St Paul's Carnival is one the most-loved and exciting events on Bristol’s calendar, bringing explosive music and colour to our streets.
And in a first, the team behind the popular celebration has teamed up with several other Bristol institutions to recreate the spirit of the festival on stage.
Anansi and the Grand Prize follows the hapless trickster of many folklore stories as he attempts to get rich to impress his beautiful wife.
Watching this two-hour show was a pure joy. Full of energetic dancing, African drumming, soothing reggae and bouncing R&B beats, music was used to bring the performance to life by Omer Makessa, who was peacefully sat at the back of the stage throughout.
Another highlight was the humour. Almost every scene was packed with side jokes about the main plot that had the whole crowd laughing.
Celebrating African Caribbean culture, this play follows Anansi (Winston Pyle) as he tries to win a dance competition with a £25,000 grand prize - enough to buy a big home and take his dissatisfied wife travelling.
The romantic tale focuses on old love rather than the wild passion at the beginning of a relationship which is too often the only one discussed in literature.
It explores what trials a couple can face when the reality of being with a person is realised and the dust is settled on the initial spark.
Tanika Yearwood gave a stellar performance as Anansi’s wife Tacoma, as her character is tempted to engage in extra martial relations. Humorous yet tragic, Tacoma marries young and then finds herself selling tropical juice to make a living. One day she bumps into superstar singer Joe Tell (Ikay Agu) who takes a liking to poor island girl and lots of drama soon ensues.
During one of many beautiful moments in the production, the cast encouraged everyone to sing along to Everything I Own.
There was also breathtaking carnival costumes and dancing peppered throughout.
The energy of each actor/actress was infectious, with members of the audience dancing in their seats to the uplifting music.
This is a Bristol home-grown play, showcasing the amazing talent among our culturally diverse city.
It’s a play not to be missed - truly unique and unrivalled in its height of.
entertainment.
Five out of five.
Showing at Bristol Old Vic until December 21.
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