Five Years With The White Man – Unleash the Llama / VAULT Festival, London

A fresh and unexpected approach to storytelling from theatre company Unleash the Llama at VAULT Festival with their fictionalised, historic monologue Five Years With The White Man.

A. B. C. Merriman-Labor

I had a feeling I was going to like this play when I first read the description. The press release promises “a kaleidoscope of characters brought to life through object puppetry and live sound effects, blending an Edwardian stand-up set with a contemporary exploration of racial and sexual identity.” Already very intriguing. It is also the first theatrical adaptation of the life of Augustus Boyle Chamberlayne Merriman-Labor, later known as Ohlohr Maigi. If you haven’t heard of him (as I hadn’t before coming across this play), let me tell you a bit more.

Merriman-Labor was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in 1877. With literary aspirations and a plan to work a lawyer as a day job, he moved to London in 1904. He didn’t have a particularly smooth path (read casual and systemic racism) but published some bits and pieces, some under an assumed white identity. He also entered Lincoln’s Inn (part of the English system to become a barrister), but was excluded for setting up a commercial venture. This venture, the African General Agency, aimed to support African business by setting up opportunities with fewer white middle men.

After a few years in England, Merriman-Labor wrote about his disappointing experiences in newspapers back home. He then embarked on a 10,000-mile tour of Africa to deliver a lecture series, Five Years With The White Man. Like his later work Britons Through Negro Spectacles, the lectures satirised the Edwardian fashion for travelogues of Empire, often written by biased and underinformed individuals. Not surprisingly, the fact of joking at the expense of white Britons attracted condemnation, and the book was a commercial failure. Merriman-Labor died in penury of tuberculosis in London in 1919, having been a munitions worker during the war.

Five Years With The White Man

So that’s already a good bit of background. An African satirist who pioneered the reflection of the othering gaze back onto the Motherland. A largely forgotten figure who has been experiencing something of a renaissance, his novel republished by Penguin, introduced by Bernadine Evaristo. The easy thing to do might have been a straightforward bio-drama telling the story of Merriman-Labor’s life and times.

Perhaps a little too easy for theatre company Unleash the Llama and co-writers Eloka Obi and Saul Boyer. Five Years With The White Man instead blends two narratives in a truly fresh take on storytelling. There is of course Merriman-Labor, narrating his experiences in London and beyond. But wait, whose mobile phone is that ringing? In a completely unexpected break of the fourth wall, the narrative pauses and we meet Dumebi.

From this point forward the story swings between the show we thought we were seeing, and the present-day counterpoint we didn’t know we needed. Over the course of several interruptions we get to know Dumebi and understand how this work is a tribute to his partner Alfred, who died before he could complete a play about A. B. C. Merriman-Labor. It’s a neat way to call attention to what has changed and not changed for Black, queer men in London over the course of a century.

Undoubtedly this structure is too chaotic for some. Given that Dumebi is in turn played by Joseph Akubeze, the whole story is blurred and the energy frenetic. It keeps you on your toes in a way that I found rather exhilarating. What better way, after all, to pay tribute to a writer who subverted conventions and played with tropes?

Final Thoughts On Five Years With The White Man

Of all the things I’ve seen at VAULT Festival so far this year, this has been my favourite. It’s a small scale play (a single-hander) but doesn’t feel scaled down or constrained. The (uncredited) set is replete with various props which at first seem superfluous but are not. And to come back to the initial quote, there’s also ‘object puppetry’ and live sound effects. The live sound effects are easy: Foley effects recorded and played on a loop to add richness to market and city scenes. The object puppetry is a little more unique. Suffice it to say I’ve never been quite this invested in the relationship between a man and his lamp.

That isn’t to say there aren’t drawbacks to packing this much in. Sometimes I found it a little hard to track which character Akubeze is voicing, for instance. But I was more than willing to concentrate on quickfire dialogue in return for a work like this. I didn’t think I was that easy to surprise any more when it comes to theatre. I’m happy to be making this exception.

Akubeze himself is key to pulling this off, as is director Sam Rayner. Rayner, who was also dramaturg, maintains the focus and pace to tell both stories in just over an hour. He directs with a sure hand, and a clear vision. Akubeze differentiates times, places and people while remaining naturalistic. His high energy performance draws the audience in, and his physical antics seem to risk life and limb for the sake of telling these stories.

Unfortunately I was only able to catch Five Years With The White Man on its last day at VAULT Festival, so you will need to keep an eye on Unleash the Llama‘s website for possible future dates. This is a work which captures something of the Zeitgeist, and I hope to see it continue to gain momentum.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

Five Years With The White Man has now finished at VAULT Festival. Check Unleash the Llama’s website for future dates.