A ship bound for Africa in 1607
A celebration of the same trip in 2024
A gathering in a theatre in London in 2024
Black British actress Prudence Thomas has agreed to perform in a special commemoration of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Sierra Leone. This would be the celebration of the 425th anniversary of the ship Red Dragon’s arrival in Sierra Leone 1607, the earliest known performance of a Shakespearean text outside of the UK. Prudence has never been to Africa before. This is her first time there. Recently she has discovered through genetic testing that her people are from Sierra Leone. Her people – before slavery which brought them to Jamaica, before the Windrush which brought them to England —were all from Sierra Leone. She is thrilled that her work has brought her “home” where she believes her encounter with the locals will be beneficial and welcomed. These ambitions quickly fall apart as an incident on stage causes a series of events that clash the past with the present resulting in an emotional landmine that must be unpicked upon their return to London. Questions must be asked: What is “culture”? Who gets to define it? Are art and subjugation actually interlinked? And how did we come to believe in what we believe in now?
My Soul is Not Rested is part of the Afro-Atlantic Playwright Festival
