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  • #Nollywood Entertainment #Nigeria News: Garland for Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, the Amazon of the Stage and Screen At 75


    THERE are so many reasons why the world-class theatre icon, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, or TAL for short, should be celebrated.

    Those who have followed what is widely considered to be her prolific career as a performer, a career that has spanned over five decades, now say the acclaimed quality and skillful theatre Amazon, whose passion for acting is glaringly boundless, should be celebrated for her inimitable gait and dexterity on the acting turf.

    Her fans, colleagues, both young and old, friends, contemporaries and family members all agree that Taiwo Ajai-Lycett should indeed mount a raised platform and be celebrated for being a delight to watch on stage and screen, always.

    No wonder they turned out in their numbers at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos on Wednesday, February 3 to celebrate her as she clocked 75.

    Speaker after speaker eulogised the thespian, philanthropist, motivational speaker and educationist, who represents for them a perfect example of who any actress should strive to be like, both off and on stage.

    They hold, and rightly too, that TAL has lived an exemplary life and hers is a rare combination of hardwork and an inalienable commitment to her first and what she says has remained her only love- acting.

    “I feel great that I am alive,” she replied when asked how it feels to be 75.

    “I am happy that I am alive and strong and that I am living my life and I am enjoying it. I truly enjoy being alive and having young people around me. When they are around you, you feel like you are their age. They learn from you and you also learn from them,” she enthused,

    An acclaimed international actor, who chose her birth date to launch a collection of essays she dedicated to everyone reaching for the stars and following a chance meeting with tall dreams, Auntie Taiwo, as most of her younger colleagues call her, was born in Lagos on February 3, 1941.




    A volunteer worker, social commentator and mentor to many, TAL had her early education in Lagos, and was a Pupil Teacher before proceeding to the United Kingdom (UK) in 1960 in search of the ‘golden fleece.’

    While in the UK, the icon of the pan-Africa stage and screen worked in several organisations, including the General Post Office and the Young & Rubicam Advertising Agency. During this period, she combined working with further education.

    A trained photojournalist, former Associate Editor of the London-based Africa Magazine and publisher of the defunct Africa Woman, a political, economic and social magazine for Black and African men and women in the Diaspora, TAL explained that she studied at “major nights schools” and at Pitman’s College, London before attending the Christine Shaw School of Beauty Science and Cosmetology, London, as well as the North Staffordshire College of Technology (now Keele University) and graduated with the Higher National Diploma (HND) in Business Studies in 1969 at the Hendon College of Technology.

    She is a member of numerous professional organisations, including the Black Programming Consortium, United States (US); British Actors’ Equity; Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON); National Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP); and Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM).

    TAL, who was in 2006 awarded the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), started her acting career at the prestigious Royal Court Theatre, Sloane’s Square, London and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between1969 and 1976.

    She said during this stage of her professional life, she combined acting on the UK stage, television and films with print and electronic journalism.

    Recipient of numerous industry and society awards, including the Heritage & Honours Award of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), an award she got for her services to the advertising profession in Nigeria, TAL, a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists, has received several other awards, such as the Amazon Award, for Outstanding Contributions to Nation Building (2002) and the Lagos State Government’s Merit Award in Recognition of Meritorious Service Towards the Advancement of Education in the Alimoso Local Government Education District (2005).

    That award came for her founding of TALHouse private school, which has bred so many young people.

    A broadcaster per excellence, who for several years served as the weekly presenter for the BBC’s magazine programme, Calling Nigeria, Taiwo had a successful career in singing and voice-over.

    To prepare herself for that phase of her career, she attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, City Literary Institute (City Lit.) and the Dance Centre, Floral Street, Covent Garden, also in London, where she studied acting, music, voice, singing, ballet and modern and contemporary dance.

    She is also professionally trained in front and behind the camera, qualifying as a television producer and presenter at the London School of Television Production.

    TAL’s career as a performer started on stage in 1971 at the Bublin Theatre Festival, with her appearance in Conor Cruise O’Brien’s Murderous Angels.

    Since then, she has not looked back, as she has performed in some of the world’s famous theatres, such as Royal Opera House, Convent Garden; Hampstead Theatre Club; Palace Theatre, Westcliffe; Mercury Theatre, Colchester; and Bristol Old Vic.

    She has also appeared in numerous UK television drama productions for the BBC (TV & Radio Drama), ATV, Granada, COI, ILEA and Thames Television.

    She had a film appearance in the film, A Warm December, starring and directed by iconic Oscar winner, Sidney Poitier, and several television appearances, including Some mothers do ‘av ’em; Crown Court and Comedy play house.

    Back in Nigeria, Taiwo found home on the live stage and on screen. Some of her stage appearances include, Song of a Goat by J P Clark; Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman; The Lion and the Jewel; Wale Ogunyemi’s The Divorce; Fred Agbeyegbe’s The King Must Dance Naked; Wole Oguntokun’s The Inheritors and Shylock; Laolu Ogunniyi’s Winds Against My Soul; Jab Adu’s The Young Ones, The Honourable, For Better for Worse; Rasheed Gbadamosi’s The Mansion; and lately Hear Word.




    Also, TAL lately joined the cast of Tinsel as a leading player in that popular MNET drama.

    She described Tinsel as “an international standard soap, adding: “It is professionally handled. They also know how to treat actors.”

    Founder and president of Talhouse Worldwide Limited, a firm she established after the death of her husband, Thomas Aldridge Lycett, in 1993 for the promotion of the arts and the training and nurturing young artists, except for one or two quality Nollywood productions, like Tunde Kelani’s Dazzling Mirage that has had the benefit of her expert portrayal, TAL has not featured in a core Nollywood production and she explained that it is deliberate.

    “There is so much that is going on in Nollywood that I don’t agree with. For instance, most of them don’t spend enough time to research and gather good scripts and the technicalities in some of their productions are just below average.”

    “Besides, a lot of the producers and directors don’t seem to know their right from their left.”

    “But that is not to say that they all bad. No, we have some very brilliant people in the industry, like Tunde Kelani and Kunle Afolayan, who are trying their best to change things, and I think people like that need encouragement, especially by government.”

    “Government needs to do more by investing in the sector and creating the enabling environment,” she said.

    Asked if there was any regret being an entertainer, she replied emphatically: “None,” and added: “If I came back in another life, this is what I will do again. I feel happy and fulfilled.”

    “What is left for me now is to raise talents and leaders of the future, a reason I started TAL House Academy, where we are training people in acting and in other areas of life.

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