Actors ‘White up’ for Soyinka Horseman at National

After recent protests surrounding the premiere of Richard Bean’s England People Very Nice (See The Goss, 2 Mar 2009), the National Theatre may soon be courting more racially-oriented controversy with the next play in its Travelex £10 Season in the NT Olivier.

Director Rufus Norris’ revival of Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian author Wole Soyinka’s 1973 drama Death and the King’s Horseman, which runs in rep from 8 April to 13 June 2009 (previews from 1 April), will be performed by a 31-strong all-black cast, several of whom will “white up” to play settlers of the former British colonial state, which gained independence in 1960.

Speaking at an open rehearsal event held at the National today (12 March 2009), Norris said that he anticipates that his casting decision may attract criticism, but explained that, rather than trying to make a political statement, he is instead staying true to how the play would be staged in Nigeria.

Soyinka wrote Death and the King’s Horseman over just three days while studying at Cambridge, where it had its first reading. But the play, which is rarely performed outside of Africa, has only had one previous production in the UK, at Manchester’s Royal Exchange in 1990, when white actors played the colonial rulers.

Death and the King’s Horseman is set in Nigeria in 1943 and is based on a real-life incident. The King is dead, and his Horseman, Elesin Oba, must escort him to the Ancestors. As Elesin dances through the closing marketplace, flirting with the women, pursued by his praise-singer and an entourage of drummers, he promises to honour the ancient Yoruba custom of ritual suicide. But a life so rich is hard to leave, and this is a British colony where such customs are not tolerated, no matter how sacred.

According to Nigerian theatre maker Peter Badejo, Norris’ associate director who knows Soyinka personally and who was also involved in the 1990 Manchester production, the play is not about blaming cultural differences but rather “respecting the unknown”.

Norris, designer Katrina Lindsay, choreographer Javier de Frutos – whose previous award-winning collaborations have included the recent West End revival of Kander and Ebb musical Cabaret – accompanied Badejo on a ten-day research visit to Nigeria, which included a meeting with Soyinka. Part funded by the British Council, it is the first time the NT has undertaken a trip to Africa for one of its productions.

Drawing on Yoruba culture and theatre conventions, Norris’ staging incorporates movement, song, drums and other music and reflects Yoruba beliefs about the spirit world. “It’s about entertainment, but also about education,” said Badejo today. Death and the King’s Horseman stars Nonso Anozie – who is Nigerian, though from the Igbo rather than Yoruba tribe – in the title role. The cast also features Claire Benedict, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Jenny Jules, Lucian Msamati and Giles Terera.

– by Terri Paddock