Unlike a lot of other great cities, London is pretty compact and rather easy to navigate (in my great opinion lol). On a serious note, as long as you speak a decent amount of Anglais, don't look like your average tourist (Londoners hate tourists and for good reason lol), have a bright smile and own an oyster card, you are good to go! Fortunately for me, I have always been a West End girl and frankly, everything happens in my part of town :-) (yaaaaaay!). I am no property specialist so no this post isn't about the joys of living in my endz (as they say in East "Laaandan"), no no. The West End is London's answer to New York's Broadway, This year alone, I have experienced the frustrations of Walter Lee Young (Raisin in the Sun), brilliantly played by Ray Feron (hottie!) at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Prior to seeing this flawless remake of the 1950's play (the first to be written by a black woman and produced on Broadway), I had my first theatric shriek as an obviously bipolar "Paul" in Six Degrees of Separation at the Old Vic Theatre, portrayed with great skill by Obi Abili, is seen butt naked on stage (full frontal!!!), when he's caught sleeping with another man, by his Manhattan-ite hosts (eeeeek!!!). John Guare's 1990 play partially based on the life of David Hampton who posed as actor Sidney Poitier’s son and managed to charm his way into the world of rich New York liberals such as Calvin Klien, Melanie Griffiths (disturbing no), went down a spooky treat. Shortly after that, my eyes were assaulted once again by another butt naked viewing of Asher D, in Bola Agbaje's Off the Endz at the Royal Court Theatre. Personally, the scene was unnecessary but Asher has got a tight bod! (so yes I managed a squeal then gasp before promptly changing my blackberry status lol). I was somewhat disappointed by this because Bola's earlier work (Gone Too Far, 2008) was beautifully written but this seemed to have a neither here nor there message. Granted it was a modern take on immorality in the black community and the idea that a lot of black people are deluded (I think Hip Hop videos should take responsibility for this lol). My friends also felt it was rather dark and hopeless with all the characters involved having a rather bitter end (well truth hurts!).
Following this, we sort of had a theatre drought and then another great play came along, Ruined, at the Almeida Theatre. Just like Raisin in the Sun, my friend's brother also starred in this excellently cast play ( a very strong contender for my best theatre experience), set in a small mining town deep in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mama Nadi (flawlessly played by Jenny Jules, Naomi Campbell's BF), brought tears to the eyes of everyone, as we sat through the last showing of a rather emotional, comical and violent portrayal of the ultimate test of humanity (love, hate, race, pleasure and shelter), in a civil war with no end in sight (very deep!). At the end, I chatted with Jude Akwudike (Chief Adeyemi in Iya Ile) who told me to be on the look out for a follow up play (you heard it here first!), while my friend's bro introduced us to the amazing cast who gave us palm wine! I love theatre!!!
So yesterday, after an exhausting 2 hour drive made worse by unexpected torrential rain (although weather forecasts said to expect mild showers.....as if!), my fellow theatre loving friend informed me of a play happening just a few minutes away from me titled Another Biafra. Thankfully the sun found itself and my sister was up for it, so we hopped into a cab and arrived at the Cockpit Theatre, a very easy to miss theatre just off Church Street. As it was the play's final showing, literally everyone (by which I mean London's glitterati) came to show support. Sitting with my friend and a bunch of other girls of Biafran heritage, the excitement was uncontainable and we soon found ourselves attempting to speak "Igbo" which didn't sound as good as it felt lol. However we were in for a shocker as the thought provoking play by Anthony Abuah focused on what he says is the "New Biafra", that is, the ongoing conflict in the Niger-Delta as a result of the lack of sustainable natural gas extraction procedures by international oil companies like Shell. Undeniably low budget but superbly resourceful and educative, this play probed the very core of my conscience and highlighted my severe lack of knowledge about the socio-political state of things in the region. We laughed, we gasped, we sneered, we sang along, we came close to tears, we were shocked and best of all, we were inspired. It was a nostalgic play that still managed to take on board the ever present perspective of the foreign media (British media in particular). A heart wrenching performance from the talented Anthony Abuah as Apori (whom I hope to see in the future) supported by a brilliant cast (notably Stephen Mcleod as journalist Eric Roberts, Onoriode Ujorha as Mr President (hilarious!!!) and Marlene Nwoye as Uwa, the long suffering wife) kept us engaged from start to finish. Pity it only ran for three days. Wonder what great play or musical I'll be seeing soon........
