The Meaning of Zong – Edinburgh Lyceum
This play is only part of the story. The central character Olaudah Equiano (the leading 18th century black campaigner for the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade) is played by originator and author Giles Terera and at points we feel like we’re watching him, not Olaudah. It’s a play about struggle(s) and a quest for truth and Terera’s journey in writing and researching it involved both. As Bristol Old Vic’s artistic directors Tom Morris and Charlotte Geeves write in the programme, he ‘battled the British theatre establishment’ in order ‘to get it on its feet’. Having taken six years to develop, its debut performance was delayed from early 2020 by the Covid pandemic, so what we’re seeing tonight is almost brand new; the first performance was at the Bristol Old Vic on April 2, 2022, a ...