The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives is back due to popular demand!
Baba Segi has three wives, seven children, and a mansion filled with riches. But now he has his eyes on Bolanle, a young university graduate wise to life’s misfortunes. When Bolanle responds to Baba Segi’s advances, she unwittingly uncovers a secret which threatens to rock his patriarchal household to the core.
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives is a scandalous, engrossing tale of sexual politics and family strife in modern-day Nigeria. Lola Shoneyin’s bestselling novel bursts on to the stage in a vivid adaptation by Caine Award-winning playwright Rotimi Babatunde.
“Men are like yam, you cut them how you like.”
Femi Elufowoju jr once again directs a multi-talented African ensemble in the return of the “spectacular” 2018 smash hit, featuring live Yoruba music, songs and dance.
Produced by Arcola Theatre in collaboration with The Elufowoju jr Ensemble.
Don’t miss our exclusive event, An Audience with Lola Shoneyin. Join us for a live discussion with the literary icon and acclaimed director, Femi Elufowoju jr, on 17 May. Book your tickets here!
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Running time
150 mins (including an interval) -
Age guidance
18+ -
Content warnings
“Nothing short of spectacular”- The Guardian
“An emotional and jubilant production”- Afridiziak
- The Stage
- WhatsOnStage
- Evening Standard
Praise for the Previous 2018 Production of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
“The play’s energy never dips and the actors... give nuanced, charismatic performances. The effect is nothing short of spectacular”- The Guardian
“An acutely funny piece of theatre”- The Stage
“An unwavering spirit of playfulness that stands out above all else in this splendid production”- London Student
“There is a sense of joy and playfulness to the whole production”- Spy In The Stalls
“This is going to be one of the plays of the summer – hot, hot, hot”- IThankYouTheatre
"Belly-achingly funny ... This is theatre with a difference, with a spirit, which will open your eyes and worldview.”- Theatre Box
“Exuberantly entertaining ... enjoyably clamorous and unflinchingly serious”- Evening Standard
“A vibrant, musical, lyrical production ... fresh, entertaining and exuberant”- WhatsOnStage
“An emotional and jubilant production”- Afridiziak
“Joyous and enchanting from the moment the play starts it’s completely captivating”Love London Love Culture
Production photos
Rehearsal photos
The Company
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Kemi Adekoya
Iya Segi/Ensemble
Kemi Adekoya
Iya Segi/Ensemble
KEMI ADEKOYA is an established actress across screen and stage. She gained recognition for her role in the film “Blue Story” (2019) and further showcased her talent in the television series “Dreaming Whilst Black” as Aunty Lola. Her upcoming project, “Dreamers,” is set for release in 2025. Kemi is thrilled to be joining the cast of The Secret Lives of Baga Segi’s Wives in 2025.
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Mofe Akande
Iya Femi/Ensemble
Mofe Akande
Iya Femi/Ensemble
Mofetoluwa trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Her theatre credits include: FAMILY TREE (Actors Touring Company), A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Bristol Old Vic)
Television credits include: THE NEVERS (HBO)
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Ayan De First
Tunde/Musician/Ensemble
Ayan De First
Tunde/Musician/Ensemble
Ayan De First-Mr Culture multi-Awards winner is an African cultural Ambassador and the first premier talking drummer in Europe. He eats, breaths and promotes African culture to a wider audience. He started his career at the age of five performing with his dad and uncles. As his talent grew it became apparent that he was destined to become a musician which was a dilemma as a science student. He is a performing and visual artist, working within educational sector and has worked with over 500 private and community schools within UK delivering educational workshops on arts of Africa. He has performed with different musical bands in Britain at venues such as Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Ronnie Scotts, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Cambridge University and many more, and at festivals across Europe. A pioneer in many ways and a versatile artist, he has broken boundaries when he became the first African Talking drummer to perform for Her late Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II of Britain and The Royal Family at Buckingham Palace during Golden Jubilee anniversary. He has performed for His Majesty King Charles III three times in London. He performed for the likes of Sir Richard Branson, Harriet Hamman MP, former Transport Secretary Peter Lord Mandelson, former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Madonna. He has appeared on all British Television channels severally most especially on Channel 4 programme “Come Dine With Me”. His theatre plays include Tickets and Ties, The Secret Lives Of Baba Segi’s Wives directed by Femi Elufowoju Junior who initiated him into stage theatre plays.
