Based on Chigozie Obioma’s Man Booker prize-nominated 2015 novel of the same name, Gbolahan Obisesan’s script for The Fishermen wisely strips the stage of the many characters that fill the original text. Instead we are given a speedy two-hander, with actors Michael Ajao and Valentine Olukoga playing brothers Ben and Obembe.
The play begins with the two reuniting after eight years, before they retell the story of their Igbo childhoods in southern Nigeria in the mid-90s. The fishermen are the two children themselves, alongside their two older teenage brothers. The boys become haunted upon hearing a local oddball’s terrifying prophecy, and the story that follows is half flashback-heavy Bildungsroman, half Achebe-esque family tragedy.
Ajao and Olukoga have great chemistry, using one another’s energy to shift rapidly from character to character. While the result is not always easy to follow, and the pace means that jokes do not always land, they pull humour and heartache from a text that tells an ambitious story. This ambition regularly pays off, with Jack McNamara’s strong direction delivering moments of brilliance. The choices of who doubles up which roles – such as oldest and youngest brother – also work well, bringing a circularity to the production.
Amelia Jane Hankin’s unfussy but effective design has the actors weaving in and out of large metal poles that divide the circular risen stage area. Reminiscent of a Yin-Yang symbol, it is a clever choice. The poles are sometimes used as props, and the curve of them echoes a rope or a fishing net, making the space around the characters as divided as their mental states.
The climatic fight between the older brothers, Ikenna and Boja, is a standout. As they clash, the actors shift from raging aggression to balletic slow-motion lifts and leaps. Amy Mae’s lighting engulfs the stage in darkness, before illuminating the two in their stillness. It is a beautiful and memorable scene.
Premiering at Home in Manchester for a week before heading to Edinburgh for a month-long run, there is a sense that the limitations of the fringe – with a slightly shorter running time, plus a more intimate space – will make an already good play even better. Regardless, The Fishermen is a production with a spark of something very special.
