Samuel Takes A Break… – The Yard Theatre, London
Samuel Takes a Break… is a challenging, funny, thoughtful, ambiguous new work on now at Hackney Wick’s Yard Theatre.
Samuel Takes a Break…
I have a feeling it is a good year for the Yard Theatre. The last two things I’ve seen there (this and this) have been fab. And now Samuel Takes a Break… (full title Samuel Takes a Break in Male Dungeon No. 5 After a Long but Generally Successful Day of Tours) is on stage and giving audiences plenty of food for thought.
Samuel Takes a Break… is written by Rhianna Ilube. It centres on Samuel (Fode Simbo) and the tours he leads at Cape Coast Castle in Ghana. It’s a real place, a “slave castle” or large commercial fort used as a staging post during the transatlantic trade in enslaved people. An unspeakable history, but Samuel takes pride in his work, preserving the history of the place and the story of the people who passed through it. It’s hard to think of a more serious topic, so you may be surprised to hear that this is also a very funny play. I was going to say it’s like an onion in how layered it is, but perhaps a better analogy is a stew (let’s say a Ghanaian tomato stew): rich, delicately balanced, and with a different element at the forefront of every bite.
Samuel Takes a Break… follows a day in Samuel’s life as he leads tours of the castle. It’s 2019, Ghana’s Year of Return, and visitor numbers are up. Black British, African American, Caribbean, people from other African countries: there are almost as many reasons for being here as there are tourists on Samuel’s tours. His colleague Orange (Bola Akeju) asks “Do you… ever want to hurt the tourists?”. Samuel pleads for Orange to show more empathy, but at the same time it is clear this isn’t the sort of job you shake off at the end of the day. Samuel, ever-respectful of the meaning his guests place on this experience, smiles at their microaggressions. As they tell him how he should feel and respond. As they ask if he regrets that his ancestors remained in Ghana, denying him the opportunity to be American.
And so we come back to the onion and its layers (or the tomato stew’s rich and varied flavours). Samuel Takes a Break… tackles complex and challenging topics with the right blend of humour and sincerity. The weight of history. Its continued echoes today. How the displacement of enslaved people has led to cultural gaps that returning diaspora may struggle to bridge. The difficulty some mixed-raced individuals face in connecting with their heritage. Black men’s lived experience of the world. Our own pasts and futures and how they shape our outlooks on life. Grab a spoon and dig in, there’s a lot there for a sub-two hour running time.
A Very Special Tour
Playing all of the visitors are Tori Allen-Martin and Stefan Asante-Boateng. Their most important characters are Letty and Trev, on their last night of a trip to Ghana which has very different meanings for each of them. Orange has arranged a special tour with Samuel, affording Letty the chance she so desperately wants to connect with her family’s story, to be “where it all started”. But it’s more than this. It’s also Orange’s chance to prove she can step up as a tour guide. It’s not Trev’s idea of fun: there are places he would rather be on the last evening of his holiday. And it seems increasingly likely it’s Samuel’s breaking point.
To find out just how all of these threads tie together (or don’t, because storytelling is not always neat and tidy), you will have to come and see it for yourself. I came away with my head swirling with thoughts and impressions, as well as an unsettled feeling which is very well-crafted by Ilube and director Anthony Simpson-Pike. Fragments of the text itself plant these small doubts, as do the lighting (Christopher Nairne) and sound (XANA) design and video design by Gino Ricardo Green which is reminiscent of the work of Kara Walker.
Ultimately Samuel Takes a Break… is clever, thoughtful, confronting and daring theatre which trusts its audience to follow where it is going. One of many great programming choices by the Yard, and something you should see while you have the opportunity. The run includes a Black Out Night on February 28th: an evening programmed for an all-Black audience to collectively engage with the show.
Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5
Samuel Takes a Break… on until 23 March 2024. More info here.