A Review on Mohammed Ben Abdallah’s play *The Slaves* Staged at the National theatre , Ghana on the 2nd -3rd March, 2024.
The play The Slaves(Revised Version,2006 ) written by the Astute Playwright Mohammed Ben Abdallah who is noted for his concept of Total theatre, experiments dance, Music and acting and into his dramatic pieces . Not only this, but his vision of creating a theatre that spans the culture of the African continent has equally been imbedded in his Abibigromma
Fast forward Fiifi Coleman attempted one of his outstanding plays. The Slaves on the 2nd and 3rd of March ,2024.
This review however captures only the events that took place on the last night, and as such reactions from the first night will not be captured in this write up.
It will be wise that I give a brief synopsis of “The Slaves” before I give my comments.
The play as it is set in a dungeon at a slave fort where slaves all over the continent of Africa were captured during a slave raiding .And now they await their export in ships across the Atlantic Ocean to America and other slave dealing nations .
A search party is conducted by families who have lost their royals,fighters,children , caretakers and even their priests to this raid which captured nobles as well.
They desperately call upon the lost, the stolen, the abducted and the captured to come back. Principal amongst them are SEVEN VOICES who somewhat serve as linking characters ( narrators) who supposedly intercede for the inmates namely Naa, Dikko, Margan, Man, Priest, Tunde, Segou, Ayanda, Binta and then curses the white monster for crushing the destiny and Future of Africans.To register their displeasure ,they invoke curses on the life of the white man to be devoid without meaning.
Inside the dungeon, the slaves are starved, malnourished and haggard and contemplate their fate as Slaves. While Man and Priest share the opinion that the blackman is responsible for merchandising the slave trade by selling one another to the whites, Binta, Ayanda, Segou,Dikko and the rest believe that it is solely the White Man’s fault and not the indigene.
Man manages to convince them to cause a revolt and kill their slave master(Tomas) so He could escape and set the pace for the others too . Naa betrays the rest of the slaves and breaks the oath to keep it a secret . She unravels the plot to kill her open lover Tomas.Tomas in return assures her of her freedom. During the final ritual to seal the covenant, Tomas cuts them and orders that Man be killed, Ayanda is also killed in the process. Naa breaks down as things fail to work as planned , She begins to bleed profusely as a confirmation of breaking the oath and the other inmates watch her in awe.
Now to the review. The review will center on the aesthetic included in it is Acting(actors), Sound, Lightning, Scenic Design(set) costume , Make up and Audience Participation.
To begin with acting , actors are expected to understand their roles and internalize the character they are playing to ensure what is called believability A good actor should pull the other actors along and their presence should be felt on stage. From what I witnessed, I will touch a bit on the individual characters.
The Seven voices (Narrators ) opened the play with a dense and positive energy. Their search party alone created the impression that something was really at stake. For the accent, I salute them on that. The accent ranges from that of the Tribes of Angola, Nigeria(Yoruba), Hausa, Akans(Ghana,Ga), Kenya, French and what have you?. I must say it was well orchestrated and they collaborated too to register the fact this was indeed an African play with diverse cultures. The curses rained on the white man contributed heavily to the mood in which they channelled their grievances . The Yoruba(Nigeria)was awesome. My only issue with them was that, the accent from Angola and Kenyan sounded the same so it was quite hard to differentiate. And also at the beginning of the performance, their(the Seven voices) voices were itchy and you couldn’t hear the words clearly. Words like ” Big, white stone monster by the sea!” I guess it may be a technical fault, if not then the words should have stood out clearly in my views for the audience to absorb it clearly.
Before I forget, the video projection of the slaves at early stages of their raid added a jell to the performance of the seven voices breaking the fourth wall to share in the pain of their captured relatives.
For the dancers and the singers, I salute them, great energy carried to give meaning to the story especially a ritual dance as an integral component of the total theatre.
Now to the slaves, the prisoner hanged in chains at the beginning of the shows really influenced the gloomy atmosphere .Not forgetting the bodies that were carried off stage. Great treatment of the play.
The rapport between Ayanda and Binta was excellent just like how sisters will behave in real life. And the way the question of whether ” there are some people who eat human flesh” was well put…it was played too well. Great act by Binta to satisfy her curiosity.
As for Man, the silent one, His silence was really loud…it was extremely felt especially when he demanded that the boy play a flute and the girl danced for him before he would reveal his identity or give out more information about himself .The chemistry was really good.
That also reminds me of Tunde, he played the flute so well that the dance gracefully synchronised with it.
For Segou, I will call him the accent Goat, the French accent was done effortlessly by him..His account of how he ended up in prison was touching as well and his drum, He really utilized the props assiduously . Dikko was exceptional too always sitting at the corner and her comment about how goats are given raw cassava at the village ,but now turns out to be the meal for the slaves was very serious and hilarious at the same time.
As for the ritual part, I commend the fetish priest on that, He took over the stage and was the most aged amongst them.. It was very obvious that he also understood his role..especially as a spiritual leader. His Youraba accent was priceless as well.
Furthermore, The object of interest ,Naa is also player worthy of praise. She had the physique and delivered as such.. The chemistry between herself and Tomas was excellent( the love scene). She was really desperate to open her legs to Tomas in exchange for her freedom.
Not forgetting Tomas, the scene where he wiped Naa was splendid with a thousand emotions. And as the Overseer of the slaves, His presence was always felt .Whenever he entered the dungeon, the slaves began to quiver at the command of his voice.
And for Margan, you don’t need to be told if there is any word beyond conflict, that should be him. See you how he chastised Naa for opening up her legs to Tomas. His facial expression to register his rage alone needs to be studied by humanity.
And to the technical aspect, I will applaud the sound team for a good sound choice that corresponded with the production. The house music was splendid just to communicate the concept of Africa.I equally commend you for the striking, thunder sound, Gunshots.That was a wow effect for me. My only problem with the sound was that, at the beginning of the production, the voices of the narrators were not clear .And again, the sound of the thunder was heard before the thunder light appeared * which is supposed to be the other way round. “Light travels faster than sound.”
Talking of light, the effect was excellent. From the dungeon with the blue lights to register the mood and most importantly the ritual scene with the red light to bring out the aesthetics in the rituals. Another wow effect. The fog light was well utilized to flood the stage during the ritual scene. My issue with the light was that, at the extreme ends of the downstage, the light was dime so Segou and Dikko were sometimes playing outside the light and you could hardly see their faces.
The costumes and Make up was nothing but the best. The sackcloth, hairstyle , body marks, chains, whips and the bleeding of Naa were all indications that they stole the show.
Moreover , the Almighty set Design needs a standing ovation
Wow!! what a setting. Once you set your eyes on them, you don’t need anyone to tell you that that was the interior of the Dungeon. The pole for hanging, the shrine, and the curved stones are unmatched, talk of staircase to the upper chamber .
The props, both stage and hand props really added on to the meaning of the play.
Without them,the acting won’t have the life it carried .
And to the lovely audience, although the play touched them deep as they reminisce the havoc that slavery had caused on Africa, nevertheless it didn’t stop them from reacting to the comic relieves like “if you say fi”
and also the joining in songs that are sung by the actors.
And as a lovely audience writing this review, I will rate the attempt by Fiifi Coleman production 8.5/10. Good job done
. Only that the production was 17minutes late.It started at 7:17pm instead of 7 pm on the dot.😊. After watching this piece, I couldn’t help but agree with the axiom ” when theatre truly touches lives.”
Written by. Mensah Junior Raphael, BA. Theatre Arts, UEW🙏🏽
Thank you for your audience.
, From your detailed reviewer.(0272138148)