Pegasus News
Grand Finale To The Abolition Celebrations
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| Malcolm X, one of the characters depicted in Journeys To Freedom celebrating the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade |
Pegasus Theatre marks the end of the year commemorating 200 years since the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade with a flourish. Journeys To Freedom, a cycle of nine plays celebrating black history and culture will take place over a week opening on Tuesday 25th, the anniversary of the Parliamentary Act abolishing slave trading in the British Empire, to Saturday 29th March. Each play will be performed by a different cast, taken from Oxford Youth Theatre (OYT) members aged from 6 to 19 years and the Pegasus based Platypus Theatre adult drama group.
The epic story spans centuries and continents, twinning the academic cities of Oxford and Timbuktu. The central character, a wise woman called Buktu, is based on African storytelling traditions. She is the keeper of tales and travellers who visit her home leave tokens of their passage. Buktu keeps their stories alive by telling them to us. Her visitors include: Anansi the spider from African legend; King Mansa Musa of Timbuktu; Aesop, the black slave who became famous for his animal fables, Malcolm X the civil rights activist and Nelson Mandela one of the most famous political prisoners of all time.
22 professional artists are involved of which 15 are African Caribbean or Black British. A core team of artists has been responsible for creating the framework for the performances, which have been further developed during rehearsals. The base script was created by writer/performer/director Mojisola Adebayo, who appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Macbeth in 2007, while the music, fusing African and Black British cultures, is composed by Juwon Ogungbe and choreography is by Jeanefer Jean Charles, who appeared as a featured artist in the national Black British choreography showcase Mission Re-position in 2007, The production's Artistic Director is Yasmin Sidhwa, actor/director and Head of Arts Education at Pegasus Theatre.
| The epic story spans centuries and continents, twinning the academic cities of Oxford and Timbuktu. | |
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This major production will be the last full-scale OYT performance at Pegasus in advance of the theatre's redevelopment project. Nomi Everall, originally a technical trainee at Pegasus and now a much sought after stage designer, is working with the OYT production group to create a spectacular finale production. Nomi and the team will make more than 1,000 costume pieces and 400 props for the 150 performers.
An African Craft Market will be held at Pegasus between matinee and evening shows on Saturday 29th March.
9:53am Wednesday 12th March 2008
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