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Ayo-Dele Edwards
Mama Bolanle/ Ensemble/Choral Arranger
Ayo-Dele Edwards
Mama Bolanle/ Ensemble/Choral Arranger
Ayo-Dele Edwards is an actor and singer-songwriter. A graduate of Mountview Theatre School, she has showcased her talents across theatre, radio, film, and voice-over work. Her passion for integrating music, dance, and movement into storytelling led her to create her solo play, Becoming, which weaves narrative with original songs to explore themes of identity, relationships and migration. Currently in development for a tour, Becoming builds on Ayo-Dele’s extensive stage experience. She is thrilled to return to the stage for this production. Theatre: BECOMING Stories & Songs (Ashmolean Museum) STILL BREATHING, Unlock the Chains collective (Sheldonian Theatre Oxford) HERE’S WHAT SHE SAID TO ME, Utopia Theatre/Sheffield Theatres THE SECRET LIVES OF BABA SEGI’S WIVES, Elufowoju Jr Ensemble, Arcola Theatre, and Lagos Nigeria IYALODE OF ETI (DUCHESS OF MALFI) (Utopia Theatre/West Yorkshire Playhouse) on Tour & Ake Festival (Lagos) THE COWFOOT PRINCE with USIFU JALLOH (documentary film) Vocalist/songwriter Short film: WAKE UP (Amazon Prime).
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Usifu Jalloh
Taju/Musician/Ensemble
Usifu Jalloh
Taju/Musician/Ensemble
Usifu Jalloh is a highly experienced, talented award-winning storyteller/performer, actor, and educator who has been working in arts education for over 30 years. His roots in multicultural Sierra Leone and his long-standing and close association with artists and audiences from various cultures have led him to develop a storytelling style encompassing international languages, music, dance, and story themes. He was born in Kamakwie in the Karene District of northern Sierra Leone. Usifu has a passion for motivating young people to educate themselves within the context of their culture. Along with Storytelling and music, he has established Maambena Fest and the National Storytelling Festival in Sierra Leone as the vehicles he uses to accomplish this laudable goal. His productions, Africa’s Cowfoot and The Cowfoot Prince Chronicles, serve as platforms for promoting Sierra Leonean and African cultures as a whole by embodying them within the rich Oral heritages of his ancestry. Usifu is the author of a collection of African stories, children’s storybooks, and a Teacher’s Handbook To Storytelling. He has also co-written and co-published an epic play, Sweet Peter, which represents the experience of slavery, colonialism, and war in Sierra Leone.
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Patrice Naiambana
Baba Segi/ Musician/Ensemble
Patrice Naiambana
Baba Segi/ Musician/Ensemble
Patrice Naiambana reprises the role of Baba Segi. He apprenticed as an African Theatre Artist in Sierra Leone and Chapeltown, Leeds under African Theatre Masters and playwrights Dele Charley (Tabule Tiata) and Yulisa Amadu Maddy (Gbakanda Tiata).
Recent screen work includes the multi-award winning short film, Best Supporting Actor Nomination – Jujuman – T. Ogunyinka, The Witcher -Netflix, Criminal Record – Apple TV, Damsel – Netflix, Death in Paradise -BBC Studios, Black Ops BBC, The Larkins – ITV, The Baby -HBO, House of Dragons – HBO, Inside No 9 – BBC, It’s A Sin – Channel 4
Theatre includes; Barbershop Chronicles The Royal National Theatre ( US, Australia and New Zealand Tour) Director Bijan Sheibani. Tree, Young Vic, Director Kwame Kwei Armah. For The Royal Shakespeare Company The Histories, Olivier Award for Best Ensemble, Director Michael Boyd, Aslan in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, Cymbeline, Director Adrian Noble, Othello in Othello, Director Kathyrn Hunter. For Arcola Theatre, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, Director Femi Elufuwoju Jnr, Marcello Magni’s Tell Them I Am Young and Beautiful, New Nigerians by Dipo Agboluaje, Director Rosamunde Hutt Pericles, The Globe, Director Kathryn Hunter, India Song, Theatre Clwyd, Director Annie Castledine Nina and the Neurons BAFTA Award, voicing Luke, Tinga Tinga Tales voicing The Lion Edinburgh Fringe First Award for his solo show The Man Who Committed Thought, collaborator Ian Leonard Ragamuffin, Double Edge Theatre, Director Napthali Agokun (Macbeth) Director Rufus Orishayomi, Makbet (Macbeth) written and directed by Dele Charley in blank verse pidgin.
Patrice is Lead Animateur of The Decolonial Salon facilitating interdisciplinary informal ensembles for citizen collaborations with exile heritage artists. He has been facilitating Diaspora Performance workshops/residencies for drama schools, universities and community settings nationally and internationally since 1991. He has written and conceptualised The Accused, Gravediggers and The Gospel of Othello canon. He is currently developing a mixed media solo show – Perception Gap.
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Tania Nwachukwu
Segi/Musician/Ensemble
Tania Nwachukwu
Segi/Musician/Ensemble
Tania Nwachukwu is an Igbo performer, writer and educator, born and raised in London. She is the co-founder of Black in the Day, a member of Octavia Poetry Collective and a Barbican Young Poets alumna. She trained at Mountview where she received her MA in Performance (Acting). She is a visiting lecturer at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and Mountview. Previous work includes: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (Arcola); The Kola Nut Does Not Speak English (Bush); All The Places We Could Travel (Derby); The Irregulars (Netflix).
