The bold new play by Kessavier Vanille Productions is back for the high season of Theater and yuletide. Written and Directed by Kesiena C. Obue, one of the most engaging, fluid and purposeful voices in contemporary Nigerian Theater and Film Industry, Hertitude is back to the stage after a highly successful inaugural outing in March and April this year at the prestigious Wole Soyinka Hall of Freedom Park, Lagos.
Back to light up the Christmas and New Year season, Hertitude will be staged in the bigger and purpose-built theater space of the renewed National Theater in Iganmu on the 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 25th, 28th, 29th December, 2019 and 1st, 4th and 5th, 2020, 5pm daily.
“Hertitude is a bold move with a punch, a thumb up for legacy, theatrical beauty and professional pride” says Ms. Obue the writer/Director while speaking of staging Hertitude at the National Theater of Nigeria. This, after all was where the likes of Taiwo Ajayi Lycett, Richard Mofe Damijo, Joke Silva and Olu Jacobs made their names on the Nigerian stage of the nineties, she pointed out in a voice that conveys calm, Knowledge and vision.
As the title of the play suggests, Hertitude is a smooth, simmering homage around three young Nigerian female professionals and sisters forced into an uncomfortable reunion by the death of their mother. They come to play and ever so gingerly navigate the contours of their maturing lives under the glare of social media, Lagos fakery and glitz with a nasty underbelly. While juggling scheming socialites, name‐ dropping wannabes, fickle celebrities, and egomaniac obsessions, can these sisters still manage to get it together? It is a rib-busting, sensuous and delicious piece of dramatic adventurousness. Unlike the parade of recent sugary misadventures of the stage, Hertitude is fun but serious. It promises a five-course meal of beauty, music, dance, technical pizzazz and real drama, while examining the past, challenging our view of the future, as well as surprise and inspire the audience!
In the hierarchy of collaborations, this ranks right at the top with partners as ZMirage (the technical Theater and lighting guru) building the sets and lighting the show, Motomedia (Ranked as one of the most innovative and successful outdoor advertising agency in Africa), Vida (A new premium household brand) and the Federal Ministry of Culture, offering support through the National Arts Theater.
Kessavier Vanille is the Producing Company founded and managed by Kesiena C. Obue, who believes that Theater in Nigeria is now as vibrant and elegant as ever. The cast and crew are made of a young, bright and highly gifted company, trained in the art and craft of good theatr, both in Nigeria and abroad. Kesiena C. Obue has written and directed for theatre, film, television and other multiple creative platforms around the Country and the United States. Some of her recent credits include The Bling Lagosians, Moremi the Musical, Fela and the Kalakuta Queens, Wakaa the Musical and Femi Osofisan’s A Nightingale for Dr Du Bois. Martha Ehinome Orhiere is a performer of immense skill. If you have seen her portrayal of Caroline on The Herbert Macaulay Affair, you would agree. Jessica Gabriels is theatrically trained and her most recent work is with Collingwood Learning United Kingdom. Maryann Ivy has played roles ranging from Shakespeare to James Johnson. She is also a writer and a producer and has starred in feature movies and been on daytime television. Njoku Cynthia Nneka is a Certified Dancer, Performing Artiste, Choreographer and Body Confidence Coach. She has worked with Waje, Burna Boy, Clarence Peters as a performing artistes and a choreographer.
Expressing the readiness of National Arts Theatre to host the event, Steve Ogundele, Public Relations Officer, National Arts Theatre assured of adequate security, world-class theatrical ambience and technical facilities.
Ogundele said, “We are happy to work with the talented producers of Hertitude who know their onions. We want to use Hertitude as a signpost to once again showcase the National Arts Theatre as the hub of theatrical excellence. The Cinema Hall 1 boasts of a mechanised curtain and a proscenium arc, something you hardly see in this part of the world. We invite Nigerians to come experience a feast of thespian art.”Tickets prices are N5,000 for regular and N15, 000 for VIP.
Discounts available for early birds. Tickets can be purchased at afritickets.com or ariiyatickets.com or by calling 08098530630.
