I’ve not had the luxury of kissing on set –Efe Orhorha

Efe Orhorha is the wife of Jude Orhorha, a disciplined and passionate actor whose career has spanned over two decades.

From a background where both parents are entertainers, Efe has transversed between the screen and stage. Sit back and enjoy this interview, she had with ORJI ONYEKWERE.

It appears you have other things taking your attention away from movies?

I am not just limited to movies, I also do stage productions and you know stage takes a lot of time because of rehearsals and other things. Of course, I have a few movies that I have done and I am still doing; those are not out yet and I still do business on the side. You cannot just stick to acting alone in this part of the world.

You started with theatre performance studio.

I did my training under Chuck Mike.

You have acted with industry’s greats like: Shola Fosudo, Felix Okolo and Bayo Okunneye?

Uncle Bayo and Felix are directors. Uncle Bayo used to be with the National Troupe of Nigeria. Uncle Shola Fosudo used to be a Dean of the Theatre Arts Department, Lagos State University, Ojo, and I think he may have retired by now. He was also an actor and a director before becoming a lecturer.

But theatre seems to be your strength because that happens to be your main background?

I was born into it, though my parents are late but they were also legends in their own right. My father died as early as 1982 on October 1. He worked with legends like Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Herbert Ogunde, Victor Olaiya, Bobby Benson etc. My mother was a foremost costumier and make-up artist and one of the pioneer members of Nollywood. She too passed on in the year 2000. For me, theatre is in born before I had to go to Performance Studio to get more training.

Your father happens to be a magician too?

He was an actor, a magician, fire eater and fire dancer. Not that kind of professional magician like Professor Shina Peller.

I wanted to ask, as a child you saw him perform magic and now as an adult, how do you see magic performances, is it something genuine?

I was very little just six years, when he passed. I got most of the information from our eldest brother who is also a director based in Port Harcourt and his name is Fred Mayford. Then we saw his performance pictures and as little as I was then, I remember that the likes of Sunshine Sisters of those days used to come and perform in our house those days when one of us is either having a birthday or other celebrations.

Your first movie was ‘Glamour Girls’ and people saw the movie as an expose of the operations of ‘runs girls’. Did featuring in that kind of movie then affect you negatively?

No. I made a cameo appearance. It was just one appearance as Lizzy Benson’s younger sister. I was not part of the runs girls; rather I was the one that gossiped.

Stage actors don’t get the recognition they ought to have like their screen counterparts. Do you agree?

I wouldn’t say it’s a problem because screen is screen, everybody now has television and smart phones. For stage performance, it’s only those that were properly seeing stage plays in schools or churches that would want to go and see live stage performance. Again, stage performance is gaining popularity these days because of the presence of social media and a lot of people respect stage actors more because they feel they are well-grounded.

Why is it so, for stage you have the luxury of rehearsing with everyone on the cast and it’s a learning curve. That’s why for me, I will like to go back to stage because that’s where I shape my skills as an actor. For TV or screen, you don’t get to know most of the cast apart from those that you are directly connected to. Gone are the days people come together for rehearsal for screen.

Those days you can go for rehearsals for a week to get acquainted with everyone, but these days even when you are watching, you will say, ‘so this person was in this movie?’ because you didn’t have scenes together. All because both of you may not be aware that you are in the same project. Stage is larger than life because there’s so much exaggeration but television is television and I can be at home and watch everything with my smart phone. With the advent of YouTube and the social media this has made the screen very popular and that’s just the difference.

Do you ever get carried away when you are on set with your husband?

No. We both respect our positions as actors 100 percent. I hardly act with my husband and I don’t think I have done up to four movies with him. Even if we are paired, he is there to work and I am also there to work. If I ever have any reason to visit in the course of his work maybe because I am around the vicinity but I respect him and also he does same.

When one of you gets a romantic role, does the other partner feel jealous?

Like I said, both of us are highly professional and jealousy doesn’t come to play. To the glory of God, I think I am a bit selective in the kind of roles I take. And think I can’t go to some extent even before I got married. It’s not about the marriage, it’s about me because we are mirroring the society and I want to act, to pass a message and so I have some boundaries.

What’s your opinion on the complaint by some actresses about the way the guys kiss on set? Some of the women complained about not being uncomfortable with kisses and that some people have mouth odour

Since the history of my career I don’t think I have had to kiss. In most cases, I get to play the motherly roles and I have not had the luxury of kissing on set, so I can’t give you a vivid answer. The only thing I can say is that as a professional, you should know what to do because acting is make believe. Even some of the people you think know this job; you will be shocked to see they have no idea.

Some actors work to get over real maybe when they see someone they like. There’s a lot of infatuation in the industry and when they see someone that’s beautiful or handsome in the industry, what comes to your mind is ‘oh, let me kiss this person or that person’ leaving out the professional angle.

