LAGOS -A renowned actor, Lari Williams, on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to build a Hall of Fame in honour of persons who contributed to the development of Nigeria’s entertainment industry.
The actor, who was also the pioneer president of the Actors Guild, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
“I am talking about building a Hall of Fame, not only to create work for the artistes, but also to remember our past heroes.
“People like Orlando Martins, the first Nigerian actor who went commercial abroad, we are forgetting him. Fela Showande was the first Nigerian to orchestrate our folk music.
“Ambrose Campbell, our first pop musician that went from this shores to England with a mixture of high life and juju music – people like this should not be forgotten.
“The fire spouting actor, Duro Ladipo, should not be forgotten. There are people I can name that have contributed so much to the building of the entertainment industry who are now unsung.
“So, if we have a Hall of Fame, we will remember the giants of this nation.“ [eap_ad_1] Williams also called for the revival of stage performance to produce quality actors for Nollywood.
According to him, stage performance has the capacity to promote huge revenue generation for the country.
He said that genuine acting originated from the recitation of scripts on stage and not just cutting and pasting shots together to form screen plays.
“How many of the so-called stars today that we see on the screen can stand on stage and perform; they cannot because they cannot hold two lines together in their heads.
“The industry is dying because we cannot get actors on stage and that is why we don’t even realise that the entertainment industry can make money for this country enormously.
“If you think about Broadway in America, Broadway makes more money than screen films, because there is Broadway, there is Off Broadway and there is Off-Off Broadway.
“It has formed a tradition of theatre, which means people go to watch shows every night; tickets are bought ahead of time.
“I will give you an example: in London there is a play by Agatha Christy called “The Mouse Trap’’; the mouse trap has been going on in one theatre for 58 years.
“And you will not believe it, grandfather played it, father played in it, son is playing in it and they are making money; it is a full time salary affair.
“We have not created that kind of tradition in this country. We think theatre doesn’t pay, people just dismiss it, but we forget that it has to be built up.“
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