{"id":743290,"date":"2026-02-05T05:07:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T05:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/743290\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T05:07:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T05:07:12","slug":"review-crown-of-blood-crucible-theatre-sheffield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/743290\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Crown of Blood, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRating
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tExcellent \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

A powerful retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth which translates brilliantly to this new Yorubaland setting. <\/p>\n

\t<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the world premiere of\u00a0Crown of Blood<\/strong>,\u00a0a powerful retelling of Shakespeare\u2019s\u00a0Macbeth\u00a0set during the civil wars of 19th-century Yorubaland. General Aderemi, fresh from saving the kingdom from invaders,\u00a0is promoted to Field Marshal, thus fulfilling the prophecy of the oracle. When the oracle says he will become\u00a0king, Aderemi and his wife Oyebisi go on a bloody mission to ensure he sits on the throne.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The driving force of much of the narrative is\u00a0scheming\u00a0Oyebisi, excellently played by\u00a0Kehinde\u00a0Bankole<\/strong>. She was\u00a0once\u00a0a captured princess sold as booty;\u00a0her husband Aderemi does not come from royal lineage so unless\u00a0she\u00a0intervenes, she will never realise her birthright and become a queen. Bankole captures her manipulative character perfectly as she lies, deceives and murders to fulfil her plans.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deyemi\u00a0Okanlawon\u00a0<\/strong>is equally impressive as Aderemi, a warrior who is content with his position until his wife\u2019s ambition turns him into a ruthless monster that she can no longer control. The transformation from obedient soldier to megalomaniac is convincing and well judged by Okanlawon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The play has an authentic sense of time and place. The action is interspersed with African rhythms and chants. Background drums increase the tension. Dance and movement enhance\u00a0the storytelling. There are no witches here, but Yorubaland gods are regularly present as observers, occasionally intervening to direct the action. They are fully integrated into the\u00a0culture,\u00a0and the characters are always mindful of not displeasing them. The excellent costumes, set and lighting add to this distinctive West African setting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0adaptation of\u00a0Macbeth\u00a0with its themes of ambition, revenge,\u00a0fate\u00a0and a tragic hero translate perfectly.\u00a0Students will be delighted as familiar scenes are cleverly\u00a0reworked to this new setting. The King Duncan character\u00a0is\u00a0Alaafin\u00a0Iwalagba,\u00a0played with authority and dignity by\u00a0Patrice\u00a0Naiambana<\/strong>.\u00a0After Aderemi murders him, he attends an investiture ceremony to become Regent.\u00a0Iwalagba\u2019s\u00a0ghost silently offers him\u00a0the titular crown of blood. Oyebisi smooths the situation when Aderemi is shaken by the sight.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lengths of red fabric are used symbolically throughout. The play\u00a0opens with a battle\u00a0scene\u00a0and an actor\u00a0slowly pulls\u00a0the fabric through the battle ground to become a river of blood. The same fabric circles the shrine of the oracle, Awosika (Tunji Falana<\/strong>) as he relays Oyebisi\u2019s lies to Aderemi. Awosika is\u00a0subsequently\u00a0murdered to assure his silence.\u00a0When\u00a0Iwalagba\u00a0is murdered, his throne is lifted from the stage by\u00a0the\u00a0red fabric, making it unavailable. It does not descend again until Aderemi is dead. Oyebisi pulls her dead husband to the throne and finally places the crown on\u00a0his head, fulfilling her own false prophecy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The supporting cast members are versatile and talented, many playing multiple roles, including ministers,\u00a0soldiers\u00a0and mystics.\u00a0They also bring welcome comic relief on occasion, just as Shakespeare did. The Court Historian\u00a0Arokin\u00a0(Toyin\u00a0Oshinaike<\/strong>)\u00a0also acts as narrator and speaks directly to the audience to set the scene and background. Once the story is told and Aderemi is dead,\u00a0it is suggested that the events are wiped from the record.\u00a0Arokin\u00a0refuses, saying that lessons must be learned and Yorubaland must never again let the lies and deceit of one man \u2018bend us to his will\u2019. A final message that resonates today and has continual\u00a0relevance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Writer:\u00a0Oladipo\u00a0Agboluaje\u00a0\u00a0
Director\u00a0and\u00a0Co-composer:\u00a0Mojisola Kareem\u00a0
Set and\u00a0Costume\u00a0Designer:\u00a0Kevin Jenkins\u00a0
Movement\u00a0Director:\u00a0Ben Wright\u00a0
Sound\u00a0Designer:\u00a0Rob Hart\u00a0
Lighting\u00a0Designer:\u00a0Alexandra Stafford\u00a0
Co-Composer and Musical Director:\u00a0Kayefi\u00a0Osha\u00a0
Assistant Director: Mo Korede\u00a0
Fight Director:\u00a0Bethan Clark\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crown of Blood plays at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, until Saturday 7 February before touring to venues across the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rating Excellent A powerful retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth which translates brilliantly to this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8817],"tags":[219862,219863,219864,748,219743,53369,219744,393,4884,219745,219746,166113,129375,219865,219748,219749,219866,219867,22252,1620,219868,219869,16,15],"class_list":["post-743290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sheffield","tag-alexandra-stafford","tag-ben-wright","tag-bethan-clark","tag-britain","tag-crown-of-blood","tag-crucible-theatre","tag-deyemi-okanlawon","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-kayefi-osha","tag-kehinde-bankole","tag-kevin-jenkins","tag-macbeth","tag-mo-korede","tag-mojisola-kareem","tag-oladipo-agboluaje","tag-patrice-naiambana","tag-rob-hart","tag-shakespeare","tag-sheffield","tag-toyin-oshinaike","tag-tunji-falana","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116016293781146998","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}