(// ⓘ; 10 July 1916 – 4 April 1990) was a Nigerian actor, playwright, theatre manager, and musician who founded the first contemporary professional theatrical company in Nigeria, the African Music Research Party, in 1945.
[1] In his career on stage, he wrote more than 50 plays,[2] most of which incorporate dramatic action, dance, and music, with a story reflecting the political and social realities of the period.
Its success encouraged Ogunde to produce more plays, and he soon left his job with the police force for a career in the theatre.
In 1964, he released Yoruba Ronu, a play that generated controversy and earned him the wrath of Chief Akintola, premier of the Western Region.
Ogunde briefly lived within the precincts of his grandfather's compound and was exposed to Ifá, Ogun and many other traditional religious celebrations.
In 1944, he co-produced his first folk opera with G. B. Kuyinu, The Garden of Eden and The Throne of God,[1] commissioned by the Lagos-based Church of the Lord (Aladura) founded by Josiah Ositelu.
[8] The play incorporated realism and dramatic action in the acting, dancing and singing of the performers, separating it from the common Native Air Operas predominant in Yorubaland at the time.
He wrote and co-directed three religious-themed plays: Africa and God (1944), a folk opera infused with Yoruba cultural themes that were non-existent in The Garden of Eden, Israel in Egypt (1945) and Nebuchadnezzar's Reign and Belshazzar's Feast (1945).
As has already been stated, Ogunde's African Music Research Party, founded in 1945,[10] was the first contemporary professional theatre company in Yorubaland.
Previous performance groups were masked theatre troupes called Alarinjo who were dependent on the court or church for support, and who grew in popularity as a result of word of mouth.
[10] Ogunde distinguished his group by using promotion methods such as advertisements and posters, and by changing the round stage used by alarinjo performers to one with a proscenium.
Through these acts Ogunde began the rise of modern professional theatre in Nigeria, a movement in which he remains the most influential practitioner.
[11] After leaving his job as a police constable, Ogunde moved away from his earlier focus on religious themes and started writing plays that were nationalistic and anti-colonial in outlook, a trend in Lagos during the furious forties.
In early 1945, he produced Worse than Crime, a political play infused with Yoruba dance and ancient folk songs.
Premiering on 4 March 1946, Tiger's Empire was produced by The African Music Research Party and featured Ogunde, Beatrice Oyede and Abike Taiwo.
[9] Later, in 1946, he produced Devil's Money, an African story about a man who entered into a contract with an evil spirit so in an effort to get rich.
Before 1948, Ogunde's plays were staged in Lagos and occasionally in Abeokuta, but his growing popularity in other Western Nigeria provinces made him think about traveling to other cities with his theatre troupe.
In 1948, he went on a tour of major Western Nigerian cities with his group, including stops at Abeokuta, Ibadan, Oyo, Ede and Ogbomosho.
[12] When he took his tour to the north, he had two major encounters with the police there due to the political content of Worse than Crime and Tiger's Empire.
His first tour outside Nigeria was not well received by the Ghanaian audience, largely because they did not understand the Yoruba language and Ogunde was ignorant about the tastes of the people.
“The custom has lent itself to much abuse in that the occasions for celebrating marriages and funerals occur so often that one may be asked by friends to buy ‘Aso Ebi’ more than ten times a year”.
Ogunde's plays from this period were folk operas in which the actors on stage sang their lines with limited dialogue.
In 1947, Ogunde and Adesuwa, his wife and frequent co-star, traveled to London to make contacts with theatre agents for the promotion of his shows in England.
Bread and Bullet, first performed in 1950, is a play about the coal miners' strike in Enugu that resulted in the shooting of twenty-two people in that year.
The re-produced Black Forest and Bread and Bullet changed his style of drama from Yoruba folk opera to an improvisational theatre where dialogue is spoken.
In the 1960s, The advent of Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) gave Ogunde an avenue to reach his audience without traveling.
[13] The albums included Ekun Oniwogbe (about the human conscience), Onimoto (about motor drivers) and Adeshewa (about the loss of his wife and co-star, who died in a tragic accident).
[14] During this time, he represented Nigeria in the Commonwealth Festival of Arts, performing a play called Destiny (which was a re-arranged Ayanmo that he had released earlier in 1970).
Ogunde became the leading producer of Yoruba celluloid movies, with J'ayesinmi (Let the world rest) and Aiye (Life!