Yemi Ajibade
Ìlá Òràngún, Osun State , Nigeria | |
---|---|
Died | 24 January 2013 London, England | (aged 83)
Other names | Yemi Goodman Ajibade; Ade-Yemi Ajibade |
Occupation(s) | Playwright, actor and director |
Notable work | Parcel Post Waiting for Hannibal |
Yemi Ajibade who, after settling in England in the 1950s, made significant contributions to the British theatre and the canon of Black drama. As an actor he is well-known for Dirty Pretty Things (2002), The Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) and Danger Man (1964). In a career that spanned half a century, he directed and wrote several successful plays, as well as acting in a wide range of drama for television, stage, radio and film.
Biography and education
Adeyemi Olanrewaju Goodman Ajibade was born a royal prince of the house of
Career and works
From early in his stay in the UK, Ajibade acted in radio drama for the BBC African Service. As producer Fiona Ledger recalled in 2007: "It was back in 1960 that the late BBC producer John Stockbridge was asked by the Head of the African Service to devise some kind of drama for African listeners. He came up with a series, a soap opera set in London. No copy survives, but" Yemi Ajibade "took the role of a social worker, moving around England and settling quarrels."[9]
Continuing to develop his acting career, he was hailed in 1963 as "one of the most promising actors from West Africa".
Ajibade's acting portfolio would eventually encompass roles in television series such as
In 1966 Ajibade led a delegation of British, West Indian and African members to the World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar, Senegal, directing a production of Obi Egbuna's play Wind Versus Polygamy; at the 2nd World Black Arts Festival in Lagos in 1977 Ajibade was supervisor of Drama Events.[1] In 1975 he was appointed as a tutor by the Inner London Education Authority, and he also became artistic director of the Keskidee Centre in north London,[1] where he directed a production of Wole Soyinka's The Swamp Dwellers (13–23 March 1975).[23]
Among Ajibade's best known work as a playwright is Parcel Post, which had 29 performances by the
Ajibade also worked in Ibadan during the late 1970s,[35] as a writer and director (1976–79) with the Unibadan Masques, the University of Ibadan's School of Drama acting company.[26][36]
In February 2008, at an All-Star Gala held at
Personal life
Ajibade, who had three sisters (Arinade Victoria, Layo and Janet),he has two sisters that were late (Bolanle and Fadeke) and a brother Sunday was married to actor and poet Ebony White, with whom he had two daughters, Adenrele and Mimi, and from a previous relationship he had another daughter, Marigold.[7] He died in the UK on 13 January 2013 at the age of 83.
Plays
- Award (unproduced)[29]
- Behind the Mountain – first produced: Unibadan Masques, 1977
- Fingers Only – first produced: The Factory, Black Theatre Co-operative, directed by Mustapha Matura), 1982. As Lagos, Yes Lagos, BBC Radio, 1971.
- A Long Way from Home – first produced: Tricycle Theatre, London (directed by Nicolas Kent), 1991
- Mokai – first produced: Unibadan Masques, 1979
- Parcel Post – first produced: Royal Court Theatre, London, 16 March 1976[29]
- Waiting for Hannibal – first produced: Drill Hall, London (Black Theatre Co-operative, directed by Ajibade with Burt Caesar), 1986
- Para Ginto (black version of Peer Gynt)[29] – Tricycle Theatre, 1995
Bibliography
- Fingers Only and A Man Names Mokai. Ibadan: Y-Book Drama series, 2001, 142 pp. ISBN 978-2659-88-6
- Parcel Post and Behind the Mountain. Ibadan: Y-Book Drama series, 2001, 147 pp. ISBN 978-2659-89-4
- Gwyneth Henderson and AWS, 127, 1973.
Partial filmography
- 1962: The Sword in the Web (TV Series) - Jean
- 1963: Suspense (TV Series) - Joshua
- 1963: Armchair Theatre (TV Series) - Jacob Jones
- 1964: Festival (TV Series) - Aide to Lichee
- 1964: Espionage (TV Series) - Sergeant
- 1965: The Wednesday Play (TV Series) - Rebel soldier / Man in pub
- 1965: Danger Man (TV Series) - Barman
- 1966: The Witches - Mark (uncredited)
- 1967: Theatre 625 (TV Series) - Tsilla Mamadou
- 1967: Thirty-Minute Theatre (TV Series) - Observer
- 1968: 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia - New Lodger (uncredited)
- 1968: The Devil Rides Out - African (uncredited)
- 1968: Dixon of Dock Green (TV Series) - Roger Bunda
- 1969: The Power Game(TV Series) - Premier of Malta
- 1970: Carry On Up the Jungle
- 1972: The Black Safari (TV Movie)
- 1973: Full House (TV Series) - Black Blast! cast member
- 1974: Shatter - Ansabi M'Goya / Dabula M'Goya
- 1976: Shades of Greene (TV Series) - 1st Head boy
- 1976: The Fosters(TV Series) - Mr. Fuller
- 1981: Prisoners of Conscience (TV Series) - Walter Sisulu
- 1987: Truckers (TV Series) - Watchman
- 1989: Behaving Badly (TV Mini-Series) - Church Elder
- 1991: Smack and Thistle (TV Movie) - Pedro
- 1991: London Kills Me - Tramp
- 1993: Rwendo (Short)
- 1995: Skin (Short) - Neville
- 2002: Dirty Pretty Things - Mini Cab Driver (as Ade-Yemi Ajibade)
- 2004: Exorcist: The Beginning - Turkana Shaman
- 2007: Silent Witness (TV Series) - Samson Moyo
- 2007: Flawless - Guinean Negotiatior (final film role)
References
- ^ a b c d Africa Who's Who, London: Africa Journal Ltd, for Africa Books, 1981, p. 82.
