Young Vic, London
Kwame Kwei-Armah’s adaptation of a 4,000-year-old Egyptian poem is ambitious and visually stunning, but Ben Okri’s script is too broadbrush
Two towering pyramids dominate the auditorium, which is arranged in the round. The top structure laps with virtual flames and looks like a symbolic campfire, simultaneously state-of-the-art and ancient, around which this story will unfold. David Adjaye’s arresting set, floor to ceiling in size, is a wonder and the highlight of this play.
A pair of actors circle around it, out of character, drawing out the terms of the drama, and the pyramid’s fires change to Egyptian hieroglyphics to mark the beginning of Ben Okri’s story. It is based on a 4,000-year-old Egyptian poem, Sinuhe, about a royal official who flees the Egyptian court after hearing conspirators plot the pharaoh’s downfall and embarks on an epic journey. It is believed to have influenced major quest narratives around the world, foreshadowing Homer’s Odyssey, and its staging here serves as a recentring of the west’s literary legacy, of sorts.