Review: The Convert by Danai Gurira

A few years ago, I co-authored a resource entitled Developing A Representative Drama Curriculum, responding to the main exam boards' dearth of set texts by Global Majority authors. It's been encouraging to see them shift their position and respond, with texts like The Convert providing opportunities for teachers to consider how to continue to refresh the texts they offer.

Gurira's play is dense, rich and full of meaty socio-political topics, offering lots of scope for discussion with older students. Set in Mashonaland (later renamed Zimbabwe) in 1896, it explores the push and pull of faith, heritage and the brutality of a Western regime imposing on an African country. Chilford is a black Roman Catholic teacher, and young girl Jekesai is to be renamed as Ester, he has decided. She will speak Queen Victoria's English and wear clothes more commonly seen on Western girls of her age. Should she resist, risking her own life, as she clashes with Chilford, who is sincere and profound in his own beliefs?

The complexity of Gurira's 2012 play is part of its appeal. Chilford is not only preaching the virtues of a Christian life but, crucially, of Roman Catholic doctrine. He cuts an isolated figure in the play, which is often moving and undercut with a taut and emotional subtext, as he stands alone and adrift from his own mission. In many ways, Chilford and Ester are similar, and Gurira explores this beautifully, remaining faithful to the historical context.

There are nods to Pygmalion (or My Fair Lady) here, which the author acknowledges, but the play lives and breathes on its own terms and builds towards a genuinely tense and complex denouement. This isn't a simplistic play by any means, but the characters are fully realised and would be a gift to any young performer eager to get their teeth into a text which is largely unknown in the UK.

First staged in the UK at the Gate Theatre in 2012 and then at the Young Vic in 2018, this is a play that is gradually gaining admirers. Its language, themes and textual density mean that it's probably only suitable for A Level students. However, any teacher or student who did venture into this play would be richly rewarded with a brilliant study of principled people trapped in circumstances of their own making and beginning to push against them.