Reviewing Lagos Theatre Festival’s Open Mic Night.

The Lagos Theatre Festival was brought to a close on Sunday 28th February however, on Friday, an Open Mic Night was held at Freedom Park.

For performances enthusiasts, Open Mic Nights are a chance to witness a wide variety of arts showcased. Ranging from spoken word, to monologues to music renditions, there is always something to suite the pallet of the aficionado in question.

Lagos Theatre Festival appreciates all forms of performance arts and the Open Mic Night was one blissful event that celebrated aspiring, upcoming and maybe simply shy but talented attendants. The event was the last ordeal of the night for Friday’s itinerary, and was a wonderful way to wrap up.

There were so many names and great acts to remember. But here are the Culture Custodian favourite picks.

The youngest performer was a 13 year-old young lady named Oyinkansola who performed two outstanding pieces one which centred on African beauty written by herself. As one of the first acts, she really set the bar high.

Another performance that stood out for us was tongue twister – spoken word poet, Samurai, who performed two pieces . The second piece was titled cock-a-doodle-doo. Which was in a fable structure and spoke of the current political climate of Nigeria.

A number of monologues taken from modern day T.V series – such as Scandal were also performed. In the monologue from Scandal, the speaker took on Papa Pope’s speech to the president with regards to his affair with his daughter.

The closing act was a guitarist who covered a John Mayer song and this was brought to an end by rendition of a mash-up of Shakira’s Underneath Your Clothes and Asa’s Bibanke accompanied by the guitarist.