If you love good theatre – Don’t Miss this!
Adam Brace’s Incredible play – They Drink It in the Congo – Catch it before October 1st!
The Almeida theatre in Islington is an intimate venue which is ideal for this type of play. You will need to hold onto your seats as its pulls a few punches and embraces the depth of corruption of course involving the commonwealth countries, of exploitation in the Congo – DRC – your theatre programme will endow you with quite a lot of history and what a richness of materials this country espouses – despite being worth £24Trillion (containing gold, coltan, tungsten and tin), it is ranked as the 7th poorest country in Africa. Why?
Sometimes called Congo Kinshasa it has a population of around 60 M and an estimated at least 5M have been killed in wars since 1996. There are over 400 tribes, 200 ethnic groups and at least 250 different languages. Artwork by the Nkishi were a strong influence on artists like Picasso, Matisse and Braque.
“The Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad exposes Belgian misdemeanours in the Congo and campaigns started around Europe against the oppression the Congolese were under.
The play addresses a scheme to put on a day of Congolese festivities run by Stef (Fiona Button) whose father is a rich British immigrant with money and African connections. Her estranged boyfriend Luis (Richie Campbell) plays a difficult part as he kow tows to her and has a secret which is exposed that he has been accessing her emails for a whole year after they split up only to discover her descriptions of his intimate parts are a tad humiliating. The play has its lighter parts borrowing jokes and asides to incite a bit of laughter but generally it is dark and frustrating, yet all the characters are brought brilliantly to life by the cast and like the best London theatre the acting is second to none in its execution.
Sidney Cole has a difficult role and plays up to the audience effectively, Joan Iyiola is convincing and sincere and Pamela Nomvete adds wisdom and gravitas. The undercurrent throughout the story is that angry men do not want finance invested in fun days when the government is corrupt and there is another story to unfold – that of violence, rape, exploitation and deep unrest and disgust in the regime and distrust of the “white devil”. Stef pursues her dream of the fund day and you will have to see the play for whether the Congolese day emerges or descends into darkness.
I have seen much theatre over the years and do respect plays which present problems and the actors who have to give so much to transport them with verisimilitude to their audiences. “They drink it in the Congo” is one such play with challenges which must improve the CV and acting experiences, without seeming patronising, of the director, producer and most of all the actors. It must make them feel close to work together on this project and I can only say that a small injection of humour, music and jokes made it extremely palatable and the rest of the saga – food for thought for any theatregoer to get their teeth into. At the end of the play a reading list was handed out to the buzzing audience to gen up on African Congolese history on anything the programme had left out. Do seek out this play and its meaning if you can! Enjoy! Penny Nair Price 560 words