Femi Elufowoju Jr.

Elufowoju was born on 31 October 1962 in Hammersmith, London, to Nigerian parents from Ile-Ife.[4] He attended Copenhagen Primary & Junior School, Islington, from 1967 to 1974, before moving to Nigeria. He attended Sacred Heart Primary School, Ring Road, Ibadan, in 1975, and Christ's School, Ado Ekiti (1975–80), before going to the Oyo State College of Arts and Science in 1980.[5]

He read Law at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) but was advised to withdraw in 1985 just before returning to the UK. Then he attended North London College, where he received a Certificate in Community Theatre. In 1990, he obtained a bachelor's degree in Dramatic Arts from Bretton Hall, Leeds University's affiliated drama training institute. Between 2010 and 2012, Elufowoju took a career break to attend South Bank University and concentrate on a postgraduate degree in Education.

In the summer of 1995, Mehmet Ergen invited Elufowoju to headline a season of African plays at the Southwark Playhouse. The play which later turned out to be the young director's debut production was Mauritian author San Cassimally's Acquisitive Case.[6] The production led to Elufowoju winning a Regional Theatre Young Director bursary from Channel 4 and the Cameron Mackintosh Foundation to train as a theatre director under Philip Hedley at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. The following year, after a ground-breaking tour of Sweden with his second production (and first written play) Tickets and Ties: The African Tale billed as "the biggest and most ambitious West African show",[7] he established Tiata Fahodzi, a national touring theatre company, its core mission statement being to demonstrate the African experience on the British stage. He artistically led the company for 13 years, directing and presenting over 30 plays, including his productions of Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not to Blame[8] and Oladipo Agboluaje's Iya-Ile: The First Wife [9] (nominated for the Olivier Award).[10][2] During the same period, Elufowoju served as an Associate directing plays at the Almeida Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, and the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich.

In 2016, he directed Bonnie Greer's The Hotel Cerise,[11] as well as the British premiere of Blues for an Alabama Sky by American playwright Pearl Cleage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[12]

In 2019, he directed Bim Adewunmi's Hoard, written for BBC Arts and Avalon as part of an initiative to encourage writers from genres outside of theatre to write for the stage.[13]

His interpretation of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, described as a "radical new reimagining",[14] was produced in May 2019 for Watford Palace Theatre and Arcola Theatre.[15][16]

For Fuel Theatre, Elufowoju directed Inua Ellams’ adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince in the spring of 2020.[17] It previewed in London, Manchester and Coventry before the first pandemic lockdown.

In 2010, he commenced a freelance career, producing and directing several dramas for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4, including Rex Obano's Burned to Nothing,[18] Sam Soko's The New Bwana,[19] Chinonyeram Odimba's Eve[20] and the seminal Stages of Independence for BBC World Service, a celebration of 50 years of African drama throwing a spotlight on 50 years of Africa's Independence.[21] In 2021, he returned to the BBC to direct Rex Obano's City College for Radio 3 and is currently in the studio recording Diran Adebayo's radio serialisation of his debut novel, Some Kind of Black which airs on BBC Radio 4 in March 2022.

As part of Manchester's Halle Orchestra 2021 spring season, Sir Mark Elder invited Annabel Arden and Elufowoju to direct a staged performance of Stravinsky's 1918 masterpiece The Soldier's Tale.[22] Read, played, and danced by three actors, a dancer and seven instrumentalists. The film marked Elufowoju's debut as a film director.

In January 2022, Elufowoju made his opera debut as a director with Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto[23] for Opera North in Leeds. The production which featured Eric Greene, Roman Arndt, Jasmine Habersham, and Sir Willard White garnered five star reviews including The Daily Telegraph hailing Elufowoju's production as "a bold and innovative staging that will still be talked about 16 years from now".[24] The Guardian's four star review spoke of his debut as being "so powerful and so current and at the same time so true to the artistic force of Verdi's setting of Victor Hugo that it is somehow surprising that it has taken until now for someone to put it on the stage."[25]

Elufowoju jr's second opera (for which he also writes a new libretto) is the 1780 opera L'amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover) based on the life and music of relatively unknown 18th century classical composure Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The new production is for Konzert und Theatre St Gallen in Switzerland, and has its European premiere in September 2022.

In 2015, Thomas Kell and Elufowoju set up The Elufowoju jr Ensemble[26] with a view to creating exceptional world-class African theatre with imaginative flair for the international stage.

Elufowoju jr in the summer of 2018 directed a stage adaptation of Lola Shoneyin's The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives in a full co-production with the Arcola Theatre.[27] It won Elufowoju jr, Best Director Award (Offie 2019) for an Off West-End Production. The production was noted for being the highest grossing box-office show in the entire 20-year history of the Arcola. In the same year, the production returned to Nigeria under the aegis of Sourmash Stories Productions (Teniola Olatoni Ojigbede producing) as the theatre segment for Ake Festival 2018. The BBC subsequently commissioned Elufowoju jr to adapt a new dramatization for Radio 3, which was broadcast in November 2019.[28]

In 2013, Elufowoju embarked on a mission of a lifetime: to visit all 54 countries in Africa. The project, titled "54.60 Africa",[29] culminates in 2022. The ambition is for Elufowoju to write a book/play chronicling his odyssey and travels for production purposes at a later date.

Elufowoju has made memorable television appearances, including the BBC comedy series Little Miss Jocelyn as Mr Omwokpopopo, serial dramas Moses Jones, Wire in the Blood, Borgen, Enterprice, Year of the Rabbit, Silent Witness, and Sex Education. His film credits include The Legend of 1900, Mechanic: Resurrection, The Saint and The Princess Switch 3 with Vanessa Hudgens.[30]

In 2003, he was appointed Segment Director facilitating the Commonwealth Parade (The Mall Pageant) on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.[31] In 2019, Clarence House on behalf of the Duchess of Cornwall invited Elufowoju to be one of the Final Panel Judges for The Queen's 2019 Commonwealth Essay Competition.[32] He reprised this role again in 2021.

Elufowoju has spent periods returning to his ancestral home Nigeria, building alliances with notable creative cultural leaders including Governor Kayode Fayemi, Lola Shoneyin Akin Adejuwon, Efe Paul Azino, and Bolanle Austen Peters.