Why do you insist on showing your buttocks to all and sundry?
The words of a 16 century Malian slave and son of the forger of iron, directed towards a 16 year old, 21st century youth from London. Stabbed in the belly, and dying on a deserted beach, with a dying phone he has no option of calling for help, this is when his whole life flashes in front of him and he is visited by the Malian slave dressed in sheets of flowing embroidered cotton.
This is desert boy a musical now showing for three days at the contact theatre and a truly unequalled experience of new greetings between two sides of history who have been uncomfortable bed fellows for a long time.
The story of slavery and the situation of the black community in its aftermath. We are shown in very striking detail the emasculation of the black man by a past and history, deeply rooted in slavery and his futile attempt to forcefully reclaim it. We see an absence of fathers to raise sons and thus creating a very narrow divide between manhood and boyhood.
The execution of the play is beautifully done. I especially liked the story telling ability of the script which brought out a unique African feel to it; although I would have preferred, personally a little more African “more pepper in my soup” in the music of the play in which all the songs were in English.
However the musical is definitely worth your time and I would encourage anybody who is free tonight to pop in to the contact at 8pm for its last showing.
Peace, poetry, prosperity and splashing
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