REVIEW: 54.60 Africa by Femi Elufowoju Jr at Arcola Theatre 14 June - 12 July, 2025
'joyful exuberance' ★★★★
How do you describe feeling like an interloper at a joyful celebration? That celebration was a journey through Africa: 11 sojourners, 7 days for each traveller, based on Femi Elufowoju Jr’s attempt to journey to all 54 nations in Africa before his 60th birthday. Thus was born a play idea: 54 (African countries), 60 (years old). The incredibly talented Elufowoju is no stranger to theatre, and in this piece he is writer, lyricist, director, and (due to a cast member’s illness) actor (with script in hand). He is capable of this and more, demonstrating the diversity of a continent some refer to as a single nation, a monolith. His goal, perhaps ambitious, is to display the range of experiences and stories and delights of this region, while processing his own travel experiences through theatre.
The ensemble is electric, both energized and loving. The beats begin before the audience is even seated, much less settled. The music, performed by The Ganda Boys (Denis Mugagga and Daniel Sewagudde), sizzles as they sing, dance and play a variety of instruments, including the adungu, a kind of curved harp. Every member is at the top of their game, with the ability to dance, sing, and multi-role. Tying with the music beautifully is the ever-changing lighting, the simple but effective staging of national flags and names throughout the audience seats, and an open stage (initially with a coffin, but soon to be so much else).
There is a veritable buffet of talents on display, but It is hard not to notice certain ones on display: Munashe Chirisa in his comic role as a Ugandan shopkeeper; Liana Cottrill given time to explore her exceptional dancing through a solo piece; Adil Hassan’s accents, as Africa 7 but also an aggressive Libyan citizen.
Mother (Yaa) Africa (Suzette Llewellyn) is supposed to provide a throughline, with her urgency and elegance, though it still didn’t give a driving clarity for her call to this journey. All of the travelers are named Africa with a number (1-11), it was confusing why their names had to be the same as the continent they are exploring, “Africa with an A” often said. Covering 54 countries meant in some cases that the countries were just mentioned as places come from or heading towards. Nevertheless, the 11 Africas reunited in The Gambia, a country about to celebrate its 60th year as a nation. In a brief closure, Yaa Africa commends the successful explorers, and brings the journey to a close with a radiant dress change. Despite these moments of confusion, I immensely enjoyed the ‘glue’ connecting the edges. Besides the dancing and singing, at the end of the intermission the stage becomes a veritable marketplace: vendors boldly selling sunglasses, CDs, wigs, t-shirts, and Bournevita, while bargaining prices with audience members.
The joy and variety of African stories from various countries reminded me at times of Barbershop Chronicles by Inua Ellams, which took transcripts of hours of actual dialogue and converted them to the stage, though lacking the same depth of narrative. The short snippets of conversations likely experienced by Femi during his travels are fun and funny and even start to explore questions of identity and belonging. Particularly evocative is the mention of the hypocrisy of the West using global conferences to deal with climate change (“COP this, COP that. And when you COP together, you hop from private jets”). Or the scene when they discussed how the MV Aureol was the equivalent ship as the Windrush transporting West Africans but that there was no mention of Africa in British education when the author was growing up. All that was given was little factsheets that focused mainly on the West Indies. Great food for thought, each which could be given more breadth.
Despite the joyful exuberance, there is a message at the heart (albeit a labyrinthine one): Africa is not to be dismissed or forgotten. Its 54 countries are continually rising from their own complex histories and glorious stories. I realized, by the end, that I was not the only interloper - anyone who can assume to know all of a continent by connection to merely one nation within is also a stranger in a strange land. Fortunately, Femi aimed to rectify that by his 60th birthday, with the help of an army of amazing talent.
54.60 Africa by Femi Elufowoju Jr. at Arcola Theatre, 14 June - 12 July, 2025
Performed by Suzette Llewellyn, Femi Elufowoju,Jr., Munashe Chirasa, Christoher Mbaki, Liana Cottrill, Ayo-Dele Edwards, Adil Hassan, Usifu Jalloh, Funlola Olufunwa and The Ganda Boys
Written by Femi Elufowoju Jr.
Lyrics by Femi Elufowoju Jr.
Directed by Femi Elufowoju Jr.
Production Designer: ULTZ
Emmanuel Edwards: Music Director/Composer/Sound Designer
Charles Balfour: Lighting Designer
- Photography: Alex Brenner
