Nigerian Poet performs at London's National Theatre

Description:

A young Nigerian poet, Inua Ellams, is giving several performances of a great production written by him called ‘the 14th Tale’ which chronicles his experiences growing up in Nigeria and the UK. The performances are being held at the prestigious National Theatre in London.

The 14th Tale is a free-flowing narrative that tells the hilarious exploits of a natural born mischief growing from the clay streets of Nigeria to the rooftops of Dublin, and finally to London.

Inua is a word and graphic artist based in London. He was born in Nigeria in 1984, and moved to the UK as a teenager. His work merges visual art, spoken word and theatre, and he is known for his for iconic imagery, beauty and attention to detail.

“I was born in Jos, Plateau State. My Father is from Edo state, my mother is from Bendel of the Isoko Tribe. My father is half Hausa, and of the three major tribes, (Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa) that is the one I belong to. Curiously despite the nomadic traditions of the Hausa people, there are not many of us in London.” Says Inua.

Of his work, he says ‘My pen is the minute hand on the clock face of ever.’

The Times Newspaper in the UK has already dubbed him as ‘London’s hottest new spoken word talent’.

The Scotsman newspaper also comments on his performance as follows, ‘The 14th Tale comes as a sharp reminder of the power of language and rhythm in theatre, and of how dramatic poetry can create whole worlds through the voice of a single performer.’

The Scotsman

The National Theatre is currently running 10 performances only of The 14th Tale from 9th February to 13th March 2010. Tickets can be bought via the National Theatre http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/54559/productions/the-14th-tale.html

Inua is also working with the National Theatre to offer young word artists and graphic artists, aged 16-25, a chance to work with him in one of two workshops, each lasting two days. Artists will create fourteen more tales for the Cottesloe stage, bringing their ideas and responding to each others work leading to a performance on Saturday 13 March. Further details can be obtained from the National Theatre website. http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/56011/discover-events/writing-workshops-with-inua-ellams.html

At the age of 24, Inua has achieved considerable success as both a visual artist and poet. He has performed in a wide variety of venues, from the Queen Elizabeth Hall to Tate Modern; theatres: The Albany, The Drum, The Stratford Theatre Royal; festivals: Glastonbury to Latitude; Shambala, to the BBC’s politics show and distinguished street corners in between.

As a workshop facilitator, he has taught in universities, schools, theatres & libraries, delivering prose, poetry, occasionally combined with visual art as a stimulus in cross art form workshops. He has published one collection of poems, Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales, which was supported by Arts Council England, and is currently working on a second. Inua recently took part in the Soho Theatre’s programme for young writers and his work was chosen to be part of The Next Generation series of script readings.

The Editor of Guide2Nigeria attended one of the performances and says, “It was an absolutely brilliant performance and it’s great to see this calibre of talent in a young Nigerian”.