TAIWO AJAI-LYCETT: GARLANDS FOR THE MATRIARCH OF NOLLYWOOD AT 81

By Bukola Lasisi

It was a long night of successive nightmares. They came short and blur. For the sinus that soaked the whole body, she would have turned the other side and begin another round of sleep. Even from her subconsciousness, she wriggled and wriggled until a ray of light pierced the gateway of her eyes through the window, causing eyelid twitching. Oh, the sun had come too early to say good morning.

 

A conversant rustic voice bellowed out from the veranda, ” If you are not out here in 10 seconds, you are dead.” Yes, she would later die that same day, but not without leaving everybody in the house dents. She made a quick dash out of her bed. Like a rookie drunkard, she stumbled on her face. That pain won’t be compared with the rain of diatribes that would follow should her mother meet her in the room. She pulled herself up and made for the door in a breasted wrapper, in a flip, she felt an impact of a wicked lightning on her face and on a bare floor, she fell flat.

 

She woke up in a hospital bed to arrays of questions bombarding her sick brain. “Who was responsible?” “Who was the father?” “Did he drug you?” Didn’t you tell him you are just 15?” “Why didn’t you tell me?” Every question had a symphony of tears. Mother’s tears are contagious, even when you can not fathom the cause. Though confused, mother and daughter switched into a duet performance of cries.

 

It was a cloudy sky. It was going to rain. It was going to be a bad rain with thunderstorm. Her reign may be seized forever by the rain. It was tears in the rain, nobody seems to notice the pain. Her world was crumbling in her presence. Her words were useless in their presence.  The future is doomed. The mental torture was overbearing. Within her, she preferred to die. The agony was too much to carry. She has put the family to shame, so, she must pay for same. Finally, her father got his voice, “You can not stay in my house with pregnancy at age 15, therefore, be ready to get married to a man that put you in a family way immediately”

 

A usual Nollywood melodrama you may say. But the story could represent that of a super star octogenarian that is only known for excellence and professionalism on stage and screen. A British trained Nigerian actress of over fifty years’ experience at home and abroad, journalist, television presenter, and a cosmetologist, Taiwo Ajayi Lycett OON, FSONTA, FUTA has done so much, achieved so much and equally demonstrated indefatigable energy and zeal in the Nigerian theater world. She is a legend who exudes professionalism and perfectionism in her performances.

 

“I was apparently, a forward”, precocious, and smart-assed child, who enjoyed and performed well in school, from all accounts. After dropping out of school ignominiously and unceremoniously, as a teenage mother, I made a solemn promise to myself to get a sound, qualitative education, followed by a successful professional career, and a meaningful life of purpose, whatever it took.” Taiwo quipped.

 

Growing up, at a tender age of 15, Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett became a mother and had to drop out of school. It wasn’t a smooth ride as expected considering the shame and disgrace she brought upon her household. Disowned by her family, she was on her own by the time she was 16. Adebanji Adefolaju, the man who got her pregnant agreed to marry her when her father insisted.

 

As fate would have it, he died in the Lalupon train disaster of 29th September, 1957. He was among the 370 travelers, and one among the 66 passengers that died. Consequently, there was no marriage and the family thought the situation had caused a bad name for them. So, she dropped out of school, ignored and became the maid of the house. Remarkably, she didn’t retire into self pity, she kept moving. She had her eyes on the goals- ‘I must be educated. I must make it in life.” She enrolled for evening classes because for her, education was very important. Fortunately, she got her first job as an assistant teacher at St. Paul catholic school, Costain.

 

Taiwo Ajai Adefolaju-Lycett, OON, FSONTA, FUTA is an Awori Princess from the Ashade Dynasty in Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos State. She was born on the 3 February 1941 at 27 Ondo Street West, Ebute Metta, Lagos, and attended Mount Carmel Convent School, Ebute Metta East, and Methodist Girls’ High School, Yaba, Lagos. To further her studies, she travelled to London to study Business Administration. She took courses at Christine Shaw School of Beauty Science in London, where she received a certificate in cosmetology. She also attended Hendon College of Technology, where she obtained a Higher National Diploma in Business Studies in 1969.

