Хьюберт Огунде

Oloye Hubert Adedeji Ogunde was a Nigerian actor, playwright, theatre manager, and musician who founded the Ogunde Theatre Party, the first contemporary professional theatrical company in Nigeria. He has been described as the father of Nigerian theatre, or the father of contemporary Yoruba theatre. In his career on stage, he wrote more than 50 plays, most of which incorporate dramatic action, dance and music with a story reflecting the political and social realities of the period. His first production was a church-financed play called The Garden of Eden that premiered at Glover Memorial Hall, Lagos, in 1944. Its success encouraged Ogunde to produce more plays and he soon left his job with the police force for a career in theatre. In the 1940s, he released some plays with political commentaries: The Tiger's Empire, Strike and Hunger and Bread and Bullet. During the 1950s, he toured various Nigerian cities with his travelling troupe. In 1964, he released Yoruba Ronu, a play that generated controversy and earned him the wrath of Akintola, premier of the Western Region. In the late 1970s, Ogunde was spurred by the success of Ija Ominira and Ajani Ogun, two pioneer Yoruba feature-length films, to co-produce his first celluloid film, Aiye, in 1980. He released three more feature-length films influenced by Yoruba mysticism.