WHEN PRIVATE THEATRE DARED: AJOFEST ’86 AND THE POWER OF INDEPENDENT THEATRE IN NIGERIA
By Jerry Adesewo
In 1986, at a time when Nigeria was under military rule, a Nigerian lawyer and playwright made a significant wager on the power of theatre. Dr Fred Agbeyegbe did not wait for a government cultural programme or a public institution to commission his vision. Through Ajo Productions, he privately financed a festival of four original plays and took them to the National Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos.
The result was Ajofest ’86, a theatrical undertaking that brought audiences to see The King Must Dance Naked, Woe Unto Death, The Last Omen and Budiso. Presented across four consecutive weekends, the productions attracted capacity audiences and demonstrated that original Nigerian drama could command public attention when supported by vision, organisation, resources and a sustained production plan.
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Forty years later, as theatre practitioners prepare to commemorate the festival on November 1, 2026, its story raises a larger question: what has private theatre contributed to Nigeria’s performing arts, and what does its history reveal about the possibilities and limitations of building a theatre culture through independent initiative?
Ajofest is an appropriate starting point, not because one festival represents the entire history of Nigerian theatre, but because it illustrates a persistent truth: some of the sector’s memorable achievements have depended on people willing to invest their money, time, reputation and creative energy in work whose financial returns are uncertain.
The vision behind Ajofest
Agbeyegbe’s undertaking was significant in both artistic and organisational terms. Rather than produce a single play, he assembled a festival around four original works. This required substantial coordination, from casting and rehearsals to technical production, publicity, venue arrangements and audience development.
The artistic team included the late Jide Ogungbade as artistic director, Ben Tomoloju as associate director and Segun Ogunfidodo as stage manager.
The productions featured performers including Richard Mofe-Damijo, Antar Laniyan, Ayo Lijadu, Lara Akinsola and Sola Awojobi, several of whom would go on to become prominent figures in Nigerian theatre, television and film.
Their participation points to one of private theatre’s most enduring contributions: creating professional opportunities. Productions provide spaces where actors, directors, designers, technicians and stage managers develop their craft, establish professional relationships and gain experience that can shape their careers.
Ajofest also demonstrated the stage’s capacity to engage with national realities. Its politically daring satire was presented during military rule, when public expression operated within significant constraints. Theatre offered a platform for questioning authority, examining society and confronting uncomfortable truths. Its importance, therefore, extended beyond entertainment to the role of performance in public debate.
Agbeyegbe’s investment help make that encounter possible. His example remain relevant to discussions about the relationship between independent financing, artistic freedom and the public significance of theatre.
Private theatre and artistic independence Private theatre encompasses a range of enterprises: commercial producers, independent companies sustained by their founders, touring ensembles, repertory organisations and community-based initiatives. Their motivations may differ, but many share a willingness to create work outside the direct control of government-owned cultural institutions.
This independence can make room for experimentation, new writing, unconventional staging and subjects that might not fit the priorities of public institutions or commercial sponsors. It allows practitioners to develop distinctive artistic identities and respond to the experiences of their audiences.
However, artistic freedom comes with financial responsibility. Private producers must balance creative ambition against the cost of venue hire, rehearsals, technical equipment, costumes, transport, publicity and professional fees. A production may win critical acclaim and still lose money. Even a full auditorium does not automatically guarantee profitability.
Ajofest’s capacity audiences are significant, but they should not obscure the financial uncertainties of independent theatre. The available account establishes the festival’s scale, private financing and audience appeal; it does not provide a complete financial record or establish the precise commercial returns on Agbeyegbe’s investment.
The value of private theatre, moreover, cannot be measured by immediate profit alone. It may lie in the development of Nigerian plays, the professional growth of artists, the cultivation of audiences and the preservation of dramatic traditions. Yet a sector that depends continually on personal sacrifice without sustainable revenue will struggle to reproduce its achievements.
The challenge is to make private investment in theatre more than an act of faith.
A training ground for talent
Theatre productions do more than entertain. They create opportunities for artists to practise, collaborate and test their abilities before live audiences. The Ajofest ensemble brought together practitioners whose subsequent careers extended across stage and screen, reminding us that Nigeria’s entertainment industry has drawn from the experience and discipline of live performance.
The relationship between theatre and Nollywood is particularly important. Actors moving between the two industries carry experience in voice, movement, character development, ensemble work and audience engagement. Theatre companies also provide early opportunities for performers who have yet to establish themselves in film and television.
But this contribution is difficult to sustain when productions are sporadic, rehearsal periods are underfunded and performers cannot depend on regular remuneration. Talent alone cannot build an industry. Artists need consistent opportunities to work, learn and develop through professional engagement.
