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SPOKEN WORD: Inua Ellams performing in front of an audience (Photo credit: Ashley Bloom)

INTERNATIONAL AWARD-winning poet Inua Ellams’ impressive CV reads like one of the Hollywood greats whose name has been credited with a star on the famed walkway. Born in Nigeria in 1984, Inua moved to London aged 12, where he started performing in cafes from 2003.

His first poetry pamphlet, Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales (2005) was a best-seller, while his first play, The 14th Tale (2009) was offered a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival for innovative and outstanding new writing. Inua was also the winner of the Live Canon International Poetry Competition in 2014.

STATUS

Impressive performances in some of the UK’s biggest venues such as Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tate Britain, Theatre Royal Stratford and Glastonbury Festival have led to calls to perform in America, Australia, Asia and Africa thus cementing his status as an acclaimed international artist at just age 34.

As well as establishing himself as a household name on the spoken word poetry scene, Inua has also built a reputation for himself as a graphic artist, designer and playwright. Following two sell-out runs at the National Theatre and a world tour, Inua’s highly critically acclaimed Barbershop Chronicles takes centre stage at the Roundhouse Theatre from July 18 to August 24.

The play is based on the some of the candid conversations African men have in the barbershop from Peckham, south London to Johannesburg, South Africa, all in a single day. You can expect heat, energy, banter, laughs, personal revelations, and the truth as always being telling.

“It started off as a project about the impact of mental health within communities, but when I realised I couldn’t make the project happen in the way I wanted it to, an idea came to me to write a play based on conversations I had with barbers across the world,” says Inua.

PICTURED: At Transcendence in June (Photo credit: Ashley Bloom)

While he may have abandoned his initial project, mental health, particularly among young black men, is still important to Inua.

“Coverage on mental health is growing, but there is still a long way to go. There is a need for the government and medical practitioners to see that they just cannot simply medicate the problem away.

HEALTH

“It goes much deeper than that. Mental illness is not a societal issue, but also a public health issue which is wrapped up in a number of factors related to economics, politics, genetics, race and history.

“So while we may not have fully come to grips with the scale of the problem we face, the growing discussions and awareness of the issues at hand are a step in the right direction.”

As well as a love for writing poetry and plays, Inua feels at home when he’s on the stage in front of a live audience.

However, while the likes of pop legend Janet Jackson and UK grime artist Stormzy recently took the stage by storm, Inua’s experience of Glastonbury was not as great. “Moments of joy have been colonised by moments of darkness concerning my experience of Glastonbury eight years ago,” he says, with amusement.

“All I remember is the mud and heavy downpour of rain which led to flooding, a camp full of drunk and high individuals and the need to escape that place and run into the theatre where I felt safe, at home and more in control.”

Since his lacklustre Glastonbury experience, Inua has gone on to perform in different venues across the UK and around the world with much critical acclaim.

“I loved performing in Australia. I also love the Americans’ sense of humour – they just come to life when you perform a set to them. But the saying rings true that there really is no place like home, so to perform a play or poetry set in my native Nigeria is really dope – it doesn’t get any better than that.”

His latest project is based upon a poem he wrote in 2011 called Of All the Boys of Plateau Private School. The book, as is the poem, will be based on Inua’s childhood.

“I have been working on it for about three to four years now. I have been bashing around on my keyboard for so long it seems like this project will never see daylight. But I think it’s gonna look at my childhood – where I came from, why I came here (to the UK) and how it’s affected my adulthood and present life. So that’s loosely what the book is about but who knows – it could change in an instant.”

Thinking of his own childhood, Inua is sympathetic to the issues being faced by the youth of today. He feels that there are many more obstacles and distractions being put in the way of this generation to take them off course.

PATRONISING

However, he has some advice he feels can help the youth to get their lives back on track again.

“Get off social media. Get off your phones,” he says. “It’s patronising for me to say so, because I am a victim of this as well and it’s difficult for me to tear myself away, but get away from social media; get away from your phones; re-connect with the natural world, take a breath and feel as it flows through your body.

“Realise that social media is ephemeral – it doesn’t really mean anything, it’s going to affect and destroy your brainwaves, your sense of self, your sense of self-worth. So you need to escape all of this. All of this is detrimental.”

Inua also feels that people should learn to think for themselves and not allow the media or Government to do all the thinking for them.

“We really do not know what we’re doing. For far too long, we’ve been fuelled by short-term thinking and have allowed our conscience to be dictated to by the media and politicians. We must think for ourselves and shape the lives we want for ourselves to benefit our people, our communities – then true and lasting change will come.”

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