Man of Good Hope is the true story of one refugee’s epic quest across Africa, brought to life with music from the world-renowned Isango Ensemble.
Asad is a young Somali refugee with a painful past, miraculously good luck and a brilliant head for business. After years in a refugee camp and then learning to hustle in the streets of Ethiopia, he sets off for the promised land of South Africa. But when he arrives, he discovers the violent reality of life in the townships – and his adventures really begin.
The critically-acclaimed South African Isango Ensemble return to the Young Vic after the Olivier Award-winning The Magic Flute. This adaptation of Jonny Steinberg’s riveting book is told through roof-lifting songs and dance accompanied on the marimba.
The musical narrative chronicles the true story of the journey of a young Somalian refugee who travels to South Africa in search of a better life for himself and finds the total opposite in the form of xenophobic attacks and violence.
SABC News, in the video below, is joined from their Seapoint studio to talk more about the musical is the musical director Mandisi Dyantyis in a March 2016 show.
A Man of Good Hope
Based on the book by Jonny Steinberg
Adapted by Isango Ensemble
6 Oct – 12 Nov
A Young Vic and Isango Ensemble Production
co-produced by The Royal Opera, Repons Foundation, BAM and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg.
Source: SABC News & Young Vic
