Segun Akiremi, a veteran actor, popularly known as “Kanran”, on Monday urged the Federal Government to build more theatres across the country to revive stage performance.
Kanran said that this would also curb the activities of movie pirates as there would be fewer actors and actresses venturing into producing home movies.
He said in Lagos that the origin of cinema everywhere in the world was in stage performance but that it died a long time ago in the country.
He said that the only solution to curbing activities of movie pirates was by reviving stage performance.
According to him, stage performance reduces the cost of movie production and enhances high level of professionalism among actors and actresses.
He said that when plays are staged at cinemas and theatres, actors and actresses would have value for their money and gain huge returns on their investments.
“We have been working on reviving stage performances but we cannot do it alone, we need government to build theatres across the country to make it easier for us to achieve the feat.
“Many of my colleagues have been frustrated out of the industry due to activities of pirates. As soon as we have theatres around the country, we will invest more in stage performance as against movies,” he said.
Kanran said that concentrating on stage performance was not as capital intensive as shooting movies on various locations.
According to him, the National Theatre is too expensive for most actors to stage their plays because they will struggle to pay for the hall and have little left as their gain.
He said the youths would be positively engaged when there were accessible theatres around, adding that this would minimise social vices among youths.
“So, when we have several theatres whose rents are affordable, we can work better and still have some returns on our investments.
“With stage performances, viewers will have access to the artists directly and artists will spend little on movie production.
“The youths will easily develop their artistic talents and have conducive environments to hone their skills,” he said.
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