How Wole Soyinka Brought Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva Together in 1981
How Wole Soyinka Brought Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva Together in 1981
The love story of two of Nigeria’s most celebrated actors, Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva, has a fascinating connection to Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka.
Long before they became one of Nigeria’s most admired celebrity couples, Joke Silva and Olu Jacobs were two young actors whose paths crossed at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, in 1981.
The occasion was the staging of Soyinka’s play, Jero’s Metamorphosis.
Both actors were cast in leading roles.
What began as a professional encounter gradually developed into a personal relationship, with the theatre providing the stage on which one of Nigeria’s enduring love stories began.
Backstage, the two actors became increasingly drawn to each other. They admired each other’s talent, and what started almost casually eventually blossomed into romance.
Four years later, in 1985, Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva got married.
Thus, a play written by Soyinka inadvertently became the beginning of a marriage that would go on to survive decades in an industry where relationships are often subjected to intense public scrutiny.
At the beginning of their relationship, however, not everyone was convinced that two artistes could sustain a marriage.
Some sceptics compared their relationship to Hollywood romances, where two stars could be deeply in love one moment and publicly at odds the next.
But Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva proved the doubters wrong.
‘I Could Not Resist Him’
In a newspaper interview in 1989, Joke Silva spoke about the values that shaped her and helped her navigate the freedom and pressures of the entertainment industry.
She credited her parents with giving her a disciplined upbringing.
“My parents are great disciplinarians. They gave me no room for waywardness. Otherwise I would have gone astray like some other female artistes.”
She also acknowledged that the artistic world offered an unusual degree of freedom.
“The freedom one enjoys in the arts world is not to be found anywhere else. You are allowed to do things as you like. You are taught to have a mind of your own and to make things the way you want them.”
For Silva, that freedom came with responsibility.
“That’s why one must be very cultured, not to go wild or astray.”
Asked about the artistes she admired, she mentioned Jimi Solanke, Ibidun Allison and Bukky Ajayi.
But her ultimate star was the man she had married.
Olu Jacobs, she said, was her favourite actor.
“He is a bundle of talents. He is jovial, simple and quite artistic. Even though I tried, when I first met him, I just could not resist him. I can’t resist such talent.”
Age Was Never the Barrier
The couple also had to overcome another issue that initially concerned Joke Silva’s family — the significant age difference between them.
Olu Jacobs was about 20 years older than Joke.
But speaking on the Stephen Akintoye Leadership Podcast in 2025, Silva revealed that the age difference did not ultimately stop her from marrying the veteran actor.
She recalled that her father initially had reservations about the relationship because of Olu’s age.
Her mother, however, took a different view, pointing out that her own parents had a similar age difference.
Eventually, her parents accepted the relationship.
The rest, as they say, became history.
Four Decades of a Remarkable Partnership
From that encounter at the National Theatre in 1981 to their marriage in 1985, Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva built not only a family but also two distinguished careers in Nigerian theatre, film and television.
Their story is remarkable because their relationship grew within the very profession that brought them together.
The theatre introduced them.
Soyinka’s Jero’s Metamorphosis provided the setting.
Talent created the attraction.
And marriage turned that attraction into a partnership that has lasted more than four decades.
In an industry where fame can sometimes complicate personal relationships, Olu Jacobs and Joke Silva have remained one of Nigeria’s most enduring artistic couples.
Their story is, therefore, more than a celebrity romance.
It is a story of two artistes who met on stage, fell in love behind the scenes and built a life together beyond the spotlight.
And somewhere in that story is the remarkable coincidence that Professor Wole Soyinka’s play was the bridge that brought them into the same room in 1981.
