Writer: Dave Harris
Director: Matthew Xia
This show defies convention – it is extraordinary and offers a unique theatrical experience that this reviewer guarantees will live long in the memory. It is probably a show that deserves to be seen more than once because it presents ideas that are very thought provoking and that affect all of us whether we like it or not. It encourages us to reflect deeply on our history and society today and what has brought each one of us to our present moment in time.
The play is essentially in three parts which span 500 years. This may sound a tall order but is achieved with the expertise of just four performers, excellent sound and lighting, the minimum amount of props and basically a back curtain – with the rest being supplied by a variable commodity – our own imaginations.
The opening scene presents a very colourful backdrop of what purports to be a plantation setting, perhaps a cotton field, with its obvious connotations of slavery and abuse. Tambo (Clifford Samuel) enters dressed as a minstrel and immediately engages with the audience establishing a rapport. Audience participation is crucial throughout as if to say, it’s not just us performing on a stage for you to watch but rather we’re all in this together and everything that happens up to this point is as a result of our joint actions. Tambo proceeds to clown around, seeking some shade so he can take a nap and pass his day in wilful oblivion. Then Bones (Daniel Ward) enters, also dressed as a clown/minstrel, and he too engages with the audience telling them an obviously fabricated sob story of his sick son in hospital in order to elicit their sympathy and get some much needed cash (quarters, dollars?). There proceeds much humour, slapstick, visual gags and banter between the two that is reminiscent of the two tramps inWaiting for Godotalthough the premise of the two plays is entirely different.
The second scene depicts Tambo and Bones in more modern times. They have escaped from the confines of a minstrel show with all its stereotypes and clichés and have made it big as global hip-hop megastars. Here they really display their rapping talents and are genuinely convincing, captivating their fans with their latest hits. In the final scene, set 400 years later, there has been a white genocide as the aftermath of a civil war. This has resulted in an even greater racial division than what exists in our present day and is a very bleak dystopian situation. This whole sequence takes the form of Tambo and Bones giving an academic lecture telling the history of the conflict with the aid of two robots dressed all in white and mesmerisingly played by Jaron Lammens and Dru Cripps. These two actors are truly outstanding and really convincing in a frightening performance that conjures up visions ofBlade RunnerandWestworld.
OverallTambo & Bones raises all sorts of issues that are very relevant today – division, inequality, racial violence, fascism, segregation – and the age guidance (14+) does also warn the audience that the show contains flashing lights, sounds of gunfire, violence, ethnic violence, strong language, strong racial language and discusses themes some may find upsetting related to race. At the end the audience is encouraged to stay in the auditorium for 15 minutes just to reflect on what has happened before them. This is in keeping with the ending itself (no spoilers) – unconventional and surprising. A show, then, that doesn’t have you leaving the theatre toe tapping and in great spirits but one, nevertheless, that gives you a sense of having seen something very worthy and true to our times.
Runs until 24th May 2025