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| Cast of A Man of Good Hope. Photo: Keith Pattison |
A Man of Good Hope.
Based on the book by Johnny Steinberg. Directed by Mark Dornford-May.YoungVic and Isango Ensemble. Royalty Theatre Adelaide Festival 2019. March 5 – 11 2019.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
What is the hope of every human
being? For Asad Abdullhahi it is to be free from fear and safe in his own land.
On a raked wooden stage, bordered by percussion instruments, the eight year old
Asad is confronted by eight hundred year old clan violence, when, contrary to
Islam law, his mother is shot dead by the militia in Mogadishu during the Civil
War of 1990. And it is here that the
hope of freedom and safety drives the young Asad on his dangerous Odyssey from
Somalia to the refugee camps of Kenya, forced use as a child soldier and further into Ethiopia, eventually
paying a people smuggler to help him enter South Africa. What drives Asad on is
the fearful burden of loss—the loss of his mother, the loss of home and family
and clan, the loss of property and money and the constant threat of violence
and death, enveloped in a pall of fear.
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| Young Asad. Photo: Keith Pattison |
This is epic theatre in the
tradition of the great dramas of Bertolt Brecht, operatic in the passionate
grandeur of spirit, tragic in its futile quest for life in a nation, torn apart
by the clan system, apartheid ,corruption, poverty and crime. Throughout the perilous
journey the tragedy of despairing hope is lifted by the cruel irony of the dream
of a better life in America, the Land of the Free, where there are no guns and
everyone is rich. “Are you sure of that?” author Johnny Steinberg asks the
adult Asad during his interview in a car “for a quick getaway”.
In the play’s magnificent display
of resilience, survival and the optimistic quest for a better life, Asad
confronts resistance from other clans, prejudice against immigrants,
threatening the jobs of South Africans, the violence towards family, death and
the destruction of a dream. His first wife, a victim of the horror of female
circumcision and the mother of his son returns to Somalia without Asad, whom
she legally divorces after four years of separation.
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| Adult Asad. Photo: Keith Pattison |
After years of thwarted attempts
to find family, establish a business, buy a truck, live in peace and provide
for his wife, Asad marries a woman of another clan in a show of compassion. and
eventually is granted immigration papers to the United States for himself, his
new wife and her son. His story, unlike so many others, ends well.
Hope and despair reside side by
side in Steinberg’s account of Asad’s tempestuous life. Hope springs eternal
from Asad’s dream, through the words of Nelson Mandela, in the optimism, born
of pain and grief that drives Asad on, and the belief that away from the
violence, far from the corruption, free of fear, there is a land where one can
be safe and succeed.
The hope bursts forth from the
rhythms of the percussion and the jubilation of the dance. From opera to music
theatre to the effervescent choral chants and stirring voices of the ensemble A Man of Good Hope sweeps the audience
along , at times toe-tapping to the songs or drawn in to the unjust drama of
the scene. Part agit prop,but without the harsh edge of didactic judgement, A Man of Good Hope upholds
the tradition of Brecht’s Epic Theatre,
a plea for change and a call to action. In the theatre foyer ausdiences are
invited to contribute twenty dollars for Amnesty International. It is a small
price to pay to support this powerful, moving and yet uplifting production’s
call for empathy and compassion.
“Will you buy my book when it is
published”, the character of Steinberg asks the adult Asad at the end of the
performance. Asad asks if the traumatic events of his life are in the book “Yes”
Steinberg says. “Then no.” Asad replies. “Will you write about the other
lives?” the young Asad asks. The lights fade to blackout . We who live in the safety of personal freedom
and enjoy the fundamental human rights, should hope that good may come to those
who have scarce hope of a good life, free from fear and poverty. It is a lesson
that A Man of Good Hope invites us
all to learn.
