I will be heading to Nigeria this month to work on the  Lagos Theatre Festival 2017 Entitled '...rhythm of the city', the 2017 edition of the Lagos Theatre Festival will portray the rhythm, soul and sights of Lagos. I have been working with the festival since its start in 2013 when just four companies staged shows in and around a hotel complex. The Festival has grown massively and in 2016 staged 109 shows by 35 companies and attracted 5,500 theatre goers.  Lagos Theatre Festival is one of the most diverse and exciting events of its kind and will continue to present the best in contemporary and classic work from leading artists in multiple venues around Lagos.

The Lagos Theatre Festival 2017 will present over 70 performances at 16 Venues, spanning 6 days. There will be something for everyone; from the new theatre fans young or old and returning visitors to the Festival.

Alongside the Festival I will be attending and contributing to a day long symposium "Developing Performing Arts Industry in Nigeria"  and also a two-day training session on producing arts festivals working alongside teams from Walk The Plank and The LIFT Festival.  

This will be my fourth Lagos Theatre Festival and they just get better every year. Most of the shows are done outside with almost no technical equipment which creates very exciting and immediate theatre.   There are some fabulous writers working in Nigeria, Wole Soyinka the 1986 Nobel Prize winner lives there, and there are some extraordinary performers, and they have to be when the audience is that close.  As part of the LTF team I try and see all the shows before they open to the public, this gives us a chance to make suggestions and to work out if anything needs to be changed. But it also gives us a sneek preview and a chance to guess what shows will be the big successes of the Festival.

I will arrive on Monday morning and start immediately running all the way through to the close of the festival on Sunday night.    I am looking forward to some great theatre, some exciting training and to catching up with some chums.