 

Later on, an opportunity presented itself. A letter came from the UK from a mutual friend of her child’s father who had married and resettled in the UK. They used to meet at her child’s fathers house when he was alive. Then she got another letter from one David Akinduro introducing himself as the friend to the friend who sent the first letter. He said he heard all that happened to her and if she didn’t mind she could come to England to marry him.

 

Young Taiwo showed her mother the letter, which mother showed her father. But her father refused to let her go. However, this time, Taiwo insisted on going to England to marry the stranger as she could no longer continue living the life of a maid. She wrote back and agreed to marry him. That decision apparently opened up a new chapter in her life.

 

A professionally trained Broadcast Artiste as Television and Radio Presenter. Taiwo presented for several years, from the BBC, Bush House, London, the then popular CALLING NIGERIA, a weekly magazine programme. She was in the 1970s, an Associate Editor of AFRICA MAGAZINE, a socio-economic-political magazine, based in Paris and London, published by the late Ambassador Ralph Uwechue. She was also the Pioneer Editor of AFRICA WOMAN, the companion publication for Africa men and women in the Diaspora.

 

She is a trained Counsellor and Life Coach, a Social Commentator, an Educationist, Entrepreneur, Advertising and Public Relations Communication consultant.

 

The consummate Octogenarian who stumbled into acting describes her first contact with showbiz as a classic piece of talent spotting. Her acting debut was in December in 1966 in Wole Soyinka’s ‘The Lion and the Jewel’, a two-act comedy directed by William Gaskill at the Royal Court Theatre in London.  “I was Sitting in the foyer of London’s avant-garde ROYAL COURT THEATRE, I was seen by the legendary, William “Bill” Gaskill, one of the leading Shakespearean directors of his day, and the then Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre.”

“I was dressed like a model in those days; I looked unusual, not artistic but very elegant. He walked across the foyer of the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square and asked if I was an actor. I said no, I was just waiting for my friend Yemi. He then asked if I would mind being in the play. Wole Soyinka’s new play, THE LION AND THE JEWEL which was then in rehearsal. I said I’d think about it. Thus, in retrospect, my acting career was launched.”

 

 

A black woman acting in a popular British mainstream role was a rarity in those days. She left an ineffaceable impression, a very positive one. This doyen of stage and screen acted with such grace and elegance that till today inspire all and sundry.

 

In 1972, she fully left her corporate career and joined the Traverse Theatre Group for the Edinburgh Festival. She was later in a string of television and stage shows. In 1976, she played the lead role in Yemi Ajibade’s Parcel Post at the Royal Court Theatre. She was a director with the Black Theatre Workshop in London. Since returning to Nigeria in 1976, she has appeared in several notable Nigerian films, including Tinsel, the award-winning Nigerian soap opera, Winds Against My Soul, For Better For Worse, The Young Ones, The Honourable, Eyo Fancy, King Of Boys,  and Stage productions – The Divorce, The Vogue, Death and The King’s Horseman, The King Must Dance Naked, The V Monologue, Hear Word Naija Woman Talk True, etc

Unfortunately for Taiwo Ajayi Lycett, the husband she married in the UK became abusive at some point. She divorced him and moved out. Interestingly, she met Lycett afterwards and eventually, married him. With Lycett, she found love. She describes their marriage as blissful saying that ever since his death, she remembers him every day and as long as she lives, she can never forget him.

 

Unfortunately, after the death of her husband, another tragedy struck in 2006. Back in Nigeria, Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett was raped in her home in Egbe. The same building housed TAL HOUSE, a private school she was running at that time.

Describing her life’s experiences in general, the thespian describes it as being through the fire and furnace but coming out fortified. But in all of the upheavals of life, TAL remains focused, determined and forward looking. At 81, she has remained a foremost African goddess of the screen and stage. A testament of the talents we have in Nigeria, she is a beacon to the whole community of actors and artistes.

Age they say is strictly a case of the mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. Here is wishing the octogenarian many more years of informing, educating and entertaining people over the world.

Picture credits- Internet