{"id":1338,"date":"2025-10-03T19:53:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T19:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1338"},"modified":"2025-10-03T19:53:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T19:53:27","slug":"soyinka-accepts-national-theatre-naming-honour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1338","title":{"rendered":"Soyinka accepts National Theatre naming honour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has accepted the renaming of Nigeria\u2019s National Theatre in his honour despite his past criticism of public monuments named after individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the reopening of the refurbished venue in Lagos on Thursday, the 90-year-old playwright acknowledged \u201cmixed feelings\u201d about the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, as the complex in Iganmu is now known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ayra Starr - Goodbye (Warm Up) ft. Asake (Official Music Video)\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/22PZkwJpu9k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am notorious for having criticised many appropriations of public monuments by some of our past leaders, where everything is named after them,\u201d Soyinka said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHowever, when I examined the history of theatre in Nigeria, and the lack of recognition for my predecessors, I believe somebody has to carry the can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The renaming, announced in July 2024 by President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration without Soyinka\u2019s prior knowledge, sparked debate given his opposition to self-glorifying tributes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The National Theatre, built in the 1970s under military rule, had fallen into disrepair, which Soyinka once described as a \u201cslum\u201d unfit for cultural events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He recalled a near-fatal incident in the 2000s when exposed wiring endangered actors during a performance of his play Camwood on the Leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The building\u2019s Bulgarian-inspired conical design, which he had mocked as a \u201cgeneral\u2019s hat,\u201d became a symbol of neglect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, Tinubu inaugurated the restored theatre, rehabilitated with funding from Nigerian banks after years of decay. Soyinka, who staged Death and the King\u2019s Horseman there in 1977, praised the effort as a \u201ctasty morsel\u201d of redemption, reversing his earlier support for a private takeover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The centre is expected to host international festivals and youth programmes aimed at strengthening Lagos\u2019s creative sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Soyinka, Africa\u2019s first Nobel literature laureate in 1986, used the event to recognise figures such as Hubert Ogunde and Duro Ladipo, who helped establish Nigerian theatre during colonial and post-independence periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A co-founder of the Orisun Theatre Company in the 1960s, Soyinka\u2019s works, including The Bacchae of Euripides, combine Yoruba traditions with global themes. His activism, including imprisonment during the 1967\u20131970 Biafran War, has also defined his public life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tinubu described the naming as a tribute to a figure of rare stature. <a href=\"https:\/\/guardian.ng\/news\/soyinka-accepts-national-theatre-naming-honour\/\">(Guardian)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has accepted the renaming of Nigeria\u2019s National Theatre in his honour despite his past criticism of public monuments named after individuals. At the reopening of the refurbished venue in Lagos on Thursday, the 90-year-old playwright acknowledged \u201cmixed feelings\u201d about the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, as the complex [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[262,46,1719,1720,1721],"class_list":["post-1338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-bola-tinubu","tag-lagos","tag-national-theatre","tag-wole-soyinka","tag-wole-soyinka-centre-for-culture-and-creative-arts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Soyinka accepts National Theatre naming honour - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has accepted the renaming of Nigeria\u2019s National Theatre in his honour despite his past criticism of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1338\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Soyinka accepts National Theatre naming honour - 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