An African mismarriage

Ama Ata Aidoo's 40-year-old portrait of an African mismarriage still teems with rich dramatic life. Her impeccable scenes of Ghanaian village life are lovingly rekindled in Michael Walling's reverent, roughshod production.

The women cluck, tut and shake their wise heads when Ato, the prodigal son, returns from the US with a new wife in tow. His American bride, Eulalie, is regarded as a 'black white woman', hailing from no identifiable tribe, and who fails to get pregnant the instant she arrives in Ghana.

But Aidoo's central plot has suffered with time. Eulalie despises Africa and what makes her sink into alcoholism is never made clear. Also, Ato's family can't afford a cow but somehow manage to send their son to an American university.

Credibility aside, Walling's production luxuriates in languid background detail, while the script is so sparse it feels like a morality play, the moral of which doesn't bear inspection.

Nevertheless, it's well worth catching this rare outing of one of Ghana's finest writers. And the music is stupendous. Underscored by the dazzling skills of Osei Korankye, Seun Shote's Ato straddles conflicting continents beautifully, and Dzifa Glikpoe, Adeline Ama Buabeng and Agnes Dapaah deliver masterclasses in matriarchy - by turns hilarious, touching and thoroughly terrifying.

Dilemma Of A Ghost
The Africa Centre
King Street, WC2E 8JT