AFRICAN SNOW. To 23 June.
York/London/Tour
AFRICAN SNOW
by Murray Watts
Theatre Royal To 21 April
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat 2.30pm & 12, 18, 19 April 2pm no performance 6 April
Audio-descrobed 20 April, 21 April 2.30pm
BSL Signed 17 April
Captioned 21 April 2.30pm
Post-show discussion 18 April
then tour (Riding Lights Theatre Company) to 23 June 2007
Runs 2hr 35min One interval
TICKETS: 01904 623568
www.yorktheatreroyal.c.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 4 April
Slave and slaver in Abolition bicentennial drama that stops short of the Abolition Act and works best when at its most theatrical.
This show’s poster-image has it right. A black and white ankle chained together, a price-tag round the black section of chain, makes the point that slavery harms both slaver and slave. Though that’s little comfort to the millions of people held in slave-conditions in the later 18th century, when the action of Murray Watts’ new play takes place, or nowadays when enslavement takes equally vicious forms.
Rev John Newton, whose hymns include ‘Amazing Grace’, looks back on the “wretch” he was as a libidinous, slave-running ship’s-master. Watts imagines Newton meeting the remarkable Olaudah Equiano, a slave who bought his freedom and wrote an account of his life.
“Olaudah” we’re repeatedly reminded (are you listening at the back?) means “fortunate”. Equiano’s good fortune lay in his nature rather than what life thrust at him. But he becomes the centre of interest in African Snow. For one thing, he is active, while Roger Alborough’s Newton spends stretches of time sitting at his desk, an irrelevance to the action around, before rising for another attack of moral crisis.
For another, Newton’s crises of conscience are retrospective while Olaudah’s is a progressive life; he’s motivated to move forward rather than reflect on the past. And there’s a lot of looking back in Watts’ play. Back in the early 1970s, when theatre had discovered social relevance and the mere fact of containing historical material off the beaten track of monarchs and ministries was enough, this might have worked well enough. Nowadays, when TV has done so much of this with great deftness, it seems heavy-going.
But Israel Oyelumade’s Olaudah is finely played, showing the moral strength in his persistence and dignified responses to the slave-owner mentality. Sean Cavanagh’s V-shape walled-set, one side covered with a rigging-like grid providing opportunities for clambering, climbing figures works well, as does director Paul Burbridge’s use of Black actors for all characters, whatever their ethnicity, other than Newton. Ben Cracknell’s lighting creates patches of dark among which characters move, while cries from unseen figures sharply point up the loss, shock and terror of people forcibly removed and separated into slavery.
Rev John Newton: Roger Alborough
Olaudah’s Father/Daniel Queen/Robert King: Mensah Bediako
Chuma Ifem/Polly/Miss Guerin: Emmanuella Cole
Olaudah’s Mother/Cook/Miss Guerin: Antonia Kemi Coker
William Wilberforce/Richard Baker/Job Lewis: Chris Jack
Captain Michael Pascal/Naval Officer Angel: Rex Obano
Olaudah Equiano: Israel Oyelumade
Slave/Sailor/British Naval Captain: Kenny Thompson
Director: Paul Burbridge
Designer: Sean Cavanagh
Lighting: Ben Cracknell
Composer: Ben Okafor
Movement: Clyde Bain
2007-04-07 11:30:31