Private theatre can help create these opportunities, but it cannot do so indefinitely without access to venues, funding, audiences and institutional partnerships.
The sustainability question
One of the major vulnerabilities of independent theatre is its dependence on individual commitment. A founder may sustain a company for years through personal resources and professional networks, only for the organisation to weaken when funding becomes scarce or its principal supporter withdraws.
This is the central contradiction of private theatre: the commitment of individuals can make ambitious projects possible, but excessive dependence on those individuals can threaten continuity.
A more resilient sector would draw on diversified income streams, including ticket sales, sponsorship, philanthropy, grants, educational performances, touring and commissions.
Partnerships with schools, universities and cultural institutions could also widen audiences and create additional production opportunities.
Audience development is equally important. Theatre cannot survive on nostalgia or occasional festival attendance. It needs regular engagement with audiences, accessible programming, effective publicity and an understanding of the communities it serves. Schools and universities can introduce younger people to live performance and make theatre part of everyday cultural experience rather than an occasional luxury.
Government also has a role to play. Publicly owned venues can offer transparent, accessible rental arrangements, while cultural agencies can support production, touring, training and documentation through fair and accountable programmes. Such support need not compromise artistic independence. Properly designed, it can enable independent producers to take creative risks without surrendering control of their work.
The objective is not to make every production profitable at any cost, but to create an environment in which ambitious theatre can survive and grow.
Preserving the history
The Ajofest anniversary also draws attention to a wider problem in Nigerian cultural life: the fragile preservation of performance history.
Theatre is an ephemeral art. A performance takes place before a particular audience and then disappears. Its history survives through scripts, photographs, programmes, reviews, recordings and the memories of participants. Without deliberate preservation, significant episodes in the country’s artistic development can become difficult to reconstruct.
The anniversary organisers acknowledge that much of Ajofest’s legacy survives through oral memory. Their appeal for photographs, programmes, newspaper clippings, audio and video recordings, and personal recollections is therefore more than a request for memorabilia. It is an effort to build a record through which future generations can study the festival and assess its influence.
A properly organised digital archive could preserve scripts, cast lists, production histories, interviews and contemporary reviews, subject to the necessary permissions. It would benefit researchers, students, theatre companies and the wider public.
Such an archive should document not only celebrated playwrights and performers but also the directors, stage managers, designers, technicians, administrators and audiences whose contributions made the productions possible. Preserving their experiences would provide a fuller account of how independent theatre operates and what it contributes to the cultural life of the nation.
Ajofest at 40: More than a reunion
The commemoration, titled Ajofest ’86 – 40 Years Later: Reunion and Reflections, will take place at Queen Amina Gardens, National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, in partnership with the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP).
Former Guardian arts editor Ben Tomoloju is scheduled to deliver the keynote address. Richard Mofe-Damijo, Ayo Lijadu, Yomi Layinka and Lara Akinsola will participate in a panel discussion moderated by Dr Lookman Sanusi. Professor Segun Ojewuyi, Dr Tunji Sotimirin, Godwin Onohwosa, Jahman Anikulapo and NANTAP national president Adeniran Makinde are also expected to share reflections.
The Crown Troupe of Africa will coordinate dramatic readings from the four plays, while tributes will honour Jide Ogungbade, Pero Sosan, Sola Awojobi, Victoria Ajomeyimje, Akpor Otebele and others associated with the festival.
Dr Lillian Agbeyegbe, coordinator of the organising committee, described Ajofest as a bold act of private investment whose plays spoke to critical questions in national life. Makinde said NANTAP’s partnership reflects its commitment to honouring the foundations of modern Nigerian performance and recognising the role of independent theatre in shaping cultural dialogue.
The event, scheduled for 4 p.m., will offer free admission, with online participation available through the registration link.
Ultimately, Ajofest’s 40th anniversary should be about more than celebrating an achievement from the past. It should prompt a serious conversation about the conditions that allow independent theatre to flourish, the people whose investments sustain it and the systems required to preserve its achievements.
Agbeyegbe’s undertaking demonstrated what private commitment could accomplish: four original plays, a sustained festival programme, capacity audiences and a creative platform for performers who would become influential in Nigerian entertainment. Its legacy is not proof that private financing alone can solve the sector’s problems. Rather, it shows why private initiative deserves recognition and why it needs a supportive, sustainable environment.
Forty years on, the question is not simply whether another Ajofest can be staged. It is whether Nigeria can build a theatre culture in which such ambition is not an extraordinary exception dependent on one determined individual, but a recurring possibility supported by audiences, investors, institutions and public policy.
That would be a fitting legacy for Ajofest ’86: not merely to be remembered as a remarkable festival, but to inspire the conditions under which the next generation of independent theatre-makers can dare just as boldly.