TO RAHTID
To Rahtid was produced by Talawa Theatre Company, directed by Yvonne Brewster and performed by Angela Wynter at the Young Vic Theatre in London on 22 February 1996.
To Rahtid is a one-woman monologue play which unapologetically tells the story of the painful black diaspora experience. Sol leaves no grave unturned as he explicitly recounts the horrific physical and mental pain and torture which continues to be inflicted onto the bodies and minds of the black generation. From the experience of being whipped by the master to the loss of loved ones, Sol still manages to present a battered yet strong black woman, Mout, desperate to preserve her culture, language and memories.
To Rahtid was Sol B River’s second professionally staged play and his first play to be staged in London. It received outstanding reviews; the Guardian compared it to the works of one of Sol B River’s favourite writers suggesting that it was like ‘Samuel Beckett on amphetamines’ and solo actress Angela Wynter received critical acclaim for her superb performance. To Rahtid is written in a series of flickering, disjointed lyrical expressions conveyed in a fusion of Patois, English and Jamaican, which all surprisingly come together in perfect harmony to create a coherent story.
About the Playwright
Playwright, director, producer and actor Sol B River, was born in Leeds in Yorkshire to Jamaican parents. After receiving a MA in Screenwriting, Sol B River pursued a professional career as a writer, initially writing for theatre. In 1994, Sol wrote his first professionally staged play, Moors Masterpiece, which was commissioned by and performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. The success of this production resulted in Sol B River’s first Writer-in-Residence appointed role (1994-1996) at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. 1998 was a groundbreaking year for Sol B River; he became the first Black British playwright to have a collection of plays entitled River: Plays 1 published by Oberon Books as well as writing his first play to be performed internationally – the legendary Jamaican Story The White Witch of Rose Hall produced as part of the University of the West Indies’ 50th anniversary at the Philip Sherlock Centre in Jamaica. Sol B River’s unique lyrical voice has given him the opportunity to write for the theatre, radio and also collaborate with dance companies.
Other published plays by Sol B River include To Rahtid, Moors Masterpiece, Unbroken, 48-98, Walk Against Fear, Making Waves and Two Tracks and Text Me.
Summary (Extract)
MOUT talks directly to the audience sharing an experience of the black diaspora.
… move in a dis style … dat syle … lickle pickney ting … time soon come … dear lord – … but wait … pickney gal? … uh hu … lickle pickney gal … in an … out in a … time come too quick … wretched hold … name … name … never mine … brethren forgotten … long gone … dem been punish … tin air gone … lickle after the sun wake the day … mother gone … four hundred years duration … not to de day … love gone … where de hope … dem tek way de normal run … hang de basket where we can’t reach it … held with a coffle … in de hold … no …. any and any punishment … dem no love … until now noting … you see you … not a ting till de 50’s when – … kiss me neck back … nineties? … good lord! … Coming up two thousand … urban jungle … want for something to make a reverse … then lickle most … look yonder … move! … lickle more … lickle most again … gawn … we jus a drif … it dawn pon me … too late all de early life morning sun … find demself … wha dis? … (Kiss teeth.) … go way! … dem! … see dem in de hold … mash up … mad … mad up … de screaming piercing … so it go … in a de head … orumila come and gone … come and gone already … like the sunset in Negril … dipping in and out of sea … but blood … seeing …. me feel warm blood … never did know … where de compass did point … deal wid dis … de position in dat hold! … stan up … or die … nough pain … watch me now … laying prostrate? … listen me sir … do I stan up? … stay laying … or… laying prostrate… nough pain … what? … prostrate? … yes sir … don’t stan up … or sit down …. humility? …. adoration … but nough pain still … still … never mine … mi tink twice … during an after … sudden whip … trust in gees u … wid the master … in a merciful … (Kiss teeth.) … Jesus… where are you? … tink tree times … during an after … sudden strike … God did punish us … for ginalism … ginal me? … proof is proof me need … those who don’t hear feel … what me never hear? …. during an after … this foo foo ride … it dawn on me … dem say … it’s OK … deal wid dis! …. we is frien … mother land and ting …. Offer-han … shake … but wait … is dis me is born for … ha! … the very tought … dis time … in me life … me should be drinking rum … you know say … me is having non … not a taste … so dat … the whip that inflic …. for noting … or everting … or noting … dem don’t have no reason … dem just favour it … I overstand … the whip that inflic … me first did see it … God believe it … be merciful… (Kiss teeth.) … Jesus … there is no Jesus … it dawn on me … stupid … foo foo … no not foo foo … eh? … uh uh … give me a bligh … what unu … make me tink … big old whip …. stupid master … what? …. me get lick for dat … turn dunce … yes … de screaming pearcing … so it go … in a de head … in a me ear wax … in a de brain… chop like jelly coconut … dis condition … dash my brain out … full moon take place me head … me turn fool … fool? … nu mus … pressure pon de chains dat hold me … sunrise … sunset … pressure pon de same place … where de rescue … none … part a dem plan … torment … but wait … dem nu do dat … no … ha! … me have a chance … (Kiss teeth.) … nu mus … stop unu groaning … what pain … you must have a chip … stop it! … we can’t … someting forever wrong … me can’t lie … dem want me fi work like a machine … behave like a machine … mud up …. sack dat … mi go fight you … you hunt me … make me speak … jus a word … I beg una … make some noise … bwoy bwoy bwoy … listen me … hu hu hu hu … again … tek off de chain … listen me again … … … … nuh … spare noting … as noisey as the dead in a de bottom of the sea … eh? … de sailing? … everyting hush up except de waves … we can’t move … that me could feel … just the coconut tree … I tink … dem could see … I did flex … me nu move … but de trees … dem have de best view … swaying … tilting … all that forsight because of dem height … but me mind start fi tinge … eyes bigger than me belly … oh yes … me want fi see … everyting cool … under manners … what dis … all the early life morning sun … de ship fix it eye … I hear someting … dem come fi me … de ship fix it eye… you see me all the light me ever had … selfish … but what dis have to do with me … oh … new world what? … me don’t have anyting fi you … you want fi kill me … bless dem at the bottom of the sea …me frighten … uh uh … it dawn on me … what? … de language? … yes… all dead an daze but for de language … iron hot pon me … language was … what? … who dat? … no … dem! … (Kiss teeth.)