'I hope by telling this story it will encourage more minority voices onto Irish stages...' Poet and playwright Samuel Yakura writes for RTÉ Culture about his new show The Perfect Immigrant, which is currently touring theatre venues across Ireland.
Leaving home for long periods of time was normal for me, even from as early as 15. My parents, both Nigerian, threw me into boarding school earlier than most did, because they believed a certain level of discomfort and inconvenience was the right recipe for maturity. I learned independence early but it didn't come without its tests. I always drew comfort from the visiting days where they came to see me in school and the holidays that brought me back to family.
Here I am many years later, still leaving home, but this time it feels different, it feels more permanent with higher stakes, and the experience has been both flattering and ferocious.
I always loved writing and began putting pen to paper as early as 10 years old. I got the opportunity to join my local arts society back in Nigeria where I refined my craft in slam poetry and won many slams before moving to Ireland. But I always had a penchant to dabble into other artforms and explore long-form writing. I eventually seized the opportunity to join the WEFT Program, a multidisciplinary initiative by Dublin Fringe funded by the Arts Council, to develop myself in Playwriting and collaborative art.
The Perfect Immigrant was the result of that 6-month program. It is a one-man poetry play that documents the reflection of my own experiences, especially since moving to Ireland, my observation of other migrants around me, and my interactions with them.
Certain elements however, are fictional. It is captured through the eyes of Levi, a character who is on two parallel but complementary journeys, between leaving home to find better opportunities for himself and leaving the reins of his family to become his own man. The play uses prose and poetry to explore themes of home, love, discomfort, uncertainty, fear, family, displacement and a sprinkle of racism in both a wittily humorous and deeply emotional way.
I hope by telling this story it will encourage more minority voices onto Irish stages. There is a need for representation of our entire community, to raise communal consciousness, to educate the novice and to temper the radical.
The Perfect Immigrant is at The Cork Arts Theatre from 16th - 18th November, the Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray on 25th November, and Town Hall Theatre, Galway on 27th November.
