Sold continues at Pleasance Courtyard – The Attic, Edinburgh until 25 August 2019.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Every so often there is a piece that touches the soul. Sold is one such show. With only a single drum as instrument, these two performers create the sounds of Africa and the Caribbean in an intimate yet epic story about the life of Mary Prince.
Mary (played by Amantha Edmead, who also wrote the show) was born into slavery in Bermuda, 1788. Her life was documented by Susanna Strickland and was published in 1831. Her first-hand experience of slavery was instrumental in raising awareness of the cruel wickedness suffered in a slave’s life and the eventual abolition in all of Britain and the territories in 1833. (Scotland had abolished slavery some decades earlier.)
Edmead’s stage presence is vibrant: she plays the roles of other characters in Mary Prince’s life with distinct brilliance. Her vocal skills are stunning, both in dialogue and in singing. Looking the audience directly in the eye, it is impossible not to feel a deep, immediate connection to this woman. Indeed, you could hear a pin drop in the intensity of listening.
Angie Amra Anderson is a striking figure: dressed all in white, topped with a turban that accentuates her elegance and grace, her drumming and singing are like the spiritual aspects of Mary’s character made in human form. Her rhythms are flawless and part of the narrative in every sense. The interplay between the two women has natural beauty and balance, giving an authentic African voice that moves on through the Caribbean and into religious singing, where even the audience are gently encouraged to take part. These delicious sounds also inform the movement – both director (Euton Daley) and choreographer (Lati Saka) have worked with their cast in successfully conveying emotions and personality through the dynamic action, making phenomenal use of the stage space.
The core of the text is considerably shocking – the ‘N’ word being repeated often in the early passages. The way the young Mary was treated like a pet by the spoilt daughter of her first owners, and her acquiescent acceptance of this relationship, speaks volumes of how she saw herself from the very start of her life.
The hardship of her life is writ large, as indeed it ought to be – the inhumanity of one man to another ought always to be remembered and reviled in equal measure. It is in a harsh living hell that moments of sweetness become all the more important. It is a comfort to understand that Mary did have sweeter times. But one aim for happiness and dignity rises tallest: ‘To be free is very sweet.’
This is both an important and exceptional theatrical experience – recommended as highly as possible.
Fiona Orr
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