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Through the Mud

Summerhall

4 stars

 

There’s a riot going on from the start in Apphia Campbell’s dynamic dissection of parallel times, from the 1960s and 1970s civil rights movement to the dawn of Black Lives Matter. These are seen through the eyes of Black Panther on the run Assata Shakur, on the one hand, and a female student, Ambrosia, who is starting college forty years later. 

 

Both women find themselves caught in the state sanctioned crossfire of civil unrest. With Assata on the frontline from the start, Ambrosia’s rude awakening comes by way of the same forces that closed ranks following the fatal shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.

 

Assata and Ambrosia are brought to life with a sense of righteous anger in Caitlin Skinner’s production, with Campbell herself as Assata and Tinashe Warikandwa as Ambrosia. The play’s dramatic fusion of words, music and recorded voices shows how history can repeat itself while laying down a gauntlet for change. Both Campbell and Warikandwa perform with a determined and controlled commitment that reflects their characters with a ferocious urgency that points the way for future generations to resist and rise up. 

 

Summerhall until 25th August, 5.55pm.


The List, August 2024

 

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