Nana-Kofi Kufuor’s My Voice Was Heard But It Was Ignored is an important play that compels an urgent introspection into racial discrimination, institutional microaggressions and the potentially devastating effects of a silent society.
Pushed under the weight of a policeman’s knee and his face searing on the pavement’s hot gravel, fifteen-year-old Reece (D’Aguilar) calls out to his black teacher Gillian (Duncan-Barry), who watches silently. Locked in the classroom with him the following day, they subject each other to a trial for their transgressions against racial identity and their audacity of existing in a white world.
Kufuor’s writing is ambitious in his interrogation of several themes, which include different lived experiences, racial profiling, violence, misogyny, and boundaries of responsibility and safeguarding. However, in the short space of eighty minutes, Kufour does justice in demonstrating their intrinsic relationship. The addition of quirky humour in his writing provides much-needed comic relief, without compromising the audiences’ processing of the heavy subject matter.
Daly’s directorial command over his craft is evident from the moment the audience enters the vandalised, shabby and dilapidated classroom. From the stage design, actors’ performances and dynamic use of sound and light, Daly delicately but assertively explores the themes of racial identity, social inequality and powerlessness in the face of violence that is perpetuated by the very structures that exist to protect us. D’Aguilar’s performance as a teenager navigating through this recent trauma is skilled, impressive and fine-tuned in his representation of multiple characters. Similarly, Duncan-Barry provides an equally remarkable portrayal of multifaceted challenges associated with identity.
There are significant moments where gendered bias, racism and colourism play out on stage in a jarring manner, such as Reece’s offence at Gillian not being black enough and also being a woman; or Gillian’s reservations about black men in general. Whilst this may be part of Kufour’s critique on yet another facet of black identity, it has the effect of momentarily decentring the conversation of institutional accountability. My Voice Was Heard But It Was Ignored is an ambitious and well-executed play in exploring racism, identity and more importantly, collective accountability.
Name of Production | My Voice Was Heard But It Was Ignored
Year of Production | 2021
Venue | Leeds Playhouse
Cast | Misha Duncan-Barry, Jelani D’Aguilar
Director | Dermot Daly
Writer | Nana-Kofi Kufuor
Designer | Caitlin Mawhinney
Sound Designer | Tayo Akinbode
Lighting and Visual Designer | Adam Foley
Producers/Production Company | Red Ladder Theatre Company
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