DISTINGUISHED scholars, theatre practitioners, creators, students, and lovers of the performing arts, I am deeply honoured to stand before you today, not only as a storyteller and media executive, but as a cultural descendant of a remarkable literary tradition. I come from the family of D.O. Fagunwa, the legendary Yoruba novelist whose richly imaginative works, such as Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale (The Forest of a Thousand Demons) have shaped Nigerian literature and theatre for generations.
For over 40 years, Fagunwa’s fantastical worlds have leapt from page to stage, dramatised in Yoruba and English, adapted by masterful directors, and performed across Nigeria and beyond. His stories were always ahead of their time, richly layered, morally complex, and populated with magical beings, spiritual quests, and cultural wisdom.
But today, as we gather to reflect on Technology, Intercultural Dialogue, and the Future of the Performing Arts, I ask us to imagine: What might become possible when such mythic narratives meet the tools of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, motion capture, and immersive theatre?
Could we one day walk through the forests of Fagunwa in a virtual experience — encountering Aroni with one hand, witnessing Akara-Ogun’s battles, and dialoguing with the unseen spirits — not just as audience members, but as participants?
Could AI allow us to simulate indigenous languages in real time, offering dynamic subtitling or linguistic immersion to audiences across cultures?
Could such technology help us archive, revive, and re-interpret ancient cosmologies that are at risk of fading into obscurity?
These are the kinds of questions that excite me — not just as a descendant of Fagunwa’s legacy, but as an advocate for what lies ahead for African storytelling when it fully embraces the digital stage.
In the 20th century, performance was rooted in presence — in immediacy, sweat, song, silence. Theatres were physical. The audience sat still. The drama unfolded in real time. Technology was helpful, but peripheral.
Today, the landscape is radically different.
Performance is now fluid.
The stage is both physical and digital. The audience scrolls, shares, and sometimes interacts from thousands of miles away. We stream plays on YouTube. We film spoken-word poetry with drones. We dance to sounds generated by AI.
But let me be clear: This is not the death of the performing arts — it is their rebirth.
The digital turn is not merely about using new gadgets. It is about rethinking performance itself — expanding its reach, reimagining its aesthetics, and inviting new modes of engagement.
Fagunwa’s The Forest of a Thousand Demons, for example, need not only be restaged on wooden floorboards. In this era, it can become a digitally immersive universe, complete with visual effects, interactive storytelling, and multi-sensory engagement. The mythic, magical world he envisioned — once limited to oral narration or the printed page — can now envelop global audiences in 3D environments or holographic installations. This is what excites me. Not just the modernisation of our heritage, but its transformation.
II. Intercultural Dialogue: Preserving Roots, Expanding Reach
The performing arts are no longer local experiences. Technology has turned culture into conversation. What was once oral, then textual, now becomes virtual.
This creates space for intercultural dialogue that is immediate and multidirectional. A traditional Yoruba performance can now be watched, critiqued, and celebrated by artists in Tokyo or Toronto — not months later, but in real time.
Yet this global exposure brings a crucial tension: How do we innovate without losing authenticity? How do we embrace plurality without succumbing to homogenization?
Here again, I return to Fagunwa.
His work, deeply indigenous, offers a model of cultural specificity that is universally resonant. The characters, proverbs, and cosmologies may be Yoruba, but the moral dilemmas and human truths are global. His stories remind us that local stories told with truth, depth, and creativity can resonate across borders.
And now, with the tools of AI, machine learning, and digital theatre, such works can be translated, subtitled, re-performed, re-contextualised — not to dilute their cultural identity, but to make their spirit travel further.
Intercultural dialogue is not about abandoning the roots. It’s about planting them in new soil.
III. The Future of the Performing Arts: A Call To Courage and Imagination
So what does the future look like?
It looks like a hybrid stage — where voice actors perform in Lagos, dancers perform in Berlin, and avatars perform in the cloud.
It looks like theatre curricula that teach stagecraft and storytelling for mobile screens.
It looks like AI-powered assistants helping a director sketch a virtual set, or a playwright generating multilingual versions of a script.
It looks like The Forest of a Thousand Demons performed in an interactive theatre dome, where audience members vote in real time to determine Akara-Ogun’s fate.
But beyond the glitter of technology, the future must still prioritise meaning. Emotion. Humanity.
Theatre has always been the art of presence. As we embrace tech, we must not lose touch. The intimacy. The moral mirror.