Bola Agbaje
{{short description|British-Nigerian playwright (born 1981)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox playwright
| name = Bola Agbaje
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| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1981}}
| birth_place = St Thomas' Hospital, London, England
| occupation = Playwright
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Bola Agbaje {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSL}} (born 1981) is a British playwright of Nigerian descent.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080501163405/http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8821209377116 "The Write Stuff: Stenham & Other Courtiers"], What's on Stage, 28 April 2008.
Biography
Agbaje was born at St Thomas' Hospital in the Waterloo area of London to Nigerian parents, her father a civil servant and her mother a cook, and grew up in on the North Peckham Estate.{{Cite web|url=https://blackwomenineurope.com/bola-agbaje-one-of-englands-most-talented-playwrights/|title=Bola Agbaje – One of England's most talented playwrights|work=Black Women in Europe|author=Adrianne|date=24 April 2012|accessdate=8 March 2025}} She briefly lived in Nigeria between the ages of six and eight. After beginning her studies at Identity Drama School, Agbaje withdrew and instead joined the Royal Court Theatre's Young Writers Programme.
Formerly an actress, Agbaje's works explore the African condition both in England and abroad, mainly exploring the assimilation and social dynamics in African communities.Young, Carlene. "Assimilation And Social Change Dynamics in African And African American Communities." vol. 27, no. 3 (Fall 2003), p. 164-175.(n.d.): Web. 13 March. 2016 Works such as Gone Too Far!, and Belong examine these elements alongside the tensions and conflicts between racial and ethnic identities.Reinelt, Janelle. "Forum: Creative Ambivalence And Precarious Futures: Women in British Theatre." vol. 62, no. 4 (Dec 2010), p. 553.(n.d.): Web. 14 March. 2016.
Agbaje's first play Gone Too Far! was produced at the Royal Court Theatre in London, where it won the 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.[https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/gone-too-far-on-tour-2/ "Gone Too Far! on Tour"], Royal Court, 2008. It was later revived for very brief runs at the Albany Theatre and Hackney Empire.
Agjabe also wrote the plays The Burial and Belong.Bayes, Honour (7 May 2013), [https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/the-burial-2 "The Burial"] (review), Time Out.
In 2018, Agbaje was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL), one of 40 under the age of 40 elected in an RSL initiative designed "to address historical biases".{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/28/royal-society-of-literature-40-under-40-fellows|title=Royal Society of Literature admits 40 new fellows to address historical biases|last=Flood|first=Alison|date=2018-06-28|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-07-03}}
References
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Category:Black British women writers
Category:English people of Nigerian descent
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Category:Laurence Olivier Award winners
Category:Writers from the London Borough of Lambeth
Category:Writers from the London Borough of Southwark
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