Crown of Blood
The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
★★★★★

IF Shakespeare was “not for an age but for all time,” then this emotionally charged African adaptation of the “Scottish Play” illuminates the universality of Shakespeare’s themes of power and corruption, while grounding them in a new cultural reality.

Rich, resonant and culturally immersive, Crown of Blood invites audiences to rethink what power means, who holds it and what the cost of claiming it can be. In this sense it could not be more timely in view of the current rise of the far right and its global implications.

The play replaces the traditional Scottish Moors of Shakespeare’s Macbeth with the rich, political and spiritual landscape of the west African Oyo empire, and is set during the civil wars of 19th century Yorubaland. These were a series of devastating conflicts, primarily between Yoruba city states, sparked by the collapse of the Oyo empire, where military strongmen replaced royal households, leading to power struggles that reshaped the region’s politics and ending with British intervention, paving the way for colonisation.

The story centres on General Aderemi, who is a celebrated warrior returning from battle with honour and the admiration of his people. When an ultimately false oracle delivers a prophecy foretelling his rise to the throne, Aderemi is thrust into a dangerous struggle between fate, ambition and loyalty.

Driven by his vengeful and obsessive wife Oyebisi, he begins a ruthless pursuit of power that propels him into a world of political intrigue, spiritual reckoning and violent consequence that ends with his death in battle.

Incorporating vibrant Yoruba language, ritual, music and traditions, this world premiere of a powerful African reworking of Shakespeare’s tragedy portrays Aderemi as an ambitious man corrupted by power, who uses violence, devoid of any empathy, as a means to an end. Nollywood star Deyemi Okanlawon perfectly fits this role with a power and an energy that is raw and palpably menacing as his consequential destiny reaches its tragic denouement.

Similarly, Oyebisi’s ambition and cruelty are a consequence of the pivotal role that women played in Yoruba society where the gods and ancestral guidance shaped people’s decisions, conflicts and destinies. Magnificently portrayed by Nollywood co-actor, Kehinde Bankole, she manipulates and cajoles her husband to take the crown out of revenge for her unjust displacement and exile following the collapse of the Oyo empire.

While Oyebisi’s ultimate fate remains ambiguous, Arokin, the court historian, played by Toyin Oshinaike, closes the play by pointing a finger at members of the audience, suggesting she may have been reincarnated in any one of us. Meanwhile in the background she poignantly and finally places the crown on the head of her slain husband.

Written by the award-winning playwright Oladipo Agboluaje and directed by Mojisola Kareem, Crown of Blood is created by Utopia Theatre in collaboration with Sheffield Theatres. 

In Kareem’s own words: “This new adaptation is a very important new piece of work; it asks the big questions of us all, and I feel the world needs to urgently ask these questions and indeed answer them. It is time to interrogate together in a space like The Crucible why and how power corrupts and great leaders can so quickly falter.”

This is immersive theatre at its most sublime and commands the most wide-ranging audiences in an age where the universal message of the original play has never been more urgently needed and reimagined.

Runs at the Crucible Theatre until February 7. Box office: (0114) 249-6000, sheffieldtheatres.co.uk; and Belgrade Theatre, Coventry February 11-14. Box office: (024) 7655-3055, belgrade.co.uk.