The twisting road to elsewhere

Daniel Nelson

 Lava starts as a migrant’s story and ends as an affirmation of black humanity. Sadly, both migration (“We didn’t have a lot, but had the means of making a home elsewhere”) and racism still need passionate advocacy.

 Congolese writer Benedict Lombe’s story is brought vividly to life by Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo, who delivers the 80-minute monologue with barnstorming verve that makes you feel the stage is populated by a bustling band of actors.

The theme running through the first part of the performance is Lombe’s attempts to renew her British passport. As her mother tells her, ”This document is your proof. This document is your protection.”

The problem is that her first name is missing from her South African passport. The explanation comes in the story of the family’s time in Congo and the subsequent moves to South Africa (“my first elsewhere”), where high hopes (“we arrived immediately after the Happy Ever After”) are dashed by an attack on Lombe’s doctor father during an outburst of anti-migrant violence, to Ireland and then to Wigan, and finally London..

Throughout these journeys she is growing up, growing in awareness, falling in love. Throughout these journeys questions and reactions recur: “You’re not like the others”/ “Why does it always have to be about race?”/ “What’s it like to go with a Black girl?”/ “Because it is time. It has always been time.”

The jumping-cracker script bursts around the stage, popping up under a range of targets - racist Biblical interpretations, King Leopold’s murderous Congolese fiefdom, Black beauty, the need to prove legitimacy in a country where no one cares, hair.

Lava has fire in its belly.

* Lava is at the Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 until 13 August, and streaming online 16-21 August. Info: 8743 5050/ https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/event/lava-2/