By Damiete Braide
Matthew Yusuf is the Chief Executive Officer, One House Lighting Crew and he honed his skills in theatre productions from The Performance Studio Workshop (PSW) in Lagos.
Yusuf told Daily Sun the Performance Studio Workshop served as a training ground where people learnt various aspects of theatre within a short period of time – from acting, dancing, stage management, administrative functions in theatre, costumes and as a technical individual. According to Yusuf, “PSW was owned by Chuck Mike and worked in collaboration with MacArthur Foundation, British Council, Sister Help, and other corporate organisations to do training. We were privileged to learn a lot about various forms of theatre production.
“For me, getting into a Performance Studio Workshop was a very tough one, because, after completion of my secondary school, my parents wanted me to go to the university or polytechnic. I had that decision of what I wanted to become as an individual.
“I wanted to be an actor and a dancer. When I saw opportunities at the Performance Studio Workshop, I took advantage of it because it was a sponsored program and to get that opportunity, one had to pass an audition. After the auditions, I was one of the lucky fifteen students chosen from 500 participants.
“When I was selected, all I needed was to get my parents to sign the reference form which became very tough because my father wanted me to go to university after I completed my secondary school. It was a battleground for me and my father and my mother were able to intervene.
“I got into PSW, and life was a tough one, but it was a good opportunity to learn so many things. I met many veterans and professionals in the theatre industry. 15 students started the journey into PSW but only the right students graduated from the academy.
As fate would have it, he emerged as the best student in his set and later became close to his technical director and mentor, Tayo Oyewusi, who taught him the rudiments of being a technical director.
“One day, Oyewusi (Taffy) walked up to me and said, ‘Do you think you really want to be in this profession?” And I said, ‘Yes’. He said, “Don’t deceive yourself being an actor; I think the best space for you is the technicals, and that was it. That was the day I decided to shift my focus and all the dreams I have into technicals; and I actually love the lighting. “Honestly, I never thought I was going to do film lighting, though theatre was my first love, and I got into the space as I learned from scratch. It became part of me, then I learned if just a few of us and with my mentor then. Working with him gave me the opportunity to have more experience and many ways of working on different kinds of projects.
“I started getting jobs as a lighting designer after he left the country, and most of the jobs meant for him were given to me to handle.
“Through this process, I started getting references and working on different projects. To be honest, there was not a lot of money in the theatre and to survive. I was actually renting most of all the equipment. and I was not having enough to fall back to as profit at the end of the day. I took that discipline and, because I was still living with my parents at that point, I was able to save some money.
“For each project, I had to save some money, and I had to call my friends in the States and London to help me buy some used equipment. I sent them money and they helped me buy one or two. That was how I started getting basic equipment.”
Later, he had the opportunity to work with Common Ground Production as a Lighting Assistant, where he fell in love with film lighting.
“I stumbled into film lighting, I didn’t go to school for film lighting. I learnt on the job. I did a couple of works with people behind the scenes. My first television job was with Jade Osiberu, which came on a platter of gold when Zainab Kazeem introduced me to Osiberu.
“One day, Jade asked me if I would do “Gidi Up 2”, and I said yes, though I never had the experience of working on a television set, and she took that big risk.
“I want to say a special thank you to Jade, who made me what I am today. She took a very big risk by helping me work on a project. After ‘Gidi Up 2’, I have worked on some big projects in Nigeria, and I have worked with different production companies.
“In most of the projects that I have worked on, I put in my best and that has given me that level and has helped me grow from that space.”
Some spectacular movies he has been involved in include Nneka the Pretty Serpent, Living in Bondage, RattleSnake, Gangs of Lagos, Brotherhood, among others.
Photo: Mathew Yusuf