If You Discover One Thing…
A ground-breaking new production from the National Theatre of Scotland brings to life more than 500 years of Black resistance Glasgow
It has to be the National Theatre of Scotland’s new production, Ghosts, coming to Glasgow via augmented reality
THE arts have been something of a saviour throughout lockdown. Theatre doors are still shut, packed gigs remain a fond memory and gallery viewings are confined to the internet, but innovations from creatives such as Adura Onashile have kept us sane.
An award-winning actor, writer and director, Adura’s latest production, Ghosts, has broken all the bounds of conventional theatre. For the next month, Glasgow’s Merchant City will play centre stage in the augmented reality (AR) production, written and directed by Adura in partnership with the National Theatre of Scotland.
With no boards to tread, no seats to fill and no velvet curtain to draw, Ghosts is an innovative performance that brings theatre to the streets. An exploration of more than 500 years of Black resistance sparked by the slave trade, racialisation of wealth and devaluing of Black lives, the production takes place through your mobile phone as you traverse the streets of Glasgow.
Innovation in the arts has been a theme of the pandemic, but for Adura, it has fuelled her career for years.
“I have never considered myself a traditional playwright, it has always felt to me that the story dictated the form and so I’m always looking for ways to think differently about whatever I’m writing.
“It was something I started thinking about a few years ago, long before the pandemic. When I was considering this history and how to allow people to experience Glasgow differently, I wanted to explore how we could make this history feel contemporary and visceral. The way it felt for me as I walk through the streets of Glasgow, seeing the street names and statues to slave traders. That history feels very close to me.
“So the question became, how do you transform the way we see Glasgow in a way that has a lasting effect and pays homage to that history? Using AR and people’s own phones felt radical but also normal. Phones are very
“I wanted to make this history feel contemporary and visceral”
personal and tools of protest for huge numbers of people and justice movements, which seemed apt for this.”
From street names to statues, the legacy of Scottish slavers tars the city of Glasgow. Adura has always been aware of these links, but the final catalyst for the creation of Ghosts was found in a 300-year-old newspaper.
“Ghosts is inspired by adverts placed in newspapers in Glasgow and Edinburgh in the 17th-18th centuries for the recapture of enslaved Africans that had run away. It is an attempt to make real more than 500 years of protest.
“The city is transformed through our phones as the ground opens beneath us”
“Our protagonist fled enslavement in the 18th century and although we will never know what happened to him afterwards, this is an attempt to recognise that what he started those centuries ago still resonates now. To show that his attempt to upend a system that stole his livelihood was not in vain, as we are bearing witness to now.
“Through our phones, he takes us on a journey that starts in the middle of Glasgow’s Merchant City and ends at the Clyde, through notable locations like Virginia Court, GOMA, Merchant City Arch and Buchanan street. Each of these locations allows us an insight into his plight and his call to arms to us in the present.
“The city is transformed through our phones as the ground opens beneath us, we are surrounded by a burning plantation, or plunged into revolutions and modern demonstrations.”
As Ghosts unfolds, the passing of time becomes a key element, blurring lines between the past and present. Adura’s deviceful writing ensures that both timelines are done justice, with due respect being given to the past while maintaining the story’s relevance in the present.
“Bridging the past and present together this way was a real breakthrough for me. The work feels mercurial in the way it glitches the present with the past and the way
it presumes the dead are living all around us.”
Undertaking such a challenging new format for theatre, while also having to work to the constraints of social distancing has certainly been no mean feat. Adura is quick to shine light on her fantastic team. With enveloping sound and music from Niroshini Thambar and breathtaking visual production from Claricia Parinussa, theatre, music, history and technology have all been combined to make Ghosts the formidable piece of art that it is.
“It has been a challenge working remotely over lockdown, and there is always a fear that the work will lose momentum. But we have an amazing team behind Ghosts and I’m very proud of what we have achieved together.
“The use of AR in productions is something I would hope to see more of in the future. It can transform the way we see the world around us and our place in it.”
Over her career, Adura has directed, starred in and written captivating productions – doubtless Ghosts will be no different. The championing of Black artists and stories has been prominent in the arts over the past year and Adura hopes to see that continue in Scotland.
“There is amazing work being done by Black artists and people of colour in Scotland in all mediums. I am so proud of that. It is an exciting time to be working.
“The arts in Scotland has an opportunity to nurture and provoke a potent and dynamic artistic community and that feels very hopeful.”
The story told with Ghosts is one that needs to be heard, and the innovative methods used to share it make it all the more impactful. Adura and her team have harnessed a new way of working, creating and presenting that could herald an entirely new genre of theatre.
The pandemic might have created a plethora of obstacles but Adura Onashile has more than proven her talent for creative solutions when a story needs to be told.
“I am honoured to make this work at this time. It’s a reckoning for me that’s been a long time in the making.”
Ghosts will be available throughout April 2020, Covid-19 regulations allowing. Find out more at www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/events/ghosts