Writer: Jacob Roberts Mensah
Director: Sarah Amankwah
Set in a single afternoon in 1967 in a recording studio in the BBC’s iconic Bush House, DRUM is inspired by true events. Photographer, James Barnor, is on assignment for the zeitgeisty, music magazine DRUM and arrives to photograph Mike Eghan, a DJ who transmits a pan-African music show to audiences twice weekly; the British can’t get enough of those “African beats.” Both are Ghanaian, and as the photoshoot gets underway, we quickly learn these two rising stars have different approaches to life.
Eghan (David Alade) is suited and booted, has been learning diction and ‘proper’ BBC pronunciation. Barnor (Joshua Roberts-Mensah) swaggers in, wearing a sports jacket and open-necked shirt. He’s proud he’s been living in Medway for years and retained his Ghanaian accent. The offer of “tea and biscuits” might seem like a low-stakes inciting incident, but in this context, it’s like flash paper, setting off a lively discussion about Ghanaian identity, assimilation and aspirations.
What is the “mother tongue?” Where is the “mother country?” What does it mean to live in Britain as an immigrant? What does it mean to leave Ghana? Or to return, enriched, ready to give back?” What stops this play from becoming too much of a debating society drama is the personality, energy, and humour of this double act. There are many great break-out moments that revolve around Ghanaian food, song, and dance. Alongside the more political aspects of the play, the Ghanaian coup is a hot topic, a joyful celebration of Ghanaian culture that lives inside these characters despite being on a different continent and country.
At 65 minutes with no interval, DRUM is an entertaining, intelligent, and well-researched play by Jacob Roberts-Mensah (DEM TIMES, Our Day), who won the Untapped Award in 2024. It was incubated in the Omnibus Engine Room and first performed last year. It goes behind the two-dimensional photographs and creates vivid depictions of Barnor and Eghan to ask questions that remain as germane now, over 50 years later. It’s gratifying to see the local audience, of all generations, listening, learning, and engaging with DRUM, which is as warm as it is funny and relevant.
Reviewed on 15 October and continues to tour
