By Elizabeth Ogunleye
The world of theatre is often dominated by the actors who grace the stage, delivering powerful lines and captivating performances. Yet, behind every memorable production lies the dedication, skill, and creativity of individuals working tirelessly behind the scenes. When audiences cheer at the end of a play, do they think about the hands that built the set or designed the costumes?
At Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), three talented performing arts students, Adebajo Samuel (Theatre Director), Onashile Ayomide (Set Designer), and Okeneye David Olamide (Costume Designer), are defining what it means to bring a play to life. Through collaboration, improvisation, and a passion for storytelling, they demonstrate that set design, costumes, and visionary direction are essential tools that dictate the mood, theme, and overall impact of a play.
The Director’s Vision: Building a Story from the Ground Up
For Adebajo Samuel, a 400-level student of performing arts and theatre director, directing is about building many aspects of creativity into one integrated, impactful experience for the audience.
“Developing the vision for a play varies depending on the story,” Samuel says. “But it starts with understanding and analyzing the script.” Once he has a clear idea of how the play should look and feel, he takes a collaborative approach. “I communicate my vision by dropping ideas, and the crew has the right to remove or add to them. We work together to bring the vision to life.”
This teamwork extends to every stage of the production, from working with set and costume designers to overseeing rehearsals. When it comes to casting, Samuel seeks out actors with strong voices, effective line delivery, and the appropriate physicality for the characters.
Balancing the technical aspects with directing the actors may seem challenging, but Samuel has developed a system. “During rehearsals, I focus solely on the actors. Before or after rehearsals, I create time to oversee the technical aspects of the production,” he explains.
Like any director, Samuel, too, has experienced such creative setbacks. He recalls his experience where he was having a hard time turning a script into a stage performance, despite having read it multiple times. “I overcame it by cutting and editing some lines and scenes to give the play more life and make it more engaging for the audience,” he says.
His ability to think creatively under pressure also helps him manage last-minute issues, such as technical glitches or costume malfunctions. His go-to solution? “I improvise.”
Samuel is particularly passionate about the role of stage design and costumes in storytelling. “Stage design explains to the viewers, even before the actors speak, the setting of the production,” he notes. “Costumes add to the actors’ appearance, helping the audience understand what the characters are depicting.” He cites the example of Yemoja, a production in which the set and costumes played a vital role in conveying the mythological gods being portrayed by the actors.
His word of advice to aspiring directors, set designers, and costume designers is simple but meaningful: “Keep working hard. It will get rough at some point, but no stopping. Success takes hard work.”
Set Design: Crafting Atmosphere with Limited Resources
Onashile Ayomide, a 300-level performing arts student, is one of the creative minds behind OOU’s stage designs. Her process as a set designer begins with research, script reading, and a clear vision of the themes and tone of the tone. “Movies inspire my stage designs,” she reveals. “But the process starts with reading and digesting the script and carrying out research.”
Designing and building a set is a laborious process that requires commitment, creativity, and careful planning. Ayomide outlines the steps: “First, the designer must be committed to the job at hand. Then comes the analysis process, where you read the script and conduct research. The incubation process follows, where you gather important information and materials. Next is selectivity, where you choose the materials needed for construction, and finally, you implement the design and allow it to be evaluated.”
One of Ayomide’s most memorable experiences was designing the set for Echoes of the Drums by Ola Awakan, performed by OOU’s 200-level students. To bring the set to life, she had to source the materials from unconventional places. “I had to go into the bush to get materials like palm fronds and trees,” she recalls. “Working with them was quite memorable.”
Like many campus set designers, Ayomide often has to deal with budget, time, and space limitations. But she has mastered the art of improvisation. “Dealing with limited budgets has to do with improvisation,” she explains. To deal with time constraints, her team sometimes works overnight, a procedure known as “dress and tech.” As for space issues, she focuses on making the best use of what’s available.
Collaboration is key to Ayomide’s success. She works closely with the director to ensure that the set aligns with their vision and works with the costume designer to ensure that consistency is kept with the historical and cultural setting of the play. She also guides the actors on the layout and arrangement of the stage, helping them understand where to make an entrance, exit, and perform important actions.
“The set assists the actors in portraying the atmosphere and setting of the play, thereby enhancing their performance and mood,” Ayomide explains. In her opinion, a well-designed set can have a powerful impact on the audience. “The first contact between the audience and a performance is the set. If they like the set, they tend to be eager to watch the production, and it also helps them understand the play.”
Costume Design: Bringing Characters to Life
Okeneye David Olamide, a 400-level performing arts student majoring in Costume Design, takes a deeply personal approach to his craft. As the CEO and Creative Director of Roy’s Men's Fashion, Olamide is interested in costumes as a method of storytelling and character realization.
"Personal experience and surroundings inspire my costume designs," he says. "Sometimes concepts come to me in my sleep. My process begins with illustration, where I put my ideas on paper.”
Collaboration is essential in costume design. Olamide works closely with directors and actors to ensure that his designs suit the director's vision for the play. “While I have the freedom to be creative, the director has the final say,” he points out. “I must ensure that my designs enhance the overall production.”
Budget constraints are perhaps the biggest obstacle he has to contend with. “Limited funds can restrict my creativity,” he admits. But like Ayomide, he relies on improvisation and resourcefulness. He sews most of the costumes himself, but when time or cost is an issue, he rents out costumes instead.
Selecting the right fabrics, colors, and accessories is a thorough process. “I consider the character, the period, region, and cultural context of the play,” he explains. He also takes into account the psychological impact of colors and fabrics on the audience’s perception of the character.
Olamide has also had his share of memorable projects. One standout moment was creating the elaborate Maleficent costume for OOU’s 2024 costume parade, which took two weeks to make.
Another notable project was designing the costume for JBD, a corporate politician character in Who is Afraid of Solarin?
For Olamide, costumes do more than enhance a character’s appearance, they help actors embody their roles. He cites the psychological theory of Enclothed Cognition, which suggests that costumes influence an actor's thoughts, feelings, and behavior. “Costumes help actors get into character and communicate the character’s culture, period, time, and mood to the audience,” he explains.
Shining a Spotlight on the Unseen
Theatre may be renowned for its dazzling performances and dramatic monologues, but behind the glamour are the creative brushstrokes of directors, set designers, and costumiers whose work creates magic.
Adebajo Samuel, Onashile Ayomide, and Okeneye David Olamide embody those who give life to the theater with their participation, creating a participative and transformative art form. Their collaborative spirit, problem-solving skills, and creativity remind us that it takes more than just actors to make a production memorable.
In the world of campus theatre, where passion often compensates for limited resources, these unsung heroes work behind the scenes to turn visions into reality. From building elaborate sets to creating costumes that tell their own stories, they leave their mark on every stage they touch.
While their names may not be flashed across the playbill in bold letters, their contributions are felt in every scene, every line, and every moment of theatrical brilliance.
It’s high time we recognized that behind every great play are the hands behind the scenes that make the magic happen, and they deserve their standing ovation too.
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