Inua Ellams’ prose poem play is a curious amalgam of Yoruba and Classical Greek gods (fighting for power and interfering with human affairs) and of the child Demi caught in their crosshairs and of – wait for it – basketball. Subtitle – Prometheus of Basketball. “For thousands of years, gods held dominion over men, but this century marked a change. Attention turned to fleshy pleasures and the lure of property.”
Patrice Johnson Chevannes (Osun) and Jennifer Mogbock (Modúpé)
Zeus (Michael Laurence), Greek God of Thunder, cheats Sango (Jason Bowen), Nigerian God of Thunder and Lightening, in a fight for power. Part of his win is to take a human of the other’s realm, action for which he already has considerable reputation. Zeus rapes Modúpé (Jennifer Mogbock). Movement design is terrific, balletic and visceral. She immediately gives birth to Demi (Mister Fitzgerald) who’s raised with love and anger.
Boys along the river create a basketball court as chief source of skilled competition and play, but Demi is banned. When he gets angry, clouds gather; if they lose, his tears “… drench his shirt, soak his classroom and flood whole schools as once he’d done their pitch, the soil swollen, poles sunk, it all turned to swamp for weeks…They never forgave him turning their world to mud.” Elegba – the trickster god and messenger between Heaven and earth (Lizan Mitchell).
Mister Fitzgerald (Demi) and Lizan Mitchell (Elegba)
Still, there’s a chance. Demi takes it showing himself unrivaled in skill. He plays for Nigeria at the Olympics, then moves to the states with his mother. Basketball legends such as Michael Jordan are referenced. It’s implied they’re all progeny of gods. (In fact, nine basketball players from Nigeria currently play in the NBA.) He’s celebrated. As Zeus’ power ebbs, Demi’s grows. He makes impossible shots. Sometimes subways flood. Modúpé continues to suffer PTSD. “He (Zeus) took control of my most precious self, but he gave me you.”
In 2012, Hera (Kelley Curran), the goddess of women, marriage, and childbirth, and a daughter of Zeus), is in the audience at the half-god’s game. He can do nothing right. There are storms here and on Mt. Olympus. Demi goes to see Zeus. His father murders him with graphic words and trance-like gestures. Agonized, Modúpé fights Zeus in the name of her son and of abused women. Vengeance is gorgeously achieved. And that’s the simple version.
Patrice Johnson Chevannes, Jennifer Mogbock, Kelley Curran, Mister Fitzgerald, Jason Bowen, Michael Laurence and Lizan Mitchell
The piece looks and sounds marvelous: Ricardo Hernández -scenic design; Stacey Derosier – lighting design; Mikaal Sulaiman – sound design; Tal Yarden – projection design; Orisha Movement Consulting/Choreography (terrific) – Beatrice Capote. Linda Cho’s costumes are archaic/tribal/ mythological – just right. Tech behind pouring rain and smoke/fog that looks as if it was trained is artful.
The company plays like a single organism with stand-outs Mister Fitzgerald (Demi), Jennifer Mogbock (Modúpé), and Patrice Johnson Chevannes (Osun- the river god associated with water, purity, fertility, love, and sensuality).
Kelley Curran (Hera), Jennifer Mogbock (Modúpé), Michael Laurence (Zeus)
Director Taibi Magar offers appealing composition and good pacing. I was captivated by the play’s look and feel, but frustrated by its elusive, overlapping mythology.
I understood bits and pieces, then requested the script afterwards. Language is quite wonderful, but several actors, especially when executing Nigerian accents, are too often unintelligible. Narrators also play gods of whom it’s difficult to keep track. The experience was frustrating.
Photos by Joan Marcus
Opening: Jason Bowen, Patrice Johnson Chevannes and Jennifer Mogbock
The Half-God of Rainfall by Inua Ellams
Directed by Taibi Magar
Movement Direction by Orlando Pabotoy
Through August 20, 2023
New York Theatre Workshop
79 East 4th Street
