Our Duke has gone mad again… Edgar explains why he resists the temptation of working outside his comfort zone

Opinion article by Duke of Shomolu, Joseph Edgar

’’Your posts appear to have veered into too much self-congratulation and crude propaganda about financial support received from banks and so called “big people”, as well as boasts about meetings with various government.’’

Those lines are from an old Professor, the ones that go about with huge Wole Soyinka type grey hair and adorn their bodies with worn out Ankara claiming they are the self appointed repository of our culture.

He is probably on strike with his colleagues in the deaf and dumb association called ASUU.

He had sent in this chat to my brother and colleague, who had set up a WhatsApp group for people of culture and had thought that my brother was The Duke of Shomolu.

I laughed and promptly removed myself from the group. This is the third so-called culture group for thespians and media people that I have been kicked out of. The first is the one promoted by my brother and former commissioner for culture in Lagos and the second by my lord and father Soni Irabor.

See, there is this lady they call Bolanle Austen Peters. I watched her very closely with no envy or jealousy but with the burning passion to replicate what she was doing in space.

Although her act seems almost impossible to replicate, it still doesn’t stop me from being inspired and pushing harder to at least build another franchise that would further deepen the space.

The rest of the community only see what they want to see like their old raggedy professor who would rather go about with books written on colonial times guarding a space that they would prefer to die than being galvanised.

The Lagos State Government gives me a powerful, refurbished venue for our play. We drop a wonderful play with budgets these people will never dare to dream off and then offer us the same venue for another play in three months.

They sign an agreement with a veteran to manage the place, and pronto, we are kicked out. Not even minding that the play is about an iconic figure in the state and backed by the same Lagos State Government, they couldn’t care less; they just didn’t want this on their borrowed platform.

If I talk about the litany of challenges in the space we face daily, you will wonder why I am not staging plays in Ukraine.

But we keep pushing because we are driven not by the myoscopic intent of the gargoyles but for the need to use theatre to galvanise the people out of the lethargy of a castrated heritage.

Let me state here very boldly. I am very brash, bold, and confident. I can’t care less about all these, and that is why I do the things I do.

I do them for me and not for you. What drives me is the fact that the doers in this world are firmly in the minority and the vast majority are seated in the audience waiting to be led.

This is why I admire the lady Bolanle Austen Peters. They say she is an outsider, they say she does not have talent and depth, they say she is arrogant but she is speaking at Harvard, she is dropping phenomenal productions, breaking Nollywood and delivering value to the system.

It is her village I want to come from and not drop under the Mango tree where all we get is just talk talk talk.

I want to remain an outsider if that is what makes Bolanle tick. Let’s both be bastards together.

READ ALSO: Our Duke has gone mad again… Edgar recounts his COVID-19 ordeal

This is why I resist the temptation of working outside of my comfort zone. William Benson, Makinde Adeniran, Abbey, Segun Adefila, and Prof Yerima form the crux of my village.

I have found in them not only prodigious talent but a sincerity that is rare in their space.

Makinde almost cries in fighting for the welfare of his people. At times using his own money without even telling me.

Prof just wants to work. He doesn’t even understand the money aspect; he just wants to keep dropping massive plays. Segun doesn’t even talk about money. I gave him one koko, and he is off.

He did the first ‘Our Duke Has Gone Mad Again’ for free and delivered an original masterpiece in his backyard in Bariga, making me put in N14 million and dropping it in Ikoyi.

Is it William who has done 80% of my projects and who will start massive rehearsals even before I give him 1k, or is it Abbey the best set builder in this country? He it was who designed Awo and Aremu sets under major difficulties.

I resist going outside this grouping. The pressure, the demands, the plea from the space to open it up to others will continue to meet a brick wall because very few in that space understand the power of the vision and its vast role in tremendous wealth creation and youth empowerment.

So I can’t care less about what most people think. I’d rather listen to the music in my head, and that is why I never listen to advise.

I can be stubborn like that.

*Duke of Shomolu*

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