Issue 21  |  August 2010

‘I’m interested in the ways cloth, especially in African societies, is representative of personality and identity’

Nnenna Okore is an internationally acclaimed artist from Nnsukka, Southern Nigeria and studied there with El Anatsui  – (renowned for his beautiful large-scale drapes from bottle-tops). She gained her masters in Ohio and now lectures in Chicago and distilled her art in USA through the deep impression  the wasteful society made on her. She sculpts with paper, remarking that in Nnsukka it’s re-used in many ways and not simply discarded. She also uses clay, and make both materials behave unusually. A social awareness informs her creativity.  Okore’s contemporary, writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun) , also from Nnsukka, proudly opened the exhibition.

** This article was orginally published in December 2008**

CAV: The October Gallery exhibition features many more of your recent works that use clay. Is paper – as a material – still as important to you?
Nnenna Okore: The explorations with paper continue to evolve and I’m using different processes. I’m adding colour, dying and waxing it. I’ve also gained more interest in working with clay. Rather than conform to stereotypes of ceramics, I’m stretching it, working  in unique ways – taking the hardness of clay and softening it – making it more fabric-like with a kind of ironic relationship. There are differences between the two materials but they have commonalities – alluring textures, beautiful colours. I have a very strong fascination for undulating forms and I visualise these when working with the material so there is always some kind of draping going on.

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Zena Edwards on her play Security

Zena Edwards brings her many talents to a new one-woman show – Security – at the Battersea Arts Centre until the end of November. The well-travelled writer, spoken word artist and musician – who uses traditional African instruments in her thoughtful performances – has developed a piece that now showcases her acting and storytelling skills.

Catch A Vibe caught up with her recently and spoke about her new show, which tackles the controversial, and sometimes ambiguous, topic of human security in an era of terror threats, youth crime and economic and financial instability.

CAV: What is “Security” about?
Zena Edwards: The show is tackling issues of knife crime, intergenerational conflict and culture clashes. I play 5 characters and it’s a massive step for me as an artist; coming from doing spoken word – standing in front of a microphone – to telling a heartfelt story.

CAV: What was the catalyst for doing a show covering issues related to security, terrorist attacks and what some see as anti-democratic legislation?
Zena Edwards: I started to look at what do we do as human beings to make ourselves feel secure; the only thing we have to be secure with is the notion of change; that things will always change. No matter how much we think “I know how the world functions, I know how I am”. In the show you have a young 16-year old girl who meets this Palestinian man who is exiled from Palestine; and how they meet in the South Bank and change each other’s world.  They have something in common: they have both lost a Brother… one to knife crime and another to war in the Palestine conflict. What it does is show we have human frailties in terms of the circumstances we come from.

CAV: You have previewed the show around the country; what has the reaction been?
Zena Edwards: It’s been a fantastic reaction to the show. That’s why we are keeping on going. We’ve done shows in Wales, Warwick, Manchester and Birmingham and I’ve been getting a lot of support from Apples and Snakes [the poetry organisation], Battersea Arts Centre, Birmingham Rep, The Drum; they have given loads of support, so I must be doing something right.

CAV: What differences have you noticed between Security and a spoken word performance?
Zena Edwards: I am playing the all characters. It’s energetic. It’s me one on stage. I stripped the show down to a chair and a bag – that’s my set … the focus is totally on the characters on stage. It’s a very dynamic piece. I have had to study a lot of movement, changing into characters, dialogue, playing two characters at the same time, doing different voices.

CAV: As a spoken word artist’s what’s it like doing this new type of performance?
Zena Edwards: It’s brilliant. I have learnt an awful lot over the last year; I have done physical theatre workshops, tightening up my story as a writer, exploring playing with voice and characters. So as an artist I have learnt an awful lot of lessons… … that will stay with me for the rest of my artistic life.

