As part of the cultural programme, Refuge, Windows of Displacement is an autobiographical memoir by Akeim Toussaint Buck’s Jamaican roots linking to the current crisis of migration by refugees worldwide. His exploration of the meaning of identity is both personal and universal. What could be more appropriate than kicking off with Bob Marley’s Rastaman chant, a song of freedom.
Wearing ornate white embroidered wrap trousers, his chest bare, with wide arm gestures and gentle hip swaying, he recalls that “I was born where the sun forever shines, amidst poverty but the people still smile.“
His ancestors were part of the historic slave trade transported from west Africa to Jamaica. Sketchy images on screen illustrate the hard labour in the sugar plantations. When Toussaint was a boy, his family emigrated to the UK for better opportunities. “We moved to England because England moved we.” From the Caribbean they were now embracing – quite ironically - the colonial mother country.
He glides elegantly across the open stage, his feet drumming on the floor. Throughout the show, he blends a criss cross of choreographic styles from a Reggae jive, kick boxing, hip hop and an element of Tai Chi moves with Caribbean beat.
His story is full of surprises. Did you know that you had to pay to study for a UK National citizenship to sit the test, with curious questions such as ‘Does the Queen own all the swans in Britain?’.
Then the house lights go up as he teaches us the chorus of a folk song ‘Guh Dung a Manuel Road’ - traditonally sung by Jamaican children playing a game with pebbles to imitate workmen digging in a quarry.
Guh dung a Manuel Road, Galang bwoy, fi guh bruk rock-stone.
Guh dung a Manuel Road…
He also asks us to take a selfie with a stranger sitting nearby. Toussaint Buck explains that our smartphones perpetuate modern day slavery of children mining minerals in the Congo. Point taken but this pantomimic sing-song destroys the narrative thread and emotional mood.
He expresses no anger about racial inequality, past and present, but just a message of hope. We are all victims of displacement, he says, and that the only solution is to “be a mother to another.”
With his flexible vocal range from a quiet murmur to a rich resonating tone, Toussaint Buck is such a charismatic performer. Overall, it’s his passionate story about his Jamaican homeland past and present, which is so moving and heartfelt.
The enchanting dreamlike – sadly, far too brief - dance to the gentle rhythm of the spiritual song, 'Going down to the Jordan River’ is simply mesmerising as if he is lost in a trance of joyful memories. As are we.
Showtimes:
12 – 13 August, 2022
(run ended)