By Dapo Udom
Lagos – Mr Baba Ceesay, the Director-General, National Centre for Arts and Culture in Gambia, says “the film industry has taken the shine off stage plays in West Africa’’.
Ceesay told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday that the dominance of film had arisen from the scope of the industry in narrating stories with much more details than the theatre.
“Theatre is going down in the sub region partly because of the predominance of film as a mode of expression, but admittedly, the practitioners in the film industries are also theatre people.
“I am not sure about the situation in Nigeria, but I am sure you are doing a lot better than us in the Gambia where the infrastructure for theatre is minimal.
“I am optimistic that theatre is going to another level, because these days film is a more versatile mode of expression and transmission of theatre than the traditional understanding of theatre.”
Ceesay emphasised the need for establishment of more theatres and as well as the training of more theatre practitioners in Nigeria so as to promote stage plays across the sub region.
The director-general, however, noted that Nigeria’s output in the area of theatre in the sub region was greatly admired.
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