Bisi Adigun, director of the acclaimed The Kings of The Kilburn High Road, continues his explorations of contemporary African identity in The Dilemma of a Ghost, an electrifying, fascinating and quite humorous play based on the book by Ama Ata Aidoo.
Set in Ghana in the mid-1960s, The Dilemma of a Ghost begins with Ato Yawson (Gabriel Akujobi), a Ghanaian who, having recently completed his studies in the United States, returns home with an American bride, Eulalie (Merrina Millsapp). Ato’s dilemma intensifies when he is torn between his love for his wife, who doesn’t quite fit into the African lifestyle, and his family, who do not understand Eulalie’s needs and desires.
Eulalie can’t acclimatise herself to African customs and traditions; she faces difficult choices as well as cultural alienation within her domestic life, so she turns to alcohol and cigarettes, and continues to do much as she pleases, rather than adopting the position expected of her.
The play raises big questions about such topics as integration, immigration and cultural identity. How much should immigrants be expected to adopt the values and mores of their new countries? Which practices can or should be defended on the grounds of culture and tradition? Issues of idealisation and devaluation, closeness and distance, hope and nostalgia, speech and expression, mutuality, and language are highlighted.
Adigun adapts Aidoo’s book beautifully on stage. This profound, emotional and beguiling play is instilled with his rich sound and visual style, with exceptional performances delightfully delivered by all the cast, particularly Millsapp as Eulalie, Yemi Adenuga (Esi Kom), Yinka Dixon-Oludaiye (Nana), Elizabeth Suh (Monka), Bridget Hynes and Nono Madolo.
Past plays by Bisi Adigun and his Arambe Productions include Once Upon A Time Not So Long Ago (a double bill of a performance of African stories and dramatisations of experiences of Africans living in Ireland in May 2006) and Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame.
Eulalie can’t acclimatise herself to African customs and traditions; she faces difficult choices as well as cultural alienation within her domestic life, so she turns to alcohol and cigarettes, and continues to do much as she pleases, rather than adopting the position expected of her.
The play raises big questions about such topics as integration, immigration and cultural identity. How much should immigrants be expected to adopt the values and mores of their new countries? Which practices can or should be defended on the grounds of culture and tradition? Issues of idealisation and devaluation, closeness and distance, hope and nostalgia, speech and expression, mutuality, and language are highlighted.
Adigun adapts Aidoo’s book beautifully on stage. This profound, emotional and beguiling play is instilled with his rich sound and visual style, with exceptional performances delightfully delivered by all the cast, particularly Millsapp as Eulalie, Yemi Adenuga (Esi Kom), Yinka Dixon-Oludaiye (Nana), Elizabeth Suh (Monka), Bridget Hynes and Nono Madolo.
Past plays by Bisi Adigun and his Arambe Productions include Once Upon A Time Not So Long Ago (a double bill of a performance of African stories and dramatisations of experiences of Africans living in Ireland in May 2006) and Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame.
