Drum review

Mike Eghan is a Ghanaian broadcaster who spent four years presenting a radio show – Music with African Beat – for the BBC in London. James Barnor is a Ghanaian photographer, who shot Eghan for Drum magazine in 1967. One of his photographs – Eghan with his arms wide in Piccadilly Circus – is now in the V&A archives.

Their meeting serves as the inspiration for this two-hander from writer Jacob Roberts-Mensah and production company Our Day, an outfit dedicated to highlighting the experiences of Britain’s Ghanaian community. It arrives in Edinburgh as one of three winners of Underbelly and the New Diorama Theatre’s Untapped Award.

Barnor arrives at Eghan’s office at Bush House, just after the DJ has finished recording a show. For the next hour, while Barnor takes photographs, they chat about their lives, about what they miss about Ghana, and about the political situation in their home country, where President Nkrumah has recently been deposed in a military coup.

Tension bubbles underneath the surface: the two men, who hail from different backgrounds, do not see eye-to-eye over Nkrumah and over the diaspora. They are united, though, by a love of Ghana and of Highlife. Their repetitive discussions drag at times and could include more detail, but when they dance it is joyous and moving.

Director Sarah Amankwah’s unfussy staging unfolds on a simple set – a desk, a coat-stand and a record player, from which the funky strains of ET Mensah are heard. King Boateng is slick, self-regarding and stressed as Eghan, and Joshua Roberts-Mensah is bright and brash as Barnor. They provide passionate performances in a patchy play.