I quit modern school in Agbor to start acting with Pa Oyin Adejobi in Osogbo – Baba Wande
+ Reason Why I stayed long with him
I celebrated fifty years on stage in November 2013 but, indeed, I had been involved in theatre since I was in AUD (Ansar ud deen) Primary School, between 1954 and 1960, in Osogbo, which is my hometown. Of course, you know that Osogbo is the capital of Osun State. I come from the Arikalamu Compound in Owoope, here in Osogbo. Owoope means the length of a palm tree. The primary school is in the Sabo area of Owoope.
When I was attending primary school, a Society, with members mainly from Lagos, Abeokuta, and Ijebu, to promote Islam, arranged for some Mullah to teach the pupils how to pray, and everything about Islam. Mind you, other subjects were being taught in the school as well.
It was to raise money to pay these Islamic teachers that they floated a Dramatic Society whereby some of the pupils were selected to go and learn a play written and produced by Pa Oyin Adejobi, then Osogbo’s foremost playwright. Other dramatic greats from Osogbo such as Duro Ladipo and Kola Ogunmola, came behind Pa Adejobi who while being a theatre practitioner had his day job as a clerk at the Osogbo Local Government.
I was one of the AUD pupils sent to Pa Oyin Adejobi.
People paid to come and watch us perform the plays taught us by Pa Oyin Adejobi. It was from the proceeds that the Society paid the Islamic teachers. They also used part of the money to cook rice and beans for us. I liked that very much. (Long laughter). Those who were not part of the acting would now be looking at us like stars and calling us by the roles we performed. That was more than monetary compensation.
We did that for several years before we passed out from AUD School.
This was what inspired me to become an actor.
My parents never came to watch the plays we performed in the school. They did not even know I was involved in any play, even when I told them I was going for practice in the school.
My father was involved in the sale of cocoa. He used to go to Ghana (formerly Gold Coast). He spent many years in Ghana. It may be in Ghana that I was born; I am not sure. (Long laughter). He died in 1959, just a year before I finished primary school.
After his death, I went to join my mother who was trading in Agbor, in today’s Delta State.
She enrolled me in a secondary modern school in Agbor but I did not stay there for too long. I told my mum I had to return to Osogbo to join the Oyin Adejobi Concert Party, which was established in his house at the Gbaemu area of the town. My heart was in acting.
When I joined Pa Adejobi’s group, it was like homecoming. I adapted easily. I believe that the papa had also seen that I was talented when we were doing those primary school plays.
Papa’s group had a good structure, with a manager and a director.
We travelled round villages to perform our plays. We went to schools and generally moved from one place to another. We did plays for the ATOKA photoplay magazine (published by the West African Book Publishers for about twenty-two years from around 1967) and for WNTV (Western Nigeria Television).
I was with Pa Oyin Adejobi for twenty-five years. At some point, I became the group’s manager when Lere Paimo who had served in the role left. One Mr Ayeni, who was a teacher, also had been a manager of the group.
We performed so many plays…Adam & Eve, Joseph and his brethren, Orogun Adedigba, Kuye….so many.
Many, if not all the plays, started with Baba giving us a song. He was a great composer. From the song, we would then begin to fit into this and that role.
He could not act because he had a bad leg. Occasionally, though, he played roles where he would sit down. Indeed, it was because of that handicap that I stayed that long with him. Why? I felt pity for him. I always thought that if I left him, the group would fall apart. I did not want that to happen to that Baba and that made me stay longer with him. Twenty-five years is not a joke.
I thank God today that because it is through the work that I did for Baba that many people remember me.
Even my own name, Kareem Adepoju, is not as well known as the name people started calling me after playing “Otokiti” and the father of Wande – Baba Wande – in a play titled Ile ti a fi’to mo written by one professor in Ilorin. Wande, my daughter in the play, was acted by Pa Oyin Adejobi’s daughter who now works at an electricity distribution company (DisCo) in Ibadan.
On television, that play ran for three and a half hours. It must have been one of the longest plays on television then. I wonder if the tape is in an archive. The television station usually ran it when people were at home for an extended period, like during elections. And, when we did those plays for television in those days, the group got paid and Pa Oyin Adejobi also paid members of the group what was due to each person.
Now, I also named my company after Baba Wande. Involved in the production of film and television series, it is called Baba Wande Production Company. No, we do not perform stage plays. We are currently producing a weekly television drama series titled Omoluabi, sponsored by the Osun State Government and running on the Osun Broadcasting Corporation. When Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola became the State governor, I went to him and said it was necessary to promote his Omoluabi (philosophy) through drama. He accepted. When his tenure ended, his successor, Gboyega Oyetola, continued the programme, and we were well compensated.
To stage a play now you must have enough money to camp your cast and crew for days, for rehearsals; for travelling vehicle(s), costumes, and all the other essentials.
I hope there would be corporate bodies or government agencies which could help in this direction. Even wealthy individuals too.
If I had to choose between a stage play or movie, I would choose the former. If you make a mistake in a film, they will stop and re-record that part. Before you go on to do a stage play, you would have had serious rehearsals mastered your role, and performed before the audience, large or small. When you make a mistake you can improvise, and only you would know, not the audience. One day, while on stage, I mistakenly put money in my pocket. When I wanted to remove my shirt. And nothing was supposed to have fallen from my shirt; so I had to quickly turn the money falling into part of the play. If I had a co-actor who understood what I had done, we could go ahead to make something out of that mistake. An amateur actor would be confused and the flow could be disrupted (Long laughter).
I love stage plays. There are theatre practitioners and film actors.
None of my offspring is into full-time theatre practice. Occasionally, one or two of them join me in my productions but they have their own work. I am happy when they take part in my productions, but I also want them to have other ways to make their living. You know that many artistes in Nigeria are suffering; many of them resort to begging when they fall ill or to even survive.
If you say I look well, I thank God. It is His making. I have never smoked – I know that smoking hurts people. I have never drunk alcohol, because my religion is against it. I do not drink anything cold; in fact, anything from the fridge is my enemy. I am being told that I should not eat beyond a certain time, but I eat anytime I see food. When we were doing stage plays, people would start coming in at eight pm. We would finish by midnight or even much later. Thereafter, we will look for food and eat. And nothing happened.
I am over seventy years old now, but I am not retiring because actors never retire. I see new things every day that I can write plays on, and that people will learn lessons from.
My message for any young person wishing to work in theatre: be patient, don’t be too anxious for money, for property. Be content with what God gives you. Don’t drink too much. Don’t smoke at all. Think well before you do anything.
