they have seen. I am genuinely humbled.
The play opened at BAP’s Terra Kulture Arena in Victoria Island, Lagos on Sunday and will run till January 3rd, 2022.
I am the daughter of my father
The successful lawyer turned creative producer tends to be seen as operating outside her father’s shadow, is the daughter of legal luminary, Dr. Afe Babalola (SAN).
In an interview with Arise News channels on Sunday, an excerpt of which she also shared on her Instagram page, Austen-Peters said that she learnt the value of diligence, hardwork and honesty from her 90-year-old father.
“I’m the daughter of my father,” she said.
“And you know we all follow our parents whether we want to acknowledge it or not.
“My father has been a very important part of my life. He taught us to be diligent. He taught us when we were very young that ‘your two best friends are your hands’ and not necessarily the wealth he has acquired. I have always operated like my father is not wealthy so that I can acquire my own wealth and I have also taught my children the same thing.
“The value of hardwork, diligence, honesty has been something he imbibed in us,” she said
