A dazzling yet confusing time-bending production, centred on Mary Seacole, a pioneering British-Jamaican nurse and businesswoman of the 19th century, renown for her work during the Crimean war.
I walked into the Donmar Warehouse expecting a biopic of a woman I was told (in the programme) to โlook the f**k upโ. And so I did, discovering the life of a courageous black woman who defied discrimination to setup a hotel to care for wounded soldiers at the frontline. Jamaica-born to a white Scottish lieutenant in the British Army and a black mother skilled with traditional Caribbean and African herbal medicines, Seacole is toe-to-toe with the likes of Florence Nightingale. Yet Jackie Sibblies Druryโs play is much more than that. It draws on her life and superimposes it onto our modern times.
Kayla Meikle plays a compelling Seacole. With pride and a puffed-up chest, she declares each act as they come, as if to dictate her own biography. In her opening monologue, sheโs outfitted in a black dress, with war medals and a pearl necklace adorning her chest, and soon undresses to reveal hospital scrubs. In this era, sheโs a carer for the elderly, physically and verbally abused; a trainer, guiding a young, frazzled nurse (a brilliant debut by Dรฉja Bowens) through an impossible and satirical scenario of the aftermath of a terrorist attack. The impulse is to care for others no matter how detrimental the environment, for others or herself.
Nadia Latifโs direction is meticulous in navigating transitions of time, and I canโt help but think of โSankofaโ, the African temporal concept of looking back into the past to build a better future. Itโs cleverly represented in the young nurse suddenly speaking lines weโve heard from Mary; in the โghost of mother calls meโ text shown through a series of mixed calls. They are all Mary, and she them. Yet because of this, the production falters in what it promises. Though technically dazzling, the ending is disorientating, building great emotional momentum towards the point of plurality only to abruptly recentre Mary Seacole in a dragged-out resolution. Itโs half a biopic and half a story of black women facing adversity across time; never quite fulfilling either to its fullest potential.
Check out more from Donmar Warehouse | Find out more about Jackie Sibblies Drury| Nadia Latif | Xana |
| See more Off/Stage Review Bytes on IG |