Many of The REP’s productions go on to have lives beyond Birmingham. Recent tours and transfers include The Lovely Bones, Brief Encounter, Nativity! The Musical, What Shadows, LOVE, The Winslow Boy, The Government Inspector, Of Mice And Men, Anita And Me, Penguins and The King’s Speech. The theatre’s long-running production of The Snowman celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018 and its 22nd consecutive season at London’s Peacock Theatre in 2019.

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The High Table

Characters

Tara, twenties, bride to be.

Omotara (Yoruba) ‘Child is the worth of family’

Leah, twenties, Tara’s fiancée.

Leah (Hebrew) ‘Weary’

Teju, mid-forties/early fifties, Tara’s uncle.

Tejumade (Yoruba) ‘Fix your gaze on the crown’

Segun, mid-forties/early fifties, Tara’s father.

Segun (Yoruba) ‘Conqueror’

Mosun, mid-forties/early fifties, Tara’s mother.

Mosunmola (Yoruba) ‘I move close to wealth’

Yetunde, mid-forties/early fifties, The Ancestor of the North.

Yetunde (Yoruba) ‘Mother has returned again’

Babatunde, mid-forties/early fifties, The Ancestor of the West.

Babatunde (Yoruba) ‘Father has come again’

Adebisi, twenties, The Ancestor of the South.

Adebisi (Yoruba) ‘The crown has given birth to more’

Notes

(- ) Signifies an interruption.

(/ ) Signifies where a character interrupts another with overlapping speech.

(* ) Signifies a pause, either due to the use of music or an atmospheric shift.

Text in italics signifies that text should be sung.

The text uses a mixture of English and Pidgin English.

Teju and The Ancestors should speak with Nigerian accents.

The Mother and Father should speak in Nigerian accents, though slightly Anglicised.

All other characters speak with British accents. Though Tara may often adopt a Nigerian accent at will.

Multi-roling may be necessary. Suggested pairings are:

Segun and Babatunde, Mosun and Yetunde, Leah and Adebisi.

Settings

Tara, Leah & family

London, England. Present

Teju (& Segun)

Lagos, Nigeria. Present

The Ancestors

The North Star, On the edge of the Present

Scene One

Scene One

The North Star.

– Opening song –

Ẹ káàb si irawọ (ariwa)

Ẹ káàb si irawọ (ariwa)

Ẹ káàb si irawọ (ariwa)

Ẹ káàb si irawọ (ariwa)

Show them, show them

Show, Show them.

Show them. (Show them)

Show them, show them

Show, Show them.

Show them. (Show them)

Hmm! Without burnt offering. Hmm! Without blood sacrifice.

Hmm! Without burnt offering. We go show you, show you.

Hmm! Without burnt offering. Hmm! Without blood sacrifice.

Hmm! Without burnt offering. We go show you, show you

From the North to the South, from the East to the West.

For your front, for your behind. We go show you, show you.

From the North to the South, from the East to the West.

For your front, for your behind. We go show you, show you.

Ẹ káàb si irawọ (ariwa)

Ẹ káàb si irawọ (ariwa)

Ẹ káàb si irawọ (ariwa)

Ẹ káàb, káàb Kaabo.

***

Babatunde That didn’t sound right.

Adebisi Ah-ah! I thought I sang it well.

Yetunde We just didn’t have the fourth harmony. That’s all. It was good!