Theatre / storytelling
Storyteller Phil Okwedy recalls growing up as a child of dual heritage in Wales
Storyteller and writer Phil Okwedy was born in Cardiff, the child of a Welsh mother and Nigerian father.
He never lived with either of his parents, and was instead raised in Pembrokeshire by his long-term foster mother.
Growing up as a child of dual heritage in 1960s and 70s Wales, but without his birth parents, set Okwedy on an exploration to discover more about his own story.
His one-person show The Gods Are All Here is touring in October with Adverse Camber as part of Black History Month, and then to rural communities in November.
It was prompted after his mother’s death, by the discovery of a collection of letters written to her by his father in Nigeria. At first, he didn’t know what to do with them, but he allowed their greater significance to unfurl in performance.
“As I developed as storyteller,” he recounts, “there came a time when I felt ready to tell myth but could find none that resonated with me.
“So, I began to weave personal and family stories with folktales as a kind of myth-making exercise.”
It struck Okwedy that during a child’s formative years, they see their parents as gods. In their absence from his own childhood, he wonders if his own parents ever in fact lived up to the versions of them he had conjured in his mind during those years.
“In sharing this show,” he explains, “my intention is that it resonates with other people, with their individual family stories but also with the audience as a whole, because it is by working together that we ensure that equality, justice and freedom are experienced by all.”
The Gods Are All Here (age recommendation 12+) is at Tobacco Factory Theatres on October 23. Tickets are available at www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com.
All photos: Simon Gough
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