British Council, IATC to host critics confab in Lagos

January 10, 2017

Chux Ohai

There is an indication that the British Council has struck up a partnership with the Nigerian chapter of the International Association of Theatre Critics that will be mutually beneficial to both organisations.

The partnership, according to a spokesman of IATC Nigeria, Mr. Pat Nwagbo, is expected to impact on the forthcoming edition of the Lagos Theatre Festival.

Nwagbo, in a statement made available to our correspondent, noted that the association had invited critics and festival curators across four continents, including the IATC global President, Margareta Sorenson, a veteran Swedish journalist and critic, to participate in

a Young Critics Seminar and International Critics Conference, scheduled to hold between March 1 and 5, 2017 as part of the 2017 Lagos Theatre Festival.

The statement listed the objectives of the partnership between the association and the British Council, sponsors of the festival, to include: creating opportunities for theatre practitioners in the country to embark on international tours; increasing media visibility for the works of creative artistes; facilitating cross-fertilisation of ideas; developing discourse around home grown theatre performances and other emerging forms of expressions in Nigerian theatre, among other goals

Also, the partnership is aimed at generating interest in theatre criticism among the younger generation. For this purpose, the British Council has agreed to mount a young critics seminar in line with the IATC global format where 20 Nigerian young critics and a few of their foreign counterparts will be mentored through workshop sessions.

The International Association of Theatre Critics, which is UNESCO’s statute B global partner in theatre criticism, has been in existence for six decades now.

“However, the proposed Lagos International Critics Conference will be the first, ever IATC activity in Africa. According to, the Conference will deliberate on the theme: “Theatre, Criticism and Politics – Where Are the Limits?”

Besides Margareta Sorenson, other Critics and festival curators expected to attend the conference include Ivan Medenica, the Artistic Director of Belgrade International Theatre Festival; Professor Jeffery Erik Jenkins, Editor Best Plays Theater Yearbook, USA; Maria Shevtsova, Co-editor of New Theatre Quarterly Cambridge University; 2016 IATC Thalia Laureate, Professor Femi Osofisan of Nigeria, Professor Olu Obafemi, President National Academy of Letters, Halima Tahan, Journalist and Director Artes De Sul, Argentina; and Deepa Punjani, Editor, Mumbai Theatre Guide, India

Lagos Theatre Festival was created to promote theatre in unconventional spaces. Through the festival, theatre makers and producers are supported to expand their practice beyond traditional theatre spaces by creating work that responds to any given space.

The festival was founded by the British Council in 2013 as part of its effort to  foster exchange and collaboration been Nigerian and British artists through the presentation of high quality Nigerian and British theatre.

The theme of the 2017 Lagos Theatre Festival which will run from February 28 to March 5, is ‘Rhythm of the City’. It was selected, according to a statement on the British Council website, to capture through performance, the sounds of Lagos expressed in the comings and goings, the repetitive activities and the music of the city.