By Chinelo Joseph
ABUJA-based theatre company, 2 Masks and a Griot (2MG), in partnership with Transcorp Hilton Hotel is providing their patrons a ‘fine dining experience’ with a dinner theatre production of Finding Adaora, this Christmas Season.
The ‘fine dining experience’ brings together Hilton’s seasoned diners and 2MG’s theatre audience to enjoy a new experience of engaging live with actors over a four-course meal, at the Hilton’s premier restaurant, Zuma Grill.
The production is the biggest collaborative project between both organisations since their first partnership over 10 years ago. It is also 2MG’s sole production for the year 2020, and the opener of its Harmattan Theatre Season, which runs December through February.
Unlike its nativity performance last year, Finding Adaora, 2MG’s original and oldest plays, is in no form or plot a Christmas play, rather was chosen for its small cast of six, and its ability to fit into the Hilton’s Zuma Grill Restaurant space with some clever ‘blocking’ by the theatre troupe’s creative director, Chidi Ukwu to create a theatre-in-the-round setting that enables actors perform within and around the dining audience.
Although a familiar concept in other cultures, both believe it is arguably the first of its kind in Nigeria, one that can open up a new space in the leisure industry that overlaps entertainment and hospitality.
“To have a play where actors and actresses engage diners is a completely different experience, one that will leave our guests with lots of memories,” said Hilton’s Commercial Director, Islam Elmmadah.
The idea of the dinner theatre collaboration originated over a year ago, with a production planned for Easter Eve, but the abrupt lockdown resulting from the global pandemic halted all best made plans. Hilton’s revisiting of the idea as part of its Christmas festivities picked up the discussion, albeit with a different play.
“This introduction has been a careful one. Finding Adaora is about a woman coming home or leaving a country and coming to her idea of what a home is. So, at Christmas, when people are not able to travel much this year, we think it will be interesting to see what is the view of Nigeria is from somebody who is coming from the outside,” says Ukwu.
To heighten audience experience and maintain social distancing, the director deploys blockings, a round theatre approach with no defined stage, and thinned out tables in the restaurant to seat a maximum of 45 diners per night, to enable actors weave in and out of the audience.
“The plot is not going to be unique. The script is the script but its interpretation in a space like this will be unique.
The result of the experimentation will determine the future of the partnership.
“We have high expectations that this will work and the guests will leave happy with the restaurant. We can move it from Zuma Restaurant to the fountain area, and do a different play there. The good thing is that we have a lot of spaces in the hotel where we can experiment with a whole lot of things,” said Elmmadah.
Should the experiment prove successful, it may likely affect 2MG’s non-elitist, and middle-class audience who cannot afford a N25,000 monthly leisure experience.
This audience demographic has a legitimate cause for concern, because as a result of the global pandemic, the company is yet to release its annual theatre seasons schedule.
2MG is also known for its experimentation with spaces, moving from Jabi Mall in 2018, to the Mediterranean Place last year, and now Transcorp Hilton. While the experimentation brought some creativity to the staging of theatric productions, it also impacts ticket prices.
“There are some things we should not do even if we could. One of those is to make a very big open production where people cannot socially distance from one another. The other thing is that this is only the beginning of a series of experience that are possible between us (2MG and Hilton).
“2MG’s Calendar is reopening, and as you know December is the beginning of our Harmattan Theatre Season of plays. We are already thinking about that calendar for next year. It is about finding spaces that allow us create a variety of experiences. Those who are curious about dinner theatre but looking for other things, there will be opportunities for them to come to other things, in different spaces,” responded Ukwu.
Elmmadah believes it’s not too late to plan for other classes of audience. “This is a kickoff of what we have planned for 2021. After this, we have 12 months to plan for more activities.”
Finding Adaora will open at Transcorp Hilton’s Zuma Grill Restaurant on December 24, 2020 and runs till December 26.
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