Damilare Bolatito is a student, a star actor and a stage manager. He has made a name for himself at the “Pit” and is making a name for himself beyond the Pit. He is doing so by following the footsteps of every other successful thespian who graced the “Pit” before him, like Yemi Elesho, Asake and other OAU alumni artistes. He is doing this right under the bright stage lights of Pit Theatre, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, as a 300 Level Dramatic Arts student. Damilare Bolatito has proved himself to be a force to be reckoned with.
He is an enthralling actor and a fantastic stage manager, and he orchestrates performances that leave audiences enchanted. At his young age, Damilare has already earned a reputation amongst his set and beyond as a threat in the world of stage theatre, as he balances his academics with scripts and meeting deadlines with light sets.
“The Pit feels like home,” he says with a grin, recalling how his first standing ovation felt like in one of the conversations had with him randomly, and right then in this interview, he delves into the story and Damilare opens up about his passion for acting, the chaos and companionship of the backstage, and how he’s going about chasing his dreams.
What inspired you to choose dramatic art as a course in OAU, and then go into stage management as a student, and how have these roles shaped your creative journey
Damilare leaned back and sighed. “Well, there were many things that inspired me to choose dramatic arts as a course, actually when i was in Secondary school, Olive Branch College in Ibadan, well, I am a kind of an extrovert in person, uhm I like being social, I like people to know me and I like fame. I was everybody’s friend in secondary school. I was even given an award for being the “most friendly guy”, and there was an opportunity that came my way to join the drama group of my school then. I acted the role of “Old Soldier” and people were like wow in my school, they and they were like they had never seen this kind of acting before, and I kind of became a mini celeb in my school then, “like I blew”. Then the proprietress of my school invited me again to act in another role for her birthday party, and she paid me for the production, and everyone loved it, and from there, I started seeing myself as an actor.
How it shaped my creative journey, ah, okay! So, since then, I have seen the world as my stage and I have loved acting, communicating and connecting with audiences more. I love cooking as well. Those two, acting and cooking, I love them.
And when i was looking for the best school to go, my brother was in OAU then and he was in Music department when they were together in the same building with Theatre arts, I fell in love with the building structures while seeing actors acting then and their rehearsals and it really entered my head and then I concluded that it is OAU dramatic arts or no other place.
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How do you balance your academic responsibilities, life and having to memorise scripts with the demands of rehearsals and performances in general and in your productions, e.g “House of Ghazaal” and internalising them
So, regarding your question, if I am given a role, if I am in like three productions now together, I put my all, and I am the kind of guy who acts like I am already doing the production during rehearsals. And I am not like, this is rehearsal, I should hold up, no, no, no, the energy that I used to start the rehearsal is what I will use to finish. I am never a dull guy, and even if I am given a script, I add my creativity to it that the director will find very pleasing, that he will find either very funny or something nice, and this will give merit to his or her production. And about internalising my roles, sometimes I read about them online, my ChatGPT, I ask it, for example, “how can I act like a thug?” There was a time I was given the role of a village school teacher, and I had to search online who Lakunle is, the name of the teacher and internalised it and saw myself as that person at that point
How do you cope with this stress?
It is when you’re in this kind of position that is when you’ll know how to cope with the stress. I can never say one practical thing to do. I can just say the practical way I go, that is how it is going to work out for any other person. The way I cope with the stress is that most times, I run my clothing brand business. The way I run everything is by having a good plan. I plan and schedule my rehearsals for at most four hours per day, and from there, I go to class. So I won’t lie to you, it is when you’re not settling your plans very well that’s when you’ll have problems with dramatic arts. I just plan my life and schedule, that’s all.
You are also a stage manager. How did you decide to add this together as an actor?
It was when I was in Part 2, I loved to be seen everywhere, maybe singing, acting and all like I said, danced at first and later wanted to go into directing, but waved it off. But then I realised that stage managers are the closest to the directors, and they are also called backstage directors. I did a course in part 2- 201, and I enjoyed the whole process from the beginning to the end, even though there were some challenges for me that I overcame. I worked with 3 directors, and they loved me so much. Nifemi, Damilola and Onaopemipo and I did not have any issues with them, and I was like, let me go for stage managing, and then I loved the part of taking stage choreography, geographies, measurements and gauging the stage. I know how to do a prompt very well. I learnt it and all those kinds of things. Directing influenced me to love stage management.
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Who are your influences in the movie industry, Nollywood and beyond? Who are those you look up to?
Thank you so much for the question. I wouldn’t say I have big influences in the industry because every individual is exceptional in their way. I believe everyone in the movie industry are who i look up to per say but I can make honourable mentions to people like RMD(Richard Mofe-Damijo) he is someone I respect a lot and he is so versatile in acting, he is versatile in acting and he has been here for a long time. Even Femi Adebayo and Kunle Afolayan, wow, he is someone I would love to work with as an actor, even as a crew member, because he is a great man.
Let me add Muyiwa Ademola, and I like him because he is very versatile; there is nothing he can’t do, like there is no character he can’t portray on set. Let me say this, people I look up to are those people in my department who are better than me, honourable mentions to Badmus, Jola, and Tolu. My friends, because they are my friends, because I believe that in all the areas they chose, they are so good there, very exceptional. The whole of the Pit theatre people are my inspiration, that’s what I will just say.
Where do you see yourself after school, let’s say in the next five, ten years?
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Where I see myself is in the movie world, Nollywood, Hollywood, any “wood.” I am going to make sure I practice theatre and going to make sure I use my brain, the world feels my creativity because theatre is art and entertainment is life. It is not like I study theatre now and I will be going to do office work, no, no, no. I am going to choose the theatre again and again.
So I am going to be in the movie world either as an actor, part of the crew or backstage. I had an opportunity to study in South Africa, but I came here. So now I am going to further my studies in film production after school. I am going to bring my creativity to the industry, so you guys should watch out for me and my guys; we are bringing something great to you soon. You should watch out.
Damilare Bolatito is a 300-level Dramatic Arts student, and he set OAU’s Pit Theatre on fire with his dazzling performances and his great acting skills. He stole the hearts of many as the “Old Soldier” in his secondary school to getting applauded at the Pit theatre. He’s a creative force that balances academics, rehearsals, and his clothing brand with love and passion for cooking.
Inspired by Nollywood greats like Richard Mofe-Damijo and his talented OAU peers, Damilare is creating a bold path for himself, with his great dreams of dominating Nollywood and even Hollywood through film production.