Ade Solanke

Adeola "Ade" Solanke is an award-winning British-Nigerian playwright and screenwriter. She is best known for her debut stage play, Pandora's Box, which was produced at the Arcola Theatre in 2012,[1] and was nominated as Best New Play in the Off West End Theatre Awards.[2] Her other writing credits include the award-winning BBC Radio drama series Westway and the Nigerian feature film Dazzling Mirage (2014).[3][4] She is the founder and creative director of the company Spora Stories, whose aim is to "create original drama for stage and screen, telling the dynamic stories of the African diaspora."[5] Solanke has previously worked as an arts journalist and in radio and television,[6][7] and in 1988 set up Tama Communications, offering a writing and publicity service, whose clients included the BBC, the Arts Council and the Midland Bank.[8]

Early years and education

Of Nigerian heritage, Adeola Solanke was born in London, growing up in Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill, in the west of the capital.[9][1][10] She earned an MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where she was a Fulbright Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa international scholar.[2] She also has a postgraduate diploma in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths, University of London, and an honours degree in English Literature from the University of Sheffield.[11]

Career

She worked as a story analyst for several Hollywood companies, including Sundance, New Line and Disney. Her first screenplay, Femi’s Thirtieth, was a semi-finalist in the annual Nicholl screenwriting contest in Los Angeles. It was also a semi-finalist in the Amblin/Chesterfield Screenwriting contest, also in LA. Her second screenplay, Finishing School, also reached the Nicholl semi-finals. For some years she worked as an arts journalist, writing for publications including The Times Literary Supplement, The Voice, The Guardian, the New Statesman and West Africa Magazine. In 1988 she set up Tama Communications, a writing, research and publicity service "sympathetic to the needs of the voluntary sector and black organisations",[12] that was judged an "outstanding enterprise" and won the London's Top Youth Enterprise title in the 1989 London Livewire competition to find the best young business brains.[13][14][15] She has also taught at several universities, among them Goldsmiths, University of London, and Pan-African University, Lagos, Nigeria, as well as at such institutions as London's City Lit[16] and in Zimbabwe at the Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa.[17][18] She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Greenwich.[19]

Her work for radio includes being on the writing team of the award-winning BBC drama series Westway.[9] In 2009 she was commissioned by the NHS to write Family Legacy,[20] a Nollywood-style film drama drawing on the real-life experiences of people living with sickle-cell disease, which has been disseminated widely on television channels and elsewhere in the UK, USA and West Africa, reaching more than 12 million people in outreach campaigns.[21] She subsequently wrote the screenplay for Dazzling Mirage (2014), adapted from the novel of the same name by Olayinka Abimbola Egbokhare, produced and directed by Tunde Kelani.[22]

Solanke's first stage play to be produced, Pandora's Box, which was initially showcased in July 2008 as part of Tiata Fahodzi's Tiata Delights at the Almeida Theatre, had its world premiere and sold-out shows at the Arcola Theatre, Hackney, in 2012,[23][24] subsequently touring nationally in 2014 to 16 venues around the UK; the largest-ever tour for a black play in the UK.[9][25] "An exuberant and thought-provoking mix of comedy, tragedy and family drama", Pandora's Box deals with the dilemma of a British-Nigerian mother, on holiday in Lagos with her streetwise son, about whether to leave him in a strict Nigerian boarding-school or bring him back to the battlefields of inner-city London.[26] It won five-star reviews and was praised as "Honest, simple, enthralling … absolutely brilliant" (The Public Reviews) and "Firecracker theatre … touching … hilarious" (The Stage). Reviewing it for The Guardian, Lyn Gardner wrote: "Pandora's Box buzzes with life and the tensions of real people struggling to make the best of their lives while dealing with the legacies left from the choices made by a previous generation."[27] Another of several positive notices came from Sarah Lewis of the Hackney Citizen, who described the play as "At times laugh out loud funny, at times heartbreaking....essentially a very moving and funny play. Excellent."[28] Pandora's Box is published by Oberon Books.[29][30]

In 2015, Solanke made her directorial debut with her second play, East End Boys, West End Girls, in a London tour that began at the Arcola Theatre[31] before playing in venues including CLF Arts Cafe in Peckham, the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, and the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham.[32][4] Reviews variously described the play as "a grim view of a vast and disparate city...occasionally quite sweet and always earnest"[33] and "thought-provoking.... It goes beyond mere entertainment and poses some knotty but ever pertinent questions. The artful Solanke handles the social commentary with sensitivity and intelligence."[34]

Solanke's latest play is The Court Must Have a Queen about Henry VIII's marriage to Anne of Cleves. It features African Tudor musician John Blanke, who played in the courts of both Henry VII and Henry VIII and is the first black person for whom there is both an image and a record in the UK. The play was commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces and produced by Hampton Court Palace. It premiered in June 2018, performed in the Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace, where Shakespeare's King's Men performed in 1603.[35]

Solanke is also developing a project and play about Phillis Wheatley entitled Phillis in London, which was showcased at the Greenwich Book Festival in 2018.[36]

Works
Theatre
  • Pandora's Box (2012)
  • East End Boys, West End Girls (2015)
  • The Court Must Have a Queen (2018)
Film
  • The Family Legacy (2009)
  • Dazzling Mirage (2014)

Awards and recognition

In 1989, Ade Solanke was named London's Top Youth Entrepreneur for her writing and media business, Tama Communications. In September 2012 she won the award for Best Playwright at the Nigerian Entertainment and Lifestyle Awards.[37] She also won Best Playwright at the Afro-Hollywood Awards.

