Tiata Fahodzi

TIATA DELIGHTS is a new artistic initiative from Tiata Fahodzi – a week long festival of play readings by writers from the African Diaspora who reside in Britain.


The six selected writers have granted Tiata Fahodzi permission to allow their manuscripts to be used as experimental pieces for the company’s inaugural festival. The company has invited a group of emerging directors to collaborate with the writers and a small company of actors over the course of a single day, before presenting the play as a work in progress. TIATA FAHODZI’s artistic programme of work explores the richness and heritage of African theatre traditions and its compatibility with the British stage. Since its inception six years ago, Tiata Fahodzi has produced and toured nationally, with plays such as Booked, Makinde and Abyssinia. 2005 will see the company return to the London stage with a major revival of Wole Soyinka’s arguably most popular play THE LION AND THE JEWEL.

23 August – 28 August Mon-Sat at 7.30pm

Monday 23 August
THE ROAD TAKEN by DIPO AGBOLUAJE (LONDON/NIGERIA)
Directed by Femi Elufowoju, jr
The Road Taken is an existential comedy about recklessness on the roads in Nigeria and its consequences. An earlier form of The Road Taken was published in the London Metropolitan University’s The Next Wave Anthology of Student Writing 1998. Dipo’s recent adaptation of Mother Courage and her Children was staged at the Hackney Empire after a critically acclaimed national tour.


Tuesday 24 August
PORTRAIT FOR POSTERITY by TUNDE EUBA (LONDON/NIGERIA)
Directed by Nicholai La Barrie
The meeting of an unknown Jamaican scholar and the apprentice artist who he commissions to paint his portrait. Tunde is a prolifi c actor and an emerging writer. His recent short play Love on the Line was featured as part of Cross Lines, Oval House’s First Bites Writer’s Season.


Wednesday 25 August
A MATTER OF STATUS by REGINALD OFODILE (EXETER/NIGERIA)
Directed by Deola Folarin
Kindness is shown to a destitute, a roof is put over his head and his daily needs are effortlessly provided for. Although poverty creates a bitterness that extends even to the benefactor, tenderness triumphs. Reginald won the Warehouse Theatre International Playwriting Award in 1997 with Obstacles to Prestige and recently garnished several writing accolades from the BBC.


Thursday 26 August
AGAINST YOUR OWN by AMMA DUODU (LONDON/GHANA)
Directed by Natalie Abrahami
The story of teenage Abi, growing up in contemporary London, where the issue of her steadfast religion and dark skin is contentious even amongst her black peers. Only 17 years old, Amma is the youngest writer in the festival. Against your Own is her fi rst play and was a recent entry in this year’s Young Writers Festival at the Royal Court, earning her a place on the theatre’s Writer’s Group.


Friday 27 August
A PEBBLE IN THE SEA by DEBO OLUWATUMINU (LONDON/NIGERIA)
Directed by Tunde Euba
Kehinde – poet, sculptor and performer is desperate. As he awaits the birth of his child his father is dying. What price will he pay to achieve his artistic vision? Debo studied Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and is presently completing an MA in Writing for Performance at Goldsmiths University, London where this play was developed.


Saturday 28 August
DEAR COMRADE FRIKKIE by HAROLD KIMMEL (LEEDS/SOUTH AFRICA)
Directed by Femi Elufowoju, jr
The play focuses on the staff and visitors on Robben Island during the incarceration of Nelson Mandela. Though Mandela never appears, his infl uence is felt throughout. Harold, originally from South Africa, is a retired science teacher and now lives in Leeds. His previous play The Cell has been produced in London, Rome, New York and South Africa.