A man is waiting in a hospital, his clothes are stained with red. He is nervously asking the nurses what happened, how the person he is worried about has been. From this anxious scene, we move to the past, to this same man’s childhood and then to his teenage life. In The 14th Tale, Inua Ellams tells us his story in a brilliantly staged manner. He tells us more about his writing and The 14th Tale. Interview by Canan Marasligil. Photo by Ed Collier.
Could you tell us more about your journey as an artist, how did you arrived to writing poetry?I schooled in Dublin for three years, one of my best friends there used to argue about everything, about the colour of the sky, about everything! Our friendship was based on argument, we would argue that the sky is blue or pink! We started studying English and Shakespeare together and had this teacher who had one leg shorter than the other so he had to go tip toes to balance it out. He gave us so much Shakespeare, you had to like it or hate it. Despite all of our arguments, my friend and I loved these classes a lot. My friend said I would become a writer from the beginning, which I never thought I would. He dared me to write a poem, which I did and showed to the teacher who told me it wasn’t bad, which is the equivalent of a Norse god giving you a hammer to do the world! Then came the summer holidays and my friend committed suicide. I remember when I went back to school, all my teachers and my classrooms had been changed, so I wouldn’t have to sit where I usually sat with him. I guess I began writing after that.
As a way to express the pain?
No, not because I needed to get the pain off my chest or anything, just because the person who I was most vocal, most verbal with wasn’t there anymore. That’s how it started. But even then I never cast it as poetry. I was just rambling in a piece of paper and trying to structure it in a way. When I came to London I discovered the poet Saul Williams and the movie Slam, in which he stars. In the movie, he rises up and stops two groups of prisoners from fighting by reading a poem between them. There saw how words could be powerful. I thought he sounded the way I wrote and that perhaps I was a poet?
Is this also when you have decided to write for a stage?
I didn’t want just to write poems and read them out loud in places where people won’t be listening, I wanted to create something for a theatrical space, where people are expected to sit down and keep quiet.
The 14th Tale is also very well structured.
It comes from poetry writing, which is very structured too. When you know the rules, you break it better, so I learned the structure of writing poetry and most of my work is structured. When writing The 14th Tale, I knew exactly what I wanted to happen, when and how. It just works well like that.
What does the title The 14th Tale mean?
My first collection of poetry was called the Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales, so I wanted to show that this work, The 14th Tale, was a progression of what I did previously. To show that this is different and this is where I am now. All that is going to happen after will be new.
Is your work always autobiographical?
No, my first book was very political and was about me rambling angry at things. So after that book I thought of writing for the theatre and my mentor asked me what I was most afraid about? And that was myself! I never thought I would have anything interesting to say but he kept pushing me, and here I am with The 14th Tale.
How has been the audience reacting to The 14th Tale?
So far it has been good and warm. I began with very few numbers and it has been built progressively. Even the other day I thought my energy was low, we had technical difficulties and I didn’t feel it was very well, and still the audience reacted very positively.
Do you believe your tale is universal?
Yes, it is about growing up and about the battles one faces as a child. That definitely resonates with everyone. Also the relationship between my father and I, which is also what the play is structured on. The idea of alienation, of standing out in a school, and relationships that put you in places you never thought you would have been or even considered. A lot of people can identify with these things.
Do you see yourself as a role model?
If people see me as a role model, that’s okay and it puts responsibility on my shoulders. But it’s a responsibility I won’t want on my shoulder because of what other role models do or how black men are perceived in the media, rap artists usually or people who don’t say anything of any importance. If my work can be accepted as something honest and true, which is what I am trying to do, and if that is what means to be a role model, then by all means yes.
http://www.phaze05.com/
No, not because I needed to get the pain off my chest or anything, just because the person who I was most vocal, most verbal with wasn’t there anymore. That’s how it started. But even then I never cast it as poetry. I was just rambling in a piece of paper and trying to structure it in a way. When I came to London I discovered the poet Saul Williams and the movie Slam, in which he stars. In the movie, he rises up and stops two groups of prisoners from fighting by reading a poem between them. There saw how words could be powerful. I thought he sounded the way I wrote and that perhaps I was a poet?
Is this also when you have decided to write for a stage?
I didn’t want just to write poems and read them out loud in places where people won’t be listening, I wanted to create something for a theatrical space, where people are expected to sit down and keep quiet.
The 14th Tale is also very well structured.
It comes from poetry writing, which is very structured too. When you know the rules, you break it better, so I learned the structure of writing poetry and most of my work is structured. When writing The 14th Tale, I knew exactly what I wanted to happen, when and how. It just works well like that.
What does the title The 14th Tale mean?
My first collection of poetry was called the Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales, so I wanted to show that this work, The 14th Tale, was a progression of what I did previously. To show that this is different and this is where I am now. All that is going to happen after will be new.
Is your work always autobiographical?
No, my first book was very political and was about me rambling angry at things. So after that book I thought of writing for the theatre and my mentor asked me what I was most afraid about? And that was myself! I never thought I would have anything interesting to say but he kept pushing me, and here I am with The 14th Tale.
How has been the audience reacting to The 14th Tale?
So far it has been good and warm. I began with very few numbers and it has been built progressively. Even the other day I thought my energy was low, we had technical difficulties and I didn’t feel it was very well, and still the audience reacted very positively.
Do you believe your tale is universal?
Yes, it is about growing up and about the battles one faces as a child. That definitely resonates with everyone. Also the relationship between my father and I, which is also what the play is structured on. The idea of alienation, of standing out in a school, and relationships that put you in places you never thought you would have been or even considered. A lot of people can identify with these things.
Do you see yourself as a role model?
If people see me as a role model, that’s okay and it puts responsibility on my shoulders. But it’s a responsibility I won’t want on my shoulder because of what other role models do or how black men are perceived in the media, rap artists usually or people who don’t say anything of any importance. If my work can be accepted as something honest and true, which is what I am trying to do, and if that is what means to be a role model, then by all means yes.
http://www.phaze05.com/
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