Until I agreed to attend StoneCrabs’s show at the New Diorama last week I had never heard of Queen Pokou. Perhaps I should have done but I hadn’t.
And in case you’re as ignorant as I was, I’d better fill you in on the outline. According to oral history/legend Pokou and her followers are forced, in the eighteenth century, to leave what is now Ghana and travel west into Ivory Coast because there’s a war of succession with Pokou’s own uncle as the scheming usurper.
So we’re immediately in Genesis/Exodus territory with Hamlet thrown in. The legend tells of a large Red Sea-type river which has to be crossed and Pokou can lead her people to safety only if she sacrifices her only child by casting him into the waters - shades of Iphigenia as well as Abraham not to mention Lorca’s Yerma. This is resonant stuff.
StoneCrabs, the Deptford-based company founded in 2002 to “deliver British and international theatre productions,” tells the story with just three actors and an outstanding on-stage percussionist.
They use Afro-Brazilan elements and there’s a lot of movement inspired by Capoeria and Maculele dance thanks to choreographer Leigh Tedger who also uses definitive up-tempo foot movement, Zulu rhythms and stylised fight sequences. So there’s no shortage of things for young or curious audiences to learn from this.
But probably best of all is Dean Atta’s marvellous rhyming script which made me ache to attend a workshop and have a go at writing in this style myself. Short lines and modern English - without being obtrusively colloquial - drive the play forward and add a sense of epic mystery.
It’s an entertaining and moving show. But it’s also, potentially, a very “educational” one. Students could learn a great deal from it about physical theatre, music, dance and really crisp, effective writing - not to mention getting an insight into African history, culture and mythology.
Although Queen Pokou having first previewed at The Albany, Deptford and ran at New Diorama for just one week, the good news is that it will be reprised at Stratford Circus in March - the beginning of a National Tour. So there will be other chances for teachers to take student audiences to see it.
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