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Dolapo Oni
Bolanle/Ensemble
Dolapo Oni
Bolanle/Ensemble
Dolapo Oni is a Nigerian-British actress, presenter, and MC with a dynamic career across the UK and Africa. She earned acclaim for her role as The Governor’s Wife in the Laurence Olivier Award-nominated play Iya-Ile (The First Wife). Her screen credits include the BBC mini-series Vexed, Desperate Housewives Africa, and the BBC short film For Love.
Beyond the stage and screen, Dolapo continues to make her mark in film and television. This year, she stars in two highly anticipated films: It’s the Blackness, the directorial debut of renowned actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim, and Dreamers, a BBC Film directed by Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February.
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Christina Oshunniyi
Iya Tope/Ensemble
Christina Oshunniyi
Iya Tope/Ensemble
Following an acclaimed, sold-out run at the Arcola Theatre in 2018, as part of Femi Elufowoju, jr Ensemble as – ‘Iya Tope in ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’- ‘a five star swaggering spectacular’ (The Guardian); Christina is excited and thrilled to back again reprising the same role. Her other theatre credits include: Here Is What She Said To Me (Utopia Theatre), AWO (UK), Inhiding, Esther’s Revenge (Lagos Theatre Festival, Nigeria).
Christina can currently be seen starring as ‘Laide Soyinka’ in the award winning feature film; ‘The Man Died’ based on the harrowing prison memoir written at the cusp of the Nigerian Biafran war by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. -
Diana Yekinni
Nurse/Ensemble
Diana Yekinni
Nurse/Ensemble
Diana Yekinni is a British Nigerian actress, from Peckham, London, with a dynamic career spanning film, television, theatre, and voice work. She honed her craft at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles and The Brit School in London. Her theatrical credits include significant roles in acclaimed productions such as Three Sisters at the National Theatre and Mrs.Cole with Complicité. Diana’s film career includes For Love (BBC), as well as Heart of Stone (Netflix), where she starred opposite Gal Gadot. Her television credits include Midsomer Murders (ITV), Doctors (BBC) and Murder Island (Channel 4) demonstrating her versatility across a range of genres. Her extensive voice-over work has further solidified her as a multi-talented performer, and she continues to explore new and exciting creative opportunities. You can currently see Diana in Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths. Her most recent role in Dreamers, where she plays Nana, gave her the opportunity to shed light on an important story. With a deep passion for her craft, Diana is committed to sharing her talent and connecting with audiences at every step of her journey.
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Rotimi Babatunde
Stage Adaptation
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Lola Shoneyin
Novel Author
Lola Shoneyin
Novel Author
Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian author, poet, publisher, bookseller, festival organiser and cultural activist. Her works includes three books of poems: So All the Time I Was Sitting on an Egg (1997), Song of a Riverbird (2002) and For the Love of Flight (2010) and eight children’s books. Her debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives was nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2011 and went on to win the 2011 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award and the Ken Saro Wiwa Prose Prize. Shoneyin is the founder of Book Buzz Foundation—an NGO devoted to promoting literacy, creating reading spaces, and organising cultural events such as the Ake Arts & Book Festival and the Kaduna Book & Arts Festival. In 2017, Shoneyin founded Ouida Books, a publishing house that supports and promotes creative writing on the African continent. In 2023, Shoneyin won the inaugural Aficionado Award presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair. She was also featured on the Financial Times list of the most influential women of 2023. In 2024, her children’s book Anyibo and the Mother Hen won the Akada Festival’s Children’s Book of the Year Award. Shoneyin lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria.
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Femi Elufowoju jr
Director
Femi Elufowoju jr
Director
Elufowoju jr was the founding artistic director of tiata fahodzi. In 2013 the Elufowoju jr Ensemble, conceived the stage adaptation of Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives which in the same year received its world premiere at the Ake Festival in Abeokuta, Nigeria. For Arcola Theatre, Elufowoju jr directed Hoard by Bim Adewunmi, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams (a co-production with Watford Palace Theatre) and in the summer of 2024, Suzan-Lori Parks’ The Book of Grace.Elufowoju jr directed Verdi’s Rigoletto for Opera North (2022) and in the same year directed and wrote a new libretto Der anonyme Liebhaber (based on the life of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges) for Konzert und Theater St Gallen.
Recognitions
- Olivier Nomination – Outstanding Production in an affiliate theatre (Iya-Ile, the first wife)
- Offie Winner – Best Director (The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives)
- South Bank Sky Arts Winner – Best Opera Production (Rigoletto)
Elufowoju jr was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to drama.
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ULTZ
Production Design
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Simisola Majekodunmi
Lighting Design
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Kemi Durosinmi
Choreographer
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Kemi Durosinmi
Associate Director
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Ayo-Dele Edwards
Choral Arranger
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Joe Prentice
Production Manager
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Elizabeth Khabaza
Stage Manager (on book)
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Samm Chang
Assistant Stage Manager
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Jodie Underwood
Lighting Programmer
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Shola Ajayi
Costume Supervisor