Dear Beloved Friend

Dear Beloved Friend:  Collaboration between Kininso Koncepts Production and Studio Dries Verhoeven

Director:  Dries Verhoeven

Event Organizers

  • Creative Producer:  Joshua Alabi
  • Performers:  Ayoola Odubona, Isreal Efosa Okpoko, Oloruniyi Zion Praise, Uche Enechukwu, Uche Mborogwu
  • Dramaturgy:  Miguel Melgares
  • Assistant Direction:  Casper Wortmann, Naomi Steijger
  • Technical staff:  Roel Even huis, Jeremiah Anthony Irabor, Titus Duitshof
  • Sound Design:  Peer Thielen and Adebayo Habib Olaore
  • Light:  Biokorogha Tumbra and Anthony Monday
  • Voice Over Artist:  Moshood Fattah
  • Internet Technician:  Bart Van De Woestijn and Omotayo Charles Ogunfeibo
  • Cinematographers:  Adedire Badejo, Blessing Olalekan Okunola, Abiola Semiu Peter
  • Set manager:  Athanasius Akojuru
  • Media Runner:  Ebenezer Obiji
  • Executive Production:  Lise van den Hout, Ellen van Bunnik, Angela Peters and Emmanuel Anya
  • Production:  Kininso Koncepts and Studio Dries Verhoeven
  • Administration:  Chinenye Chukwudi
  • Administration Assistant:  Aribilola Oloyede
  • Communication:  Aniefiok Inyang
  • Legal:  Praise Alabi

Description:  Dear Beloved Friend, a cross-Atlantic collaboration between Kininso Koncepts Production and Studio Dries Verhoeven, is a product of many months of connecting, thinking, planning and preparation between both studios. It premiered on the 4th of March 2023, in the form of live stream to theatres in the Netherlands. Adriaan Verhoeven; A Dutch Theatre Director, came to Lagos to start research on the future African Exodus and the continent’s birth explosion. But the longer he was in Lagos, the more he realized the current European dystopian mindset, responsible for fear mongering and nostalgia. In Lagos, he discovered a people bursting with energy, resilience and utopian thinking. Clearly, the apocalypse is not in fashion here. In a city known for its vibrant film industry, dries as he is always called, decided to create a work on the depiction of fear and longing for the future: because it’s the construction of images in our head that can make us tremble or thrive. The performance centers on the mass exodus of migrants to other continents in search of a future that may or may not exist or has long vanished. It mirrors the life of the Europeans and the unstable relationship they have with Africans. How will they solve this mass influx into their continent? Kininso brought together an impressive group of performers, cinematographers and technicians to bring this grand idea to life. The performance will be showing on 1st April, 19th and 20th May, and 9th-18th June in theatres in Netherland.