Femi Elufowoju jr

Femi Elufowoju jr born in Hammersmith, West London is the Creative Director of the company, His quest to place the heart of Africa on the global stage stems from his love of his home nation Nigeria and the untold stories of trials and triumphs from the many countries that form the continent.

Femi Elufowoju jr’s recent engagements include his new national touring production of The Little Prince adapted by Inua Ellams for Fuel. In 2019 his reinterpretation of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie for Watford Palace Theatre and Arcola Theatre was described as a “radical new reimagining” by The Guardian. In the same year Screen International announced he was set to step behind the camera and direct his first feature film, the UK-South Africa co-production Incensed, with principal photography commencing in Durban, South Africa.

In 1996 Elufowoju jr won a Regional Theatre Young Director Award from Channel 4 and the Cameron Mackintosh Foundation to train as a theatre director at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. The following year he became the first theatre director of African descent to establish a national touring company in the UK: Tiata Fahodzi. He artistically led the company for 13 years, directing and presenting more than thirty plays, including his production of Oladipo Agboluaje’s Iya-Ile: The First Wife a co-production with London’s Soho Theatre which subsequently garnered a Best Production in an Affiliate Theatre nomination at the 2009 Olivier Awards. In 2010, in pursuance of broader freelance developments, Elufowoju jr handed the reins of Tiata Fahodzi to his successor Lucian Msamati.

He has served as an Associate in key buildings around London and in the regions including Almeida Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Leeds Playhouse and the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich. In 2019 he won the Best Director ‘Offie’ Award for his Off West-End Production of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, a co-production between the Elufowoju jr Ensemble and Arcola Theatre, London.

Elufowoju jr returns often to his ancestral home Nigeria building alliances with notable creative cultural leaders including Governor Kayode Fayemi and the Ministry of Arts, Culture & Tourism, propelling Ekiti State to a position of national cultural excellence (Ado-Ekiti, 2012), Poet and Spoken word impresario Efe Paul Azino on Finding Home (Terra Kulture, Lagos, 2014), Author, producer and publisher Lola Shoneyin on The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (Aké Festival, Abeokuta, 2013), Google Nigeria as Voice director behind the Nigerian English accent on all Google platforms.(Lagos, 2015), Akin Adejuwon, Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria (National Theatre, Lagos 2015), Bolanle Austen Peters on Wakaa the Musical (Shaw Theatre, 2016) and most recently Teniola Olatoni on a reboot edition of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (Aké Festival, Lagos, 2018).

For BBC Drama Radio 3 and 4, Elufowoju jr has directed numerous plays including Burned to Nothing, Stages of Independence, The New Bwana, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives and Eve as part of the 2019 epic It Is Your Country Now Too series.

Alongside his directing career, Elufowoju jr has also made notable television appearances, including recent comedy series Year of the Rabbit for Channel 4, Enterprice and Little Miss Jocelyn for the BBC, serial dramas Silent Witness, Moses Jones, Wire in the Blood and Borgen. His film credits include The Saint, Mechanic: Resurrection and The Legend of 1900 for Giuseppe Tornatore. He continues to make guest appearances in Sex Education for Netflix.

Follow on social media