Banging the drum for Ghana
Photo: Dan Tsantilis
Daniel Nelson
Two expat Ghanaians meet in London, one takes a photo of the other and they have a conversation. Doesn’t sound like much of a play. But Drum is a delight.
The pair (who are still alive) are Mike Eghan, a young journalist making a name for himself at the BBC Africa Service in 1967, and James Barnor, a photographer for Drum magazine. Eghan is a touch self-satisfied, prone to preening, eager to please. Barnor is direct and challenging.
Barnor’s assignment is to take a good picture. Eghan is keen - very keen - that the assignment is successful.
He places a large BBC placard in front of his office desk. Barnor quickly removes it.
He offers BBC tea and biscuits. Barnor scornfully rejects the snack, and produces a Ghanaian dish in a plastic container. Eghan is aghast: no food in the office.
They talk, and seem to differ about everything, great and small: about their upbringiing, how they speak (“Just two years and you sound kike the Queen’s husband”), about clothes, about whether Kwame Nkrumah was a great or a repressive president, about the rights and wrongs of working and living outside Ghana, about what constitutes a “real” Ghanaian.
They play records to make points — Ob‐La‐Di, Ob‐La‐Da, but mostly High Life.
But under the probing skirmishes the two men find they share a lot: ideas about fatherhood, about discipline, about patriotism, about one day returning home (“My aim is not to stay here-O!”),about pride in their achievements, about assimilation, about food. They dance together, competitively and in unison.
They end up flattering each other.
Ok, the dialogue is occasionally stilted and the “plot” is slim. But there’s honesty, affection, humour and seriousness about issues. It’s a small slice of history.
And they take a bow while sharing Ghanaian food.
* Drum, £16/£13/£10 is at the Omnibus Theatre, 1 Clapham Common, Northside, SW4 until 25 September. Info: 7498 4699/ https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/
+ A small exhibition of archival photographs and audio bites of Highlife sounds, Sounds of our Migration, runs alongside the production at the theatre.