The Blue Room Theatre often presents staged performances that aren’t strictly ‘theatre’, and our performing arts community is all the richer for it. By widening its scope in supporting and producing independent performance works, The Blue Room has given audiences the opportunity to hear from a group of poets, musicians, and storytellers collectively known as The Outsiders and Our Collective Dream as they share their perspectives and truths in An Evening of African Poetry and Storytelling.
Prior to moving into the theatre, we are welcomed by host ‘Kuda Mic’ Ndlovu and musician Ridge Moss and invited to join in a little song making in the bar area. Ndlovu distributes a few shakers and such to audience volunteers and splits the room into two groups; they’re each given two different rhythms to make while Ndlovu and Moss do a call and response. This pre-show engagement creates a collective experience that brings performers and audience together, setting the tone for the main event.
Once we pass through the double doors of the studio theatre, we find our seats in front of a cosy lounge room where a group of young folks are gathered on cushions and rattan seating under warm lights. Ndlovu sets things in motion by acknowledging the Whadjuk Noongar people, their lands, and their ancestors. He establishes this connection to land and ancestors as a major theme for the evening, one which will be visited in some way by each performer, whether through spoken word or song.
Every artist brings their own unique voice to the gathering with varying styles of delivery, language, rhythm, and pace. Some performers were quiet, while others took generous pauses between their thoughts, which meant that the energy and momentum of the show occasionally faltered. Nevertheless, each artist made themselves vulnerable on stage and drew us into their stories of family, identity, home, and love with courage.
Particularly rousing and incisive perspectives came from Veronikka Habieb as she went deep to access a mix of anger, pain, hope, and strength to convey the generational impacts of colonisation and deliver a call to action for justice and sovereignty for those whose languages and traditions have been all but wiped out completely. She also uses her soulful singing voice to lament, soothe, and invigorate.
Also taking an excellent, multi-faceted turn at centre stage was ‘Ayuba SOQS’ Musah, who offered us some difficult but beautifully rendered insights into his reckonings with parental and societal expectations with the expectations he has for himself. He’s also a pretty great rapper with a laid-back but intricate flow that fits the overall vibe of the evening.
Between pieces, we hear the ‘call of the ancestors’ that Ndlovu and the others acknowledged at the show’s open. The lights change, and a starry sky emerges on the back wall, and we are taken to a more universal, timeless realm; it’s these theatrical conventions that transform the show into a cohesive whole and enhance the experience. The ensemble finishes the night with a warm invitation to join them on stage in dance and song. It is joyful and uplifting, and an even greater sense of community than we started with comes together for a short while before we all go our separate ways into the night.
CICELY BINFORD
An Evening of African Poetry and Storytelling was presented by The TOOL Event, Our Collective Dream, and curated by The Outsiders at The Blue Room Theatre from 10 – 21 September 2024.
