Inua Ellams

MBE FRSL
Born
Inua Marc Mohammed Onore de Ellams II

(1984-10-23) 23 October 1984
Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria
CitizenshipNigeria
EducationFirhouse Community College, Dublin, Ireland
Occupation(s)Poet, playwright
Known forBarber Shop Chronicles
Websitewww.inuaellams.com

Inua Marc Mohammed Onore de Ellams II[1][2] MBE FRSL[3] (born 23 October 1984[1]) is a Nigerian-born British poet, playwright and performer. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to the arts.[4]

Work

Ellams has written for the Royal Shakespeare Company,[5] Royal National Theatre and the BBC. In June 2018, Ellams was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature as part of its 40 Under 40 initiative.[3][6] He took part in The Complete Works mentoring programme for poets of colour.

Poetry

The Salt Book of Younger Poets (Salt, 2010)[7]

  • The Valley Press Anthology of Prose Poetry (Valley Press, 2018)
  • Ten: The New Wave (Bloodaxe, 2013)[7]

Performances and plays

The 14th Tale

Ellams's one-man show The 14th Tale was awarded an Edinburgh Fringe First at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2009, and later transferred to the Royal National Theatre, London.[8]

Untitled

A one-man show staged at the Soho Theatre in 2010,[9] telling the story of twins born on Nigeria's independence day.[10]

Barber Shop Chronicles

Barber Shop Chronicles is a play set in black barber shops in six cities on one day, against the backdrop of a football match between Chelsea and Barcelona. The play explores the African diaspora in the UK,[11] masculinity, homosexuality and religion. The play was produced by the National Theatre, Fuel Theatre and Leeds Playhouse and was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award in 2017.[12] Following a period of touring, the play was also performed at the Roundhouse in 2019,[13] and a recording of the National Theatre production was streamed in May 2020 as part of the National Theatre at Home season.[14] For the production, Ellams recorded 60 hours of "male banter"[15] in barbershops all over Africa and in London at his barber Peter's shop Emmanuel's in Clapham Junction.[15] This project originally did not secure funding.[16]

The Half God of Rainfall

In April 2019, his new play, The Half God of Rainfall, was presented at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre,[17] in advance of its run at London's Kiln Theatre, as well as its publication as a book.[18]

Three Sisters

In December 2019–February 2020, a reworking by Ellams of Chekhov's play Three Sisters was performed at the Royal National Theatre, London.[19] The play restaged the story in the 1960s in the midst of the Biafran war in Nigeria.[20]

An Evening with an Immigrant

In 2020, Ellams performed a live stage programme with anecdotes of his childhood and his experiences as a refugee. An excerpt was shown at the Hay Festival on 24 May 2020.[8]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 "inuaellamsCV copy" (PDF). InuaEllams.com. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  2. ↑ "Inua Ellams". Inua Ellams. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Royal Society of Literature >> Inua Ellams". The Royal Society of Literature. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  4. ↑ "No. 64082". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2023. p. B18.
  5. ↑ "'The first time I read Shakespeare's The Tempest, I got angry.'". BBC World Service - The Cultural Frontline. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  6. 1 2 "The RSL elects 40 new Fellows under the age of 40". The Royal Society of Literature. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Inua Ellams – Poetry Spotlight". Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 Delia Jarrett-Macauley (2018). "Inua Ellams - Literature". British Council - Literature. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  9. ↑ skill issue (2010). "Theatre review: Untitled at Soho Theatre". British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  10. ↑ Lyn Gardner (5 October 2010). "Untitled - review". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  11. ↑ Kirsty Lang (23 November 2017). "BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Inua Ellams on Barber Shop Chronicles, Battle of the Sexes, Charles Causley, Godless". BBC. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  12. 1 2 "2017 Awards - Alfred Fagon Award". Alfred Fagon Award. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  13. ↑ Miriam Gillinson (26 July 2019). "Barber Shop Chronicles review – hair-raising ebullience". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  14. ↑ Arifa Akbar (13 May 2020). "Inua Ellams: 'Barber shops are a safe, sacred place for British black men' (Interview)". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  15. 1 2 Susannah Butter (23 July 2019). "Inua Ellams interview: 'Men think they have to be tougher to downplay the frailties they feel' (Interview)". Evening Standard - GoLondon. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  16. ↑ wildness (October 2017). "An Interview with Inua Ellams (Interview)". wildness. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  17. ↑ "The Half God of Rainfall - Birmingham". Birmingham Repertory Theatre. April 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  18. ↑ Claire Armitstead (22 April 2019). "Inua Ellams: 'In the UK, black men were thought of as animalistic'". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  19. ↑ Alice Saville (11 December 2019). "'Three Sisters' review". Time Out - London. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  20. ↑ Andrew Dickson (22 March 2020). "Playwright Inua Ellams on poetry, basketball and the Nigerian melodrama of Chekhov". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  21. ↑ Catherine Love (16 March 2017). "Inua Ellams: 'I'm bracing myself for a showdown with UKIP'". The Stage. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  22. ↑ "The Break - five original short monologues". BBC Writersroom. BBC. 2 November 2015.
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