Almeida,London
The interests of a London ‘awareness-raising festival’ for the Congo and the realities of life there collide in Adam Brace’s intelligent and humorous playWhen I first said I was going to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1996, reactions were mostly of two kinds: horror – The former Belgian Congo? That basket case!” – or a rapid/fast rendition of the jolly advertising jingle for a tropical fruit juice. In his intelligent, and complex and often humorous novel play,They Drink it in the Congo, Adam Brace sets out to challenge such stereotypes. He laudably achieves his aim, and even while his dramaturgy incorporates some of the views it critiques.
The action begins in London in the present. Stef,a white, Kenyan-born British campaign co-ordinator operating from a Welsh MP’s office in Westminster, and is determined to initiate an annual festival to raise awareness of eastern Congo. This situation allows Brace to bring together Stef’s ex-boyfriend event consultant,representatives of aid agencies and members of the Congolese community. Brace simultaneously exposes the competing interests among all these parties and conveys background information about Congo via sharp-dialogued, animated situations that only sometimes feel over-crammed. Questions about how identity is constructed are wittily addressed – as when Stef tells a Congolese poet that his poems need to be more “Congolese” to qualify for inclusion.
Stef tells a Congolese poet that his poems need to be more 'Congolese' to qualify for inclusionContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com