Review: SLAVE: A QUESTION OF FREEDOM, Riverside Studios

When we talk about slavery, our minds immediately land into the olden days of colonies and plantations; perhaps we think of the much discussed reparations provided to the victims or their descendants, or we draw back to those tedious corporate trainings that address a problem that seemingly doesn't belong to our world. The thing is, nearly 50 million people can be considered slaves today. It’s a horrifying thought.

Mende Nazer was barely a teenager when she was sold into slavery in Sudan, where she was forced to work in the capital before being moved to London to continue her subjugation in Willesden Green. Kevin Fegan adapts her autobiographical account (originally co-written with author Damien Lewis and published in 2002) into a challenging play that demands answers and explores the meaning of freedom.

At what point does a piece go from documentary to horror? Slave: A Question of Freedom isn’t really a play. It’s more than theatre and it’s unfair to the themes it tackles to relegate it to a stage: it’s a wake up call. Directed by Caroline Clegg, it’s a lot to take in. An ensemble of eight performers bring Nazer’s story to life with an original blend of storytelling and traditional music. It’s a harrowing watch, disquieting and eye-opening, but Fegan’s touch is gripping.

Though criticising this production feels a bit like invalidating the real, lived experience of Nazer’s past, its dramatic structure can be quite heavy. We’ll get this out of the way before we go into everything that the show does right and how it perfectly achieves the goals it sets out to reach. Some distractingly bland instances of stagecraft and a few almost amateurish flourishes pepper the scene and the actors tip into caricatural overacting here and there. While the soundscape is steadily pleasant, the lighting design features some odd transitions into the audience, especially in the second act. This all seems silly and unimportant in this context.

It’s all fun and games for Mende (Yolanda Ovide) until a raid marks the brutal turn in her blissful life. Heaps of information are laid out for the public to understand the rules of her community and the subsequent terror. Brute, crude scenes of abuse dehumanise Mende and other women, stripping them of their clothes, dignity, and identity. She’s often referred to by her owners as someone who doesn’t even deserve a name. Savage beatings and malicious violence start to be her daily reality.

Besides the shocking revelation that enslaved servants are able to be brought to the UK without too many issues, Fegan manages to quickly reveal the abhorrent treatment of refugees all over the country. He makes it very clear that Mende’s fate would have been very different if nobody had stepped up to help her, from the two men who conceived her escape plan to the thousands who rallied around her when the government wouldn’t grant her asylum.

These severely distressing depictions are, ultimately, just a small and sanitised glimpse into an inhuman practice. If you weren’t already enraged by the government’s complicity into the slave trade, this will get you there.

Slave: A Question of Freedom runs at Riverside Studios until 9 November.

Photo credit: Roger Moore Photography

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