Yemi Ajibade

Adeyemi Olanrewaju Goodman Ajibade was a British-Nigerian playwright. He was a royal prince of the house of Ọ̀ràngún from Ìlá Òràngún, Osun State, Nigeria. He developed an early love for theatre while attending Abeokuta Grammar School and furthered his education in London, studying at Kennington College of Law and Commerce in 1955, The Actors’ Workshop in 1960, and the London School of Film Technique (now the London Film School) from 1966 to 1968.

In a career that spanned half a century, he directed and wrote several successful plays and performed in television, stage, radio and film. His first play Parcel Post premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 1976. Ajibade’s subsequent plays included Fingers Only (originally entitled Lagos, Yes Lagos when it was broadcast by the BBC in 1971 and published in Nine African Plays for Radio in 1973).

In 2008, at an All-Star Gala held at Theatre Royal Stratford East, Ajibade was honoured as a leader of British-African theatre.