Theatre review: Hear Word! Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Hear Word! Lyceum Theatre, * * * *
In this brilliantly vivid, angry and uplifting show, staged as part of the Edinburgh International Festival’s You Are Here programme, co-writer and director Ifeoma Fafunwa and her company of a dozen Nigerian actresses and performers, have a clear and hugely significant message to deliver, about the need to move on from traditional practices and attitudes which are abusive towards women, and to ensure and celebrate a new world of equality and mutual respect.
Described by the New York Times as “agitprop theatre of an exceptionally vital order”, Hear Word! offers a 75-minute sequence of short scenes, a few involving dance, most based on monologue or dialogue, and all accompanied by the subtle, driving rhythms of a three-man onstage percussion band. The subjects covered range from rape and sexual harassment at work, and child abuse by family and friends, to outrageous traditional practices that rob widowed women of all rights and status, and the insidious role of women themselves in enforcing patriarchal rules through gossip and bullying.
JOYCE MCMILLAN
Until 25 August