During the 2012 London Olympics she was featured along with other writers, including Diran Adebayo, Sefi Atta, Helon Habila, Zainabu Jallo, Nnorom Azuonye, Chibundu Onuzo, and Rotimi Babatunde, at the Nigeria House Literature Showcase curated by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East.[38][39]

  • 2012 Pandora's Box Winner, Best Playwright, Afro-Hollywood Awards
  • 2012 Pandora's Box Winner, Best Play, Nigerian Entertainment and Lifestyle (NEL) Awards
  • 2012: Pandora's Box nominated for Best New Play for the Off West End Theatre Awards
  • 2014: Pandora's Box nominated for the 2014 Nigeria Prize for Literature.[25]
  • 2015: East End Boys, West End Girls Winner, Best Play at the 7th Black Entertainment, Film, Fashion, Television and Arts Awards.[40]
  • 2015: Pandora's Box and East End Boys, West End Girls nominated for the 2015 Alfred Fagon Audience Award.[41][19]
  • 2016: Awarded the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award by University of Sheffield [42]

Solanke is also the recipient of various academic and literary awards, including:

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gollark: void.degree, in case you run a university which offers void courses?
gollark: There are void domains for all sorts of useful things like void.catering.
gollark: ... void.*casino*.

References
  1. Sophia A. Jackson, "Ade Solanke, Pandora’s Box", Afridiziak, 2 May 2012.
  2. "Ade Solanke", Royal Literary Fund.
  3. "Tunde Kelani Unveils First Official Poster For ‘Dazzling Mirage’ film about Sickle Cell", AllAfricanCinema, 31 July 2013.
  4. "East Meets West", ReConnect Africa, July 2014.
  5. "Spora Stories website". Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  6. Doyin Iyiola, "A Lady Titan Abudding", African Concord, Vol. 4, No. 19, 4 September 1989.
  7. Ade Solanke, "How to succeed in business", The Guardian, 20 September 1989.
  8. "Prizewinning communicator goes networking in Atlanta", Caribbean Times, 26 November 1991.
  9. Karla Williams, "The London via Lagos interview with Ade Solanke, Pandora's Box", Afridiziak, 5 April 2011.
  10. Sarah Bloomer, "Pandora's Box (Tour - Salford)", What's On, 14 September 2014.
  11. "Ade Solanke" at Black Plays Archive.
  12. "Getting on top of the business", African Times, 27 July 1989.
  13. Tony Maguire, "Meet the Livewire birds", Evening Standard, 7 June 1989.
  14. "Ade's a real live wire", The Voice, Issue 380, 27 June 1989.
  15. "Freelance scoops 1st prize", Freelance (NUJ Freelance branch bulletin), September 1989.
  16. "Humanities" Archived 15 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine, City Lit Summer Courses for Adults, April–July 2008.
  17. Tinashe Sibanda, "Solanke to work on local film adaptations", NewsDay, 8 July 2014.
  18. "Pandora’s Box, Crucible Studio", Doncaster Free Press, 18 September 2014.
  19. "Double theatre award nomination for lecturer" Archived 8 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Faculty of Architecture, Computing & Humanities, University of Greenwich, 27 November 2015.
  20. "The Family Legacy Trailer", YouTube, 18 December 2012.
  21. "Sickle Cell Awareness", Research Excellence Framework 2014.
  22. Iyamide Thomas, "Get ready to be ‘Dazzled’ - Sickle Cell Film Premieres in the UK", Sickle Cell Society Newsletter, Winter 2015, p. 13.
  23. Sinem Bilen-Onabanjo, "FAB Culture: Pandora’s Box World Premiere", FAB Magazine, 11 April 2012.
  24. "Press", Spora Stories.
  25. "British-African family drama set to open lid on difficulties of family life", Salisbury Journal, 2 October 2014.
  26. "Spora Stories – PANDORA’S BOX by Ade Solanke, Directed by Shade Oladiti", Arcola Theatre.
  27. Lyn Gardner, "Pandora's Box – review", The Guardian, 15 May 2012.
  28. Sarah Lewis, "Pandora’s Box – review", Hackney Citizen, 22 May 2012.
  29. Pandora's Box Archived 16 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine (ISBN 9781849434973) at Oberon Books.
  30. "Pandora's Box" (Oberon Modern Plays) at Amazon.
  31. Lyn Gardner, "Plan your week's theatre: top tickets", The Guardian, 27 July 2015.
  32. "British-African Theatre And Film Company Launches New Play", The Voice, 30 July 2015.
  33. Tim Bano, "East End Boys, West End Girls" (review), Time Out, 30 July 2015.
  34. Tolita, "Theatre Review: ‘East End Boys, West End Girls’ by Ade Solanke", 8 August 2015.
  35. "The Court Must Have a Queen". Historic Royal Palaces. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  36. "Students meet literary world at Greenwich Book Festival", News, University of Greenwich, 14 June 2018.
  37. "Winner: Best Playwright, Nigerian Entertainment and Lifestyle Awards, Sept 2012" Archived 16 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Spora Stories.
  38. "Olympics 2012 Culture Splash: Meet Nigerian Authors, Books At Royal Theatre, StratFord East, London", Egg of Odumare's Eyes, 28 July 2012.
  39. "For Olympics, CORA Parades Nigerian Authors In London", The Guardian (Nigeria), 22 July 2012.
  40. "East End Boys, West End Girls nominated for Best Script, 2015 BEFFTA AWARDS!", Spora Stories.
  41. Matthew Hemley, "Hang and Play Mas shortlisted for Alfred Fagon Audience Award", The Stage, 1 September 2015.
  42. "Acclaimed writer receives Distinguished Alumni Award", Alumni, University of Sheffield, 26 July 2016.
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