The Owl's! | 1 April 2012 05:20 CET

I’m Bitter Because I’ve Not Been Honoured With National Award - Justus Esiri

By tribune

No doubt, the cast in the Village Headmaster series wouldn't complete without the name, Justus Esiri, the man who made the drama a household name in the years past. He, however disclosed in an interview that, “before I featured in that programme, I never liked Village Headmaster because of the pidgin English. I was already in Lagos.

One day I was at home when someone came to tell me that I should come for an audition for Village Headmaster, because according to him, they had tried a lot of people and decided I should come.

“At the National Theatre on that day, everyone was seated and they said they were going on location by the weekend. I had never seen the script before then, so I took it home and read it through. The location was in Badagry. On that day, everyone, including Late Elsie Olusola, Funsho Adeolu, Joe Layode, Ibidun Allison, Wole Amele, everybody sat down watching because I had not worked with them before. To my surprise, by the time I finished that sequence, they were all clapping,” he narrated.

He disclosed further that,“When I am on set, I am a very deep person because of the belief that words have life and must be given life. People appreciated the way I handled Village Headmaster. Then Supple Blues, which was a different thing entirely. Then Things Fall Apart. There was a time I was three times weekly on network television. That is why I feel very bitter that of all the programmes I had done, those who took part in Samanja that came from the North of Nigeria, those who took part in the Masquerade and those who took part in other Yoruba programmes were given National honours, while I have featured in several plays and have not been recommended,” he lamented.

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