This February the Belfry Theatre will serve as the backdrop for a highly praised theatrical production not yet seen on the west coast: Maanomaa, My Brother. Co-created by Tawiah M’Carthia and Brad Cook, the play tells the story of two childhood friends reuniting in Ghana after decades apart.
Director Phillip Akin says that the vibrant and emotional storytelling seen on stage has moved audiences.
“I’ve never seen so many teary-eyed, ‘Oh my gosh, what a wonderful show,’ people in my life. I couldn’t believe it,” says Akin. “People come by and they’re so touched… And I’m like, ‘What’s the matter with you?’ But it does that because of the charm of the two guys and the compelling story that they’re telling.”
The play features a blend of Canadian and West African cultures, signifying a celebration of storytelling. While its back-and-forth structure serves to emphasize the overall themes of the play, Akin says it also creates a flexible, imaginative opportunity for those working behind the scenes.
“It’s quite fast paced,” he says. “There’s some remarkable movement and characterizations, so it was really interesting for me to be brought in to direct it because I was looking at it from a very different point of view, I think, than they were. They’d already been working on this thing for a couple years, and then I show up and say, ‘Oh, no, that’s stupid. We’re not doing that.’ But, you know, we work well together, the three of us.”
Akin says the process of bringing this production to life has been a labour of love, relying heavily on collaboration to allow this story to evolve.
“The guys already had really strong creative ideas about how things went. So when I was coming in—and I tend to have some pretty strong ideas—it was about finding a balance of what they were doing and what I was trying to do theatrically,” says Akin. “And so I came in with a real idea of, ‘How do I shape what they’ve created and make it the most concise and clear and theatrical production?’ So we worked together to do that.”
Akin says that this collaboration was prominent during rehearsals, as well as during their first run in Toronto at Berkeley Street Theatre. This production of Maanomaa, My Brother was developed over half a decade and has gone through a number of precise, sometimes minuscule, changes.
“We had a particular opening night in Toronto and I changed what they wanted to do, and I think they actually hated what I made them do,” says Akin. “But they did it every night and it worked every night because, theatrically, it was right… There’s a lot of things that they do that I go, ‘Oh, that’s fabulous. All we have to do is change the timing a little bit, make this turn a half-beat later.’ That’s the kind of stuff I hope to bring to the show.”
Akin says that Maanomaa, My Brother leaves audiences feeling nostalgic for childhood connections and past selves.
“I think it touches a real nerve with people who had good friends—really good friends—when they were kids, and then go, ‘I wonder where they are now,’ you know… So, I think there’s a resonance there in who we used to be and how our memory takes us back to those encounters we had when we were kids.”
Maanomaa, My Brother
Various times,
Tuesday, February 3
to Sunday, March 1
Various prices, Belfry Theatre
belfry.bc.ca