Moj of the Antarctic

by Mojisola Adebayo. The play is inspired by the wonderful true‐life story of Ellen Craft, a 19th century African‐American slave woman who escaped to freedom in London by disguising herself as a white man. The play extends Ellen’s amazing biography into a flight of theatrical fantasy where upon arrival in Victorian London she finds work as a sailor on a whaling ship bound for the Southern Seas. Eventually the ship arrives in Antarctic waters ripe for gruesome whaling, and Moj becomes the first ‘Black woman’ to step foot on Antarctica. It is presented as an intertextual, intercultural, interactive play between physical theatre and film, poetry and photography, biography and fiction, music and movement, storytelling and song. Performed by Mojisola Adebayo, with visuals by Del LaGrace Volcano, physical direction by Sheron Wray, design by Iraqi designer Rajha Shakiry, original score by Nigerian composer Juwon Ogungbe and lighting by Crin Claxton. First performed in Britain at the Lyric Hammersmith, went on to Oval House Theatre and received wide critical acclaim. Moj of the Antarctic is published by Oberon in Hidden Gems, edited by Goldsmiths colleague, Dr Deirdre Osborne. The production has toured extensively across Southern Africa under the auspices of Oval House Theatre and the British Council. It played at the Theatre in the District, ***

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