- ^ Later sources give his birth year as 1933.
- ^ Yemi Ajibade at Aveleyman.
- ^ "Yemi Goodman Ajibade". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- ^ Admin (19 September 2016). "AJIBADE, Yemi". Biographical Legacy and Research Foundation. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
- ^ a b "The African Scene", Negro Digest, October 1963, p. 32.
- ^ Elufowoju Jr, Femi (18 April 2013). "Other lives | Yemi Ajibade obituary". The Guardian.
- ^ Josanne Leonard, interview with Horace Ové, 5 October 2007, Caribbean 360.
- ^ Fiona Ledger, "History of African Performance", BBC World Service, African Performance 2007.
- ^ Cast and credits, Full House (03/02/73), BFI.
- ^ Full House 03/02/73, BFI.
- ^ "Full House", Radio Times, Issue 2569, 1 February 1973, p. 15.
- ^ Leonard White, Armchair Theatre: The Lost Years, Kelly Publications, 2003, p. 103.
- ^ "Plays Umbrella", Riverside Studios, August 1980. Peter Gill, "Scrape Off the Black", 15 March 2012.
- ^ Cast list in Nicholas Wright, Five Plays, Nick Hern Books, 2000, p. 81.
- ^ Cast list in Nicholas Wright, The Custom of the Country, RSC Playtexts, London: Methuen, 1983, p. 26.
- ^ Cast list in Nicholas Wright, Five Plays, London: Nick Hern Books, 2000, p. 149.
- ^ Les Blancs, UK Theatre Web.
- ^ Brad Stevens, Monte Hellman: His Life and Films, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2003, p. 96.
- ^ Credits – London Kills Me", in Kenneth C. Kaleta, Hanif Kureishi: Postcolonial Storyteller, University of Texas Press, 1998, p. 275.
- ^ "Skin (1995)", IMDb.
- ^ Yemi Ajibade page at IMDb.
- ^ "Swamp Dweller's, The - By Wole Soyinka", National Theatre, Black Plays Archive.
- ^ "Parcel Post by Yemi Ajibade", Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
- ^ "Nigeria: CORA Celebrates Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett @ 70", BHR, 2012.
- ^ a b Review of Ade-Yemi Ajibade, Fingers Only and A Man Names Mokai and Parcel Post and Behind the Mountain (Ibadan: Y-Book Drama series, 2001), in Ernest Nneji Emenyonu (ed.), New Directions in African Literature: A Review, 25; p. 161.
- ^ "Fingers Only", Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
- ^ "Records relating to 'Fingers Only'" held at Future Histories – Black Performance and Carnival Archive, The National Archives.
- ^ a b c d Yemi Ajibade at Dollee.com
- ^ "Waiting For Hannibal, 1986, By Yemi Ajibade. National Tour." Archived 21 April 2013 at archive.today Nitro Archive, 14 October 1986.
- ^ "Waiting For Hannibal", Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
- ^ Nicolas Kent Productions.
- ^ "Tricycle Theatre (1991), A Long Way From Home", Theatre – TRPW.org.
- ^ "A Long Way From Home", Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
- ^ "My Happiest Moment In Acting" – interview with Olu Jacobs, Naijarules.com, 13 December 2006.
- ^ "Post Dra 310", Dra 310.
- ^ "All African Stars Gala", 2008, Tiata Fahodzi.
- ^ "Tiata Fahodzi", Naija Konnections, Volume 5, Issue 1, February 2008.
External links
- Yemi Ajibade at IMDb
- Yemi Ajibade at Dollee.com
- WorldCat.
- Records of the Black Theatre Co-operative – Nitro Theatre Company, The National Archives.
- "Yemi Ajibade", Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.
- Yemi Ajibade actor credits, Filmography at Cineplex.