Nick Monu

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Nicholas Monu

Ononuju Babatunde Nicholas Monu (born March 25, 1965 in Lagos ) is a Nigerian playwright , actor and director living in Austria .

Life

Nicholas Monu was born as the fourth child and second son of the Prince of Asaba, Obiora Monu, owner of the tax consultancy firm Obiora Monu & Co. in Lagos, and the mother Florence Monu (née Oluwo), a teacher at the Corona School in Lagos. He spent his early childhood in Nigeria until he and his entire family left the country at the age of four due to the Biafra War . For a short time the family lived with an uncle, who was ambassador first in Germany and then in Italy. Monu later attended elementary school at St Andrew's Prep School in Eastbourne and then went to Millfield School in Street, Somerset. In addition to an elite European education, he also received training in singing, sports and art.

After studying at the American University in Washington DC, and then from 1987 to 1989 at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Monu and eleven other students from English drama schools were invited to perform at the Chekhov Art Theater in Moscow in Anton Chekhov's play “ Uncle Vanya ”to play. Nick Monu was selected for the title role of the play.

Then Monu worked in England as a freelance performer for the stage a. a. in the productions “ Wind in the Willows ” from 1990 to 2001 at the Royal National Theater , “Talking in Tongues” from 1991 to 1992 at the Royal Court Theater and “Blues for Mr. Charlie” from 1992 to 1993 at the Manchester Royal Exchange. From 1994 to 1997 Nick Monu was a member of the ensemble of the Berlin Schaubühne on Lehniner Platz and played leading roles in, among others, “Hotel Orpheu”, “Orestes”, “Symposium” and “The Language of the Birds”.

In 1998 he returned to England temporarily and worked on many film and television productions in addition to the productions "Oroonoko" at the Royal Shakespeare Company , "The honest whore" and "Merchant fo Venice" at the Globe Theater . Nick Monu appeared in BBC ’s Eastenders , Holby City, TLC, The Whistle Blower and the films Stigma and White Hawk, among others.

In 2001 he was engaged in the speaking role of “Bassa Selim” at the Vienna Volksoper for the Mozart production “ Die Entführung aus dem Serail ”. In 2002 he commuted between Vienna and England and played " Othello " and "King Headley" at the Tricycle Theater in London. In 2003 he joined the ensemble of the Vienna Burgtheater and played in the productions “ Was ihr wollt ”, “7 seconds or In God we Trust”, “The goat”, “ Don Carlos ”, “ The cat on the hot tin roof ” and “ Sofasurfin ”with. In 2006 he played the speaking role "Bassa Selim" again at the Opera de Marseille, which was also his debut in France.

Since 2004 Nick Monu has starred in several German-language cinema and television films, including 2004 in " Four Women and a Death ", in 2005 in "Prisoners", 2006 in the crime scene episodes "Schattenspiele" and "Tod aus Afrika" as well as " Kommissarin " Lucas - German Angst ", in 2007 in the films" Nachtschicht 6 - Blutige Stadt "and" KDD - Scham "and in 2010 in" The unintentional kidnapping of Mrs. Elfriede Ott ".

In 2007 Monu appeared as Othello in the Salsibury Playhouse before moving to Lagos in 2008 . Between 2008 and 2013 he commuted between Lagos and Austria to offer sustainable education for people in the creative industries of his home country. For this purpose, the non-profit association “Friends of Monu and Monu” was founded in Austria in 2006 , which supports the development of such a project. Nick Monu is the chairman of the association, Roman Bönsch the secretary , Simone Monu the treasurer .

Nick Monu worked as producer and director with the direction of "Sonette XCIV" by William Shakespeare with Sir Alan Bates in 1999, as producer of the short film "Split Ends" - Cruzon Cinema, Soho, 2002, as well as the short film "Wienerin pretet" for the Mythos Modern festival, Vienna, 2008; In 2009 he directed “Swamp Dwellers” by Wole Soyinka , National Theater of Nigeria, as well as the music videos “Majoko” by Chka and “Hallo Hallo” by Leeway, and together with the Goethe-Institut Lagos he directed and led the workshop “ Construction sample "for Wole Soyinka's" A dance of the Forest ".

In 2010 Nick Monu played the main role of Christian Kracht's novel " I'll be here in the sunshine and in the shade " at the Basel Theater . He was also seen at the “ Alexanderfest ” 2010 in Augusta Raurica in the speaking role of Zeus.

In 2011 he staged the play “The Cost of Living” as a world premiere at Terra Kulture / Lagos, which Wole Soyinka invited to the Black Heritage Festival in April of the same year. In October 2011 the stage play “Hagelsteine ​​auf Zamfara” (English The Sentence) by the same author, Sefi Atta , a Nigerian play in German, had its world premiere at the Krefeld and Mönchengladbach theaters .

In spring 2013 he staged the play Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, also at the Krefeld and Mönchengladbach theaters . Then he and his wife took over the Matombo gallery in the heart of Salzburg's old town , where he is the curator of countless exhibitions of traditional and modern art from Africa. In 2015 he gave a reading with excerpts from Opera Wonyosi by Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka as part of the opening ceremony of the Salzburg Festival in the gallery.

In January 2016 he made his debut at the Hamburg Thalia Theater in the role of father Joad in the stage adaptation of Steinbeck's novel Frucht des Zorns , directed by Luk Perceval .

He has been married to the Austrian designer Simone Monu since 2005 and has three children.

Filmography

Awards

  • 2011 Lagos Heritage Festival - Best Nigerian Theater Play - THE COST OF LIVING
  • In 1990 Monu won the Evening Standard Award for directing Talking in Tongues at the Royal Court Theater, following a Manchester Evening News nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
  • In 1993 he won prizes in the categories of Best Director and Best Short Film at the South African Film Festival in Harare for “After the Wax”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Salzburg Festival / Blog. In: www.salzburgerfestspiele.at. Retrieved July 12, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Fruits of Wrath. In: Thalia Theater. Retrieved on July 12, 2016 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Monu, Nick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Monu, Nicholas; Monu, Ononuju Babatunde Nicholas Nick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Nigerian playwright, actor and director
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Lagos , Nigeria