FRINGE REVIEW: “Bloke and his American Bantu”

Bloke and his American Bantu – Assembly George Square Studios – Studio Two – 11.30am

IT IS hard for productions to get noticed at the Fringe in a crowded field of 3,300 – it’s rather like being a solo soprano in a multi-hundred populated Welsh bass choir. Combine that with being allocated the death slot of 11:30 in the morning and it’s made even more difficult. This is one such production – you should listen to the high note of the soprano and follow that note to the door of Studio Two in Assembly’s George Square Studios at 11.30am.

This is a tale of two activists during the apartheid era in South Africa; one, American poet Langston Hughes based in Harlem; and the other, the writer Bloke Modisane, originally from South Africa but exiled in a bleak, unwelcoming and grey England.

Is there a thread of politics in the production? Yes, but for context only. The brightest and strongest thread in the tapestry of this production is the development of a friendship, a friendship initially via letters and transatlantic phone calls that develops into a relationship so deep and symbiotic it is almost as intense as a love affair but based on mutual support, shared intellectual prowess and respect for the poet in one and writer in the other. At the engineering of Hughes, Modisane gives a university lecture tour in the United States and it is as a result of this tour that the two finally meet. That meeting in the production I will not spoil for you as it is quite beautiful.

The script is faultless, the direction likewise, the acting is outstanding, and the narration of the letters and telephone calls is at times humorous, desperate, full of pathos, and – in one exchange – so desperately sad.

I was vaguely aware of the poetry of Langstone before I went to the production. I knew little to nothing of the writing of Modisane. After witnessing this exceptional production, I will close those gaps in my knowledge.

This comes to Edinburgh after a sell-out tour in South Africa; there is a reason for the sell-out – it’s a terrific production.

FOUR STARS

Get the full details about the show here.

Plus, read more reviews on Scottish Field’s Fringe pages.