A haunting tale of history and the search for ourselves within it. A work of art.
Samuel Takes a Break … In Male Dungeon No 5 After a Long But Generally Successful Day of Tours, is a masterpiece. It is so rare that theatre is faultless, especially from a first-time playwright, yet Rhianna Ilube has created a show that is exactly that.
The story is a hauntingly honest portrayal of how easily we trivialise the trials of our ancestors and how easy it is to be consumed by the trials of our own pasts. It is a perfectly balanced and powerful combination of comedy and emotion that will leave you speechless.
A deceptively simple set combined with an intimate theatre and the breaking of the fourth-wall blessed the audience with an effective immersive experience. Christopher Nairne’s lighting and XANA’s sound selections completed the experience so that it felt as though we were there, experiencing Samuel’s emotional journey. I give the highest praise to Nairne’s lighting design and its effectiveness in guiding us through the show. The use of moving shadows in certain scenes was particularly brilliant and added a creeping intensity to what otherwise could have been trivial scenes.
The cast of Samuel Takes a Break was incredible. Each actor was able to bring their character to life, giving the show an impressive level of realism. As the titular character Samuel, Fode Simbo created a complex character that gripped the audience. Simbo had us all on the edge of our seats, empathising with him, worrying for him, and constantly guessing what he would do next. Bola Akeju’s character, Orange, was a wonderful contrast to Samuel. While Simbo’s performance was consistently tinged with tension, Akeju’s was lighthearted and brought a great deal of joy and amusement to the stage. Stefan Asante-Boateng and Tori Allen-Martin played a number of obnoxious tourists throughout the show, all of which reflected the ease with which society trivialises and commercialises the horrors of the past. Their primary roles as Trev and Letty respectively were delivered beautifully; these characters were incredibly relatable, each portraying the different ways people respond to the trials of their ancestors.
Samuel Takes a Break is a work of art. It’s an entrancing genre-bending tale of history, ours and our ancestors, and what that means for the people we become. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it’s a truly flawless play. If there is only one show you are going to see this year, it should be Samuel Takes a Break.