World premiere of Inua Ellams' epic family drama about the friendship between an enslaved woman and her former mistress in pre-colonial Nigeria.
Once Upon a Time in Sokoto runs at Nottingham Playhouse from Thursday 29 to Saturday 31 October, with all evening shows starting at 7.30pm. There's also an audio-described matinee on Saturday 31 October at 2.30pm.
It's an epic family drama by Inua Ellams, the Nigerian-born poet and playwright who wrote Barber Shop Chronicles and Three Sisters. He picked up the 2024 Alfred Fagon Award for his work, which recognises Black British playwrights of African and Caribbean descent. The play is set in the 1800s in the pre-colonial Sokoto Caliphate of northern Nigeria, and it follows the unlikely friendship between an enslaved woman and her former mistress—two people divided by status, culture and faith, whose story unfolds against the events that would shape modern Nigeria.
On stage are Adeola Yemitan as Nafisa Sarauniya, Antonia Layiwola as Zinari Zangina, Bayo Gbadamosi as Hadiru Zhango and Will Atiomo as Yusef Dawdu, with Roy Alexander Weise MBE directing. The production was commissioned by Fuel as the inaugural Touring Together production, a China Plate and Fuel initiative presented with Brighton Dome, Leeds Playhouse, Oxford Playhouse, Royal and Derngate, Northampton and Warwick Arts Centre, and supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. The Guardian gave it four stars, calling it 'an exuberant history lesson on intra-African slavery', and East Midlands Theatre awarded it five.
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Tickets are £17.50 to £26.50, with BSL tickets from £14.50 to £26.50, plus a non-refundable £2.50 booking fee per order. It's suitable for ages 14 and over.
