Speaking on The Career Trail programme on Joy News and Joy Learning TV, he revealed that his first encounter with theatre came during his secondary school days, when a friend introduced him to a drama group.

“My encounter with theatre was as an actor in secondary school. A mate of mine, who is now deceased, told me about the Youth For Christ Ministry’s theatre company in town. I joined as an actor, then later became the artistic director. Within three months, I found myself inheriting the group because the leader had been transferred from Accra to Tamale,” he recalled.

According to him, the group, made up of about 40 to 45 young people, met every Sunday. Hence, in order to keep them engaged, he began writing plays.

“That is how I became a playwright. I started writing because the group kept meeting although there was nothing happening. To keep them occupied, I learned to write and direct. I did this for about 11 years,” Uncle Ebo explained.

He added that for more than a decade, he balanced this passion with full-time jobs, including his role with First African Group Limited.

Uncle Ebo also noted that although he had long recognized theatre as his calling, as far back as 1976, he initially struggled to see how it could be viable as a career.

“I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this is my calling. But at the time, there was no way of knowing how it could be commercially viable. So I did all kinds of things while still trying my hands at theatre,” he said.

He eventually decided to fully commit to his gift, moving into commercial theatre and later establishing Roverman Productions, which has grown into one of Ghana’s leading theatre companies.

Looking back on that moment, he remembered a voice that changed his direction in life:

“The voice that spoke to me said, a lot of people work with their certificates and training, but real fulfilment and success come when you work within the area of your gifting. That was when I accepted the challenge to enter commercial theatre,” he recalled.

Source: Irene Adubea Aning

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Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told the BBC that between 1,000 and 1,200 people had sought refuge in the building.

While the number of casualties is unclear, a local MP said the basement where people were gathered had withstood the bombing.

“It looks like most of them have survived,” Dmytro Gurin told the BBC.

But Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the city’s mayor, earlier said emergency workers were struggling to reach the building due to constant shelling.

Images of the theatre, verified by the BBC, showed extensive damage and smoke rising from the site.

Russia’s air strikes and shells have previously hit a maternity hospital, a church and apartment buildings.

Mariupol’s city council said in a statement that Russian forces “deliberately and cynically destroyed” the theatre, saying a “plane dropped a bomb on a building where hundreds of peaceful Mariupol residents were hiding”.

Both Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, and the city council accused Russia of a “war crime” in the wake of the attack.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the bombing and said Russia had deliberately targeted the theatre.

“Our hearts are broken by what Russia is doing to our people. To our Mariupol,” he said in a video address late on Wednesday evening.

Satellite pictures taken on 14 March – released by the US company Maxar – showed the Russian word for “children” had been marked on the ground in large letters to warn Russian jets away from the building.

The BBC was earlier told that many children and elderly people were sheltering inside, and that conditions were quickly deteriorating.

Local authorities say at least 2,400 people have been killed in Mariupol since the start of the war, although they acknowledge this is likely to be an underestimate. Many of the dead are being buried in mass graves.

An estimated 300,000 residents are trapped inside the city, where running water, electricity and gas have been cut off. Food and water supplies are running low, as Russian troops have not allowed the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Hours after news of the destruction emerged, the Russian defence ministry denied it had carried out an air strike against the theatre, the RIA news agency reported.

About 1,500 cars had managed to flee Mariupol on Wednesday, according to Mr Orlov, the deputy mayor. But, he said, an attack by Russia on the convoy left at least five wounded, including a child.

Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, called for better access to civilians caught up in the war, which he said was causing “enormous suffering”. Mr Maurer, who arrived in Ukraine for a five-day visit, described the situation in Mariupol as a “waking nightmare”.

Elsewhere, at least 10 people waiting in a queue for bread in the northern city of Chernihiv were killed by Russian shelling on Wednesday, the country’s prosecutor general said. Unverified footage released by a local outlet showed bodies on a street.

The management has also pledged its commitment to provide the needed logistics for quality service delivery.

“The Directorate management wishes to assure all its members of staff that hospital management is committed to the provision of the needed logistics for the delivery of quality services.

“They are, therefore, entreated to exercise patience as the requisite processes have already been initiated to provide optimum working environment for the delivery of quality surgical services,” the management assured.

This comes on the back of agitations from some staff members over the deplorable nature of the main theatre and poor conditions at the facility.

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However, the statement, signed by the Head of the Surgery Directorate, Dr Joseph Oppong, explained but for the covid-19 pandemic, all these issues would have been resolved.

“The renovation project would have commenced last year but for the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequent disruptive impact on the hospital’s operations and finances,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the statement has indicated that full renovation of the hospital’s main theatre has already been captured in the Hospital’s 2021 Budget.

Read the statement below: