We meet George Coleridge-Taylor terrified and hiding while bullets are heard loudly around him. He is a retired Diplomat now Philosophy Professor and this is Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in the midst of civil war, and rebels have taken over the college. George reflects on his life and how he got here, talks of his childhood and every part of his life from young to old, moving easily between the extra multi rolled characters while always returning to his central one.
Has potential to be a really good show and aspects of it are there already
Taya Aluko who also wrote the piece, plays George and all the other roles, changing physically between them in front of us. He has a natural skilled ease as an actor who knows he is good at his craft. However, there are several stumbles in lines with self corrections or checking with the accompanying musician Allyson Devenish, who plays lightly and beautifully in the musical pieces.
Although it is not seen, there are quite graphic allusions to the repeated abuse and rape of the woman who the rebels capture and hold captive in the next room to George. The soundscape is evocative and works incredibly well throughout, as does the various lighting states, helping to indicate times of day as well as the difference between fantasy and reality. George feels powerless to do anything to defend or support this poor woman and can’t cope with what’s happening to her, so during the times she is being violated he escapes into a fantasy world where he is touring the world giving concerts using the music of his uncle: the famous composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Taya Aluko has a lovely rich tenor voice, with warm tonal qualities and is pitch perfect.
In the Q&A after the show Aluko talks of the real George who wrote a memoir, which furnished much of the content, supplemented with extra research. The story of him being at Fourah Bay College and hiding from the rebels is absolutely true, but the woman is a metaphor for the horrors perpetrated so often in war situations. There is a rich exploration of Sierra Leonean history and exposing corruption, however it’s so packed and in a non-linear narrative so anyone not already knowing about this period of history would be left feeling slightly confused: like they had seen a movie based on a book where they needed to read the book first.
It’s clear that a lot of work has gone into this but the lack of certainty in lines gives rise to a feeling of unease; a lack of feeling confident in the production, as well as the profound discomfort of what’s happening to the woman we can only hear and never see on stage. During the Q&A Aluko mentions this is a work in progress, which is another problematic element, as this obviously has potential to be a really good show and aspects of it are there already, but by no means all of it, and that affects everything. It should also have been made clear at the outset that this is a work in progress, to do less is misleading the audience.
