Lagos International Theatre Festival opens with a vibrant 2025 showcase blending food, performance and creativity across Lagos
Lagos International Theatre Festival set a vibrant tone for its 2025 edition on Monday as it opened with an evening that blended performance, conversation and fine dining in a way that reflected the festival’s bold creative spirit.
The atmosphere at Kaly Restaurant captured the energy the organisers have long championed, creating a warm entry point to a week filled with theatre across the city.
The opening event, themed Theatre Meets Food, brought artists, cultural practitioners and supporters of the creative industries together in an intimate setting where culinary craft met live art.
It served as the perfect introduction to a programme running until 16 November, with more than 20 productions scheduled for various stages at the MUSON Centre.
A lively mix of guests attended, including Broda Shaggi, chef Hilda Baci, actor Mike Afolarin, musician Imade Kuti and theatre advocate Valerie Green.
Representatives from the South African State Theatre also joined members of Lagos’s creative community to mark the beginning of a significant cultural week.
Festival founder Bolanle Austen Peters said the evening distilled the heart of the Lagos International Theatre Festival. She noted that the Theatre Meets Food experience expressed what the festival represents, which is storytelling that moves beyond the stage and speaks to connection and creativity in everyday life.
Festival director Vanessa Jev added that the night set a purposeful tone for a week defined by collaboration and artistic celebration.
Over the days ahead, audiences will explore a range of comedies, dramas, historical narratives and experimental works staged across La Scala, Shell Hall, Agip Hall, Oriki Garden and Itan Garden.
Austen Peters directs two of the standout productions, My Boyfriend Calls Me Ma and Dear Kaffy, both of which explore contemporary Lagos relationships with warmth and humour.
Other anticipated works include Eve’s Rapture, Segun Adefila’s dynamic retelling of the Garden of Eden, and Before I Let You Go, Moshood Fattah’s reflective piece on chance encounters.
Bunmi Awolowo’s 99 Percent Virgin offers a playful journey of faith and self discovery.
Family dynamics come into focus in Ankara Committee, directed by Mayowa Damilare, while Baby Shower from Abiodun CM Oluwasegun examines friendship and loyalty.
Historical and cultural depth emerges in Efunsetan Aniwura: The DayWaterman Show, directed by Opeyemi Afolabi and Opemipo Arowosafe. Aubrey Sekhabi’s My Children! My Africa! adds a South African voice to themes of justice and youth activism, and Oluwasegun’s Almasihu imagines the birth of a promised child in modern Nigeria.
Movement and music are equally central. Ade Laoye’s SOCA, Squad of Champions Academy follows a story of teamwork and redemption, while Abiola Lepe’s High Octave: When Broadway Meets Broadstreet blends Nigerian and global musical forms.
Yibo Kiko’s SEKI draws from Niger Delta folklore, and the Opera Lagos Experience by Kehinde Oretimehin fuses operatic tradition with African storytelling.
Additional pieces, including Elvina Baby Ibru’s Nyso and the Egg, Sola Oyeniyi’s Echoes of Yesterday, Oretimehin’s Home and Whinihin Jemide’s Stories of Us, expand the festival’s narrative scope.
Beyond stage performances, the festival will feature masterclasses, workshops and cultural exchanges aimed at nurturing collaboration between established and emerging talent.
Organisers say the ambition remains to platform original work and reinforce Lagos as one of Africa’s most dynamic centres for theatre and live performance, a place where local stories continue to meet global audiences in powerful ways.
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