Security
written by and with Zena Edwards
directed by Anthony Shrubsall
at the Battersea Arts Centre on November 2008

'I'm playing that role that all black actors want to play' says Jimmy Akingbola

Jimmy Akingbola is the talented British actor who has worked prolifically on stage and screen. His TV credits include working on The Bill, Holby Blue and The Crouches. On stage he has performed at The National Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East and The Donmar Warehouse alongside Ian McKellen. He currently stars in the title role of Frantic Assembly’s Othello at the Lyric Hammersmith and has just been nominated for a Screen Nation Award. During a well deserved break he tells Catch A Vibe how it all began.

CAV: When did you first develop an interest in acting?
Jimmy Akingbola: It was about when I was 15 at secondary school. I’ve always liked acting and making people laugh. When I was in secondary school my drama teacher used to take me out of maths and ask me to help in drama. I had a passion for it… It was really good to gain that experience and that respect. The school knew that Jimmy was a good little actor! I got an A in drama. So I went to Epping Forest College. I went out of my borough to meet different people and give myself a chance.The first week the assignment was to do a monologue, fact or fiction. I dropped a stand- up monologue thing and at the end of it, it cements that I’m going to be an actor.

CAV: You have worked extensively in TV and Theatre, what would you say the secret of your success is?
Jimmy Akingbola: Luck and hard, hard work. I do feel like, without sounding big-headed, that I have some sort of natural talent otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it but I do feel like I work hard. When I was at drama school at first I was at the bottom end of the class. I thought I was working hard but I was just 18 and had a “you guys owe me” attitude and thought I didn’t have to work. But I sort of grew up after the first 6 months. I turned the screw on myself and worked a bit harder and then I noticed the benefits and the responses from the tutors… so I maintained that work ethic.

CAV: Have you found it difficult as a black actor?
Jimmy Akingbola: It has got better, but I think it could get even better. I think what it is… there are more black actors that are starting to come out and there are a few more plays being done but [it’s not that many]… so if you only have a small selection of work going out there…you’re in a position where you are competing against so many good actors. I’m lucky, I’m working. But sometimes if there’s a part that’s specifically for a black actor, there’s a pool of actors dying to get it and we all have our heartbreaks.

CAV: And have you always wanted to play Othello?
Jimmy Akingbola: No, funnily enough. I wanted to play the other moor in Titus Andronicus, Aaron. That play is brilliant. Basically there’s blood, blood, blood, in the beginning and all arms getting chopped of and family getting killed, it’s sort of Reservoir Dogs meets Pulp Fiction. The moor character in there is not noble at all… he’s just a badman! He has an affair with a white woman and she has a baby and he gets caught and they’re expecting him to quiver and he’s like “what?! I don’t care!” I read that speech and understood it and though it was amazing! Since then, that speech and that play have been among my favourites. But then when I got Othello I was like, “actually it’s the big O, I gotta step to it!” (Laughs)

CAV: Frantic Assembly’s version of Othello is quite different, what was it about it that you liked?
Jimmy Akingbola: I like the script. When I first looked at the script and it was nice to see that they had set the play [in North England]. Then I read it and it worked so well. And also because there have been many good versions [of Othello] this year. And as an actor I’m all about taking risks – If I fall flat, I fall flat….I believe in this story and if I am going to do Othello, this is more my Othello – It just grabbed me.

CAV: Did you ever feel any pressure playing one of the most famous black roles in theatre history?
Jimmy Akingbola: (Pause) A little bit. But I just used it. As far as I know I was the first black actor to play Jimmy Porter (in John Osborne’s’ Look Back in Anger) and everyone was like “Wow you’re doing that?!Richard Burton played him…Kenneth Branagh played him!” I felt more pressure in that job. So when it comes to Othello, I’m just celebrating… I’m playing that role that all black actors want to play.

CAV: Finally, how did you feel about your Screen Nation nomination?
Jimmy Akingbola: I was surprised; it came out of the blue. I had done other stuff and it never got any recognition so I was just surprised and shocked. So it was a bit of a delayed response of “Oh yeah I have been nominated – okay.” And I think because my head was busy with this [Othello]. But then someone broke it down and said “Jimmy, it’s great to be nominated for anything and you should cherish those moments”. So even if I don’t win I’ve been nominated and I’m up there with a lot of good talent and I am being recognised.