Cast announced for The Meaning of Zong World Premiere

Rehearsals begin today for Giles Terera’s debut stage play The Meaning of Zong, co-directed by Giles Terera and Tom Morris.

This visionary play tells the true story of pioneering abolitionist Olaudah Equiano and how one man’s spirit can fundamentally change a nation.

Giles Terera plays Olaudah Equiano. Terera is an acclaimed actor, musician and filmmaker, who starred as Aaron Burr in the UK production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, for which he won the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Previous theatre credits include The Merchant of Venice (Globe Theatre and International Tour), The Book of Mormon (West End), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Hamlet (National Theatre). He also wrote and performed an acclaimed song cycle Black Matter over lockdown and is the author of the bestselling book Hamilton and Me.

He is joined by Paul Higgins as Granville Sharp, well-known for his theatre work including The Doctor (Almeida), Aristocrats (Donmar), The White Guard (National Theatre) and The Seagull (Lyric Hammersmith). His TV roles include Hilton in Line of Duty (series 4), The Thick of It, Cold Call and Utopia.  Michael Elcock plays Ottobah Cugoano. Recent stage roles include Hex and The Visit (National Theatre), Lysander in Regent’s Park’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Young Vic’s In a Word.

Bethan Mary-James plays Joyi/Lord Mansfield. Her stage credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory), This Beautiful Village (Abbey Theatre Dublin), and the role of Elizabeth Bennet in Nottingham Playhouse/York Theatre Royal’s Pride & Prejudice.

Alice Vilanculo plays Riba. Recent theatre includes Splintered (Soho Theatre), Rosmersholm (Sonia Friedman Productions) and E8 at the Edinburgh Fringe. She also appeared in Cheaters for the BBC.

Simon Holland Roberts plays Sir John Lee/Robert Stubbs/William Woodfall. Recent productions include The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Theatr Clwyd), Saint Joan (Donmar) and Strife (Chichester Festival Theatre).

They are joined by Kiera Lester (Ama/Gloria) who has recently appeared as Daphne in the BBC series Chloe and Eliza Smith playing Annie Greenwood, for whom recent credits include Girls with Trauma and Wings at the Bomb Factory and Doctors for the BBC. Both are recent graduates of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Also making his professional stage debut is Remi King (Arthur Pigot/Kelsall), a recent graduate of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

They are joined onstage by Composer and Musical Director Sidiki Dembele a multi-instrumentalist, originally from the Ivory Coast. As a Griot composer, he trained with some of West Africa’s most masterful musicians and began playing professionally at the age of 10. In 2007 he was selected as a lead performer in Andre Heller’s Afrika! Afrika! performing with them for two years before moving to the UK to continue his career, performing at festivals, theatre and on albums. He has recently become Associate Lecturer in Percussion at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and 21st Century Drummer Magazine's Ambassador for 2021.

The creative team is completed by Set and Costume Designer Jean Chan, Lighting Designer Zeynep Kepekli, Sound Designer and Co-Composer Dave Price, Movement Director Ingrid Mackinnon, Projection Will Duke with Tom Newell of Limbic Cinema, Assistant Director Nadia Williams and Dramatherapist Samantha Adams.

The Meaning of Zong explores Equiano’s unprecedented decision to tell his extraordinary life story as a weapon in the abolition movement. It follows how he joined forces with anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp to publicly condemn the massacre aboard the slave ship Zong, setting in motion events which would go on to galvanise the abolition movement in the UK.

Giles Terera said: “The Meaning of Zong is about the value of humanity and what we’re prepared to do to defend that. I wanted to tell this story because it explains how we all arrived at the Britain we are living in today. It explains why people feel the need to pull statues down. We can better understand where we are by acknowledging how we got here. It is a difficult subject but the best stories, though they can be the hardest to face are often the most rewarding.” 

Commissioned by Bristol Old Vic and the National Theatre, The Meaning of Zong was first presented in a staged reading in 2018. The pandemic saw the planned 2020 production quickly reimagined as a radio play, which aired as part of BBC Radio 3’s ‘Lights Up’ season earlier this year and is currently nominated for both Best Actor (for Giles Terera) and Best Use of Sound in the BBC Audio Drama Awards.

This will be the play’s long-awaited theatre debut, running at Bristol Old Vic from 2 – 9 April and 26 April - 7 May. It also tours to the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh from 13 – 23 April and Liverpool Playhouse from 10 – 14 May.