I know that some actors go as far as asking who is the person playing this character and this is because they just want to know who they want to share saliva with .You don’t necessarily have to share a saliva because we all watch foreign films and we see how they do these kisses but we over do this in this part of the country.

We just want everything to get real. It’s not everybody you see on screen that’s an actor. If you are a trained actor you will know this and you will not need to be told. Even your directors knows this also but some ‘wannabe’ that probably got into acting for popularity sake want to appear on screen at all costs.

Some people don’t even need the money, they just want to be on screen and be known. People like that will go all the way and we know how they end up. It’s an individual thing and nobody forces you to do anything. You have a script and nobody comes on screen and says you must kiss because you must have gotten your script and read through it.

So, if you feel it’s something you cannot do, why go for it. I blame you for taking up a role and you now say somebody’s saliva smells; take it because you didn’t ask questions. You that knew you were going to kiss, you know how this breathe is, so you get yourself prepared. You have mint and chewing gum, there’s mouth wash but like I said, why are you going into deep kissing, will it make the movie sell more? It’s make-believe.

What’s that thing an actor needs to know and learn to make him/her a professional?

It’s not everybody that went to read theatre arts in the university that can act. For me, acting is inborn and you must know that you have the basic training as an actor before picking theatre arts as a course. If you are doing theatre there are other courses, it doesn’t necessarily have to be acting. I started acting from a young age.

My mother was doing kiddies Showtime in LTV 8 that time, as far back as early 80’s. I actually started acting as a kid actor but we didn’t have so many programmes, it was just limited. My first major movie as a teenager was ‘Whirlwind’ but I can’t remember who produced it because it’s been a long time. You must start from somewhere either from your dramatic society in school.

READ ALSO: Carrie Fisher’s ‘Star Wars’ gold.

Something will prompt you to know that yes, ‘I have this skill’ and I can now decide to further it by going to the university. After leaving the university, you can think of attending workshops seminars and conferences and trainings that have to do with acting. A lot of people force acting but acting is natural. You need to go through the process either by joining your church group or other theatre group.

People come to me to say, I want to act and I will ask them, what have you done before. Some people when you tell them the truth, they will feel this person does not want me to act. Because I might be in production with you and must have seen where you made mistakes and I feel why not change to something else rather than say you want to act because there are other things you can fit into. There are very good directors that cannot act. You need to know if you have it and then ask questions so that people can guide you but don’t let people fool you. After going through the university some people discover early that this acting is not for them and they go into directing, props, costuming and script writing etc.

There are many aspects of acting you can get involved in. Like when people come to me, ‘oh I want to act’. I always ask them if this is a passion for them or they just want to act. If you want to act because you want to be popular you have missed it and you cannot last.

Are you planning to go into other aspects like directing, music or packaging your own stage performance?

Because of the kind of training I have had and the people I have worked with, I am seriously looking at directing for stage not TV because they are two different things. I did dance, but not music. I would probably love to direct a full theatre production that has to do with music, dance and drama. Total theatre.

You are in the same profession with your husband. How have you people managed to keep your marriage out of crisis knowing what’s happening to the marital lives of most actors today?

God has been our foundation. Secondly, I will say I married my friend but you have to understand that there’s no perfect marriage. It’s not that we do not have our challenges but we have been able to manage ourselves for over 17 years and this can only be God. I am a very private person, if you go to my Facebook page, you will be shocked at the amount of pictures there. Even though this is the social media age, I like to keep my family out of it. I love my space and I am acting because this is what I love to do. It’s a passion for me and this is what I love doing. I am not in a hurry neither I am looking for fame.

I enjoy what I do and I like to get paid well for what I do because I am a human being first and I have needs and I should be able to pay my bills. I enjoy my work and I put in everything I have when I am working and it’s strictly work for me. I am not the type that will go and sit down in a hotel and even after work, I am still there. Most of the production I have been to, they will say come in a day before and I will tell them to give me my call time and I will be there. I want to say it with all humility that I am disciplined as an actor. I try to keep my family intact and if not for my birthday, you will not see me on social media. I love my privacy and my marriage is not for social media consumption. Some have even said these people are no longer together.

They came and said ‘we understand you and your husband are no longer together’ because there was a time my husband was working in Abuja with DSTV and the woman was just talking. I was just laughing because I don’t owe anyone any explanation. I don’t joke with my family and I don’t play with my family on social media. You hardly see me and my husband at events. It’s rare, it’s what I want and maybe that’s why it has lasted this long. Our lives are not for social media. One is not getting any younger, so what am I looking for? I post when I want to post and sometimes when we do, you see us repeating pictures. My husband respects that.

QUOTE:

I enjoy what I do and I like to get paid well for what I do because I am a human being first and I have needs and I should be able to pay my bills.