?Get off the stage! Camera off!?, hissed Moj to the startled photographer in the semi-darkness of the Serge Constantin Theatre in Vacoas. Even this seasoned professional had no choice but to obey the authoritative voice emanating from the shadows. Bedecked in an African dress and headscarf and with a delicious lilt to match, Mojisola Adebayo instantly and expertly captured the audience?s attention only to relinquish it an hour and twenty minutes later when her one-woman show, Moj of the Antarctic: An African Odyssey, came to a well-rounded end.

The British Council describes the play in the following way: ?Moj of the Antarctic is inspired by the wonderful true life story of Ellen Craft, a 19th century African-American slave woman who ccessfully escaped to freedom by disguising herself as a white man. Moj of the Antarctic extends Ellen?s amazing biography into a flight of theatrical fantasy where upon arrival in Victorian London, she finds work as a sailor on a whaling ship bound for the Southern Seas. Life on the ship is tough in more ways than one: the white sailor?s idea of fun is playing black face minstrels. Finally the ship arrives in Antarctic waters, ripe for gruesome whaling, and Moj becomes the first Black woman to set foot on Antarctica!?.

And even if the above broadly encapsulates the plot, it does not capture Mojisola Adebayo?s sheer mastery of her art and the energy with which she commanded proceedings. Advertised as a play dealing with the increasingly pressing issue of climate change, Moj of the Antarctic is far more than that. Part love story, social critique, environmental manifesto and history lesson with a dash of slapstick comedy, musical and visual art chucked in for good measure, this amazing journey begins with a hymn to Gondwana, the mega-continent that once included Africa and Antarctica, and the kinship between the ?sister continents?.

<B>Daring gambit</B>

Moj then briskly gets the play proper underway. We see her sweeping the floor of a plantation house in the Deep South in pre-Civil War US. She hankers to learn to read and write. But a huge obstacle stands between her and her dream: any person caught teaching a slave is severely punished. However, a field slave, the delightfully tough May, accepts to teach Moj at great personal risk. The two become lovers and Moj pens a startlingly touching love poem for her mistress. Their affair is discovered by the plantation master, or ?masser? as Moj pronounces (she nails a range of accents with amazing skill). Being a field slave (even lowlier than a house slave), May bears the brunt of the punishment and dies from her lashings.

This prompts Moj to decide to flee north where the anti-slavery movement is gaining impetus. What better way to pull off such a daring gambit than to disguise herself as a white man (the makeover scene is the funniest one in the play and gets the audience involved in a very original way)?

But, lo and behold, the North, and Boston in particular, are not what Moj hoped they would be. She does succeed in meeting a prominent abolitionist but the latter treats her more as a bête de foire than as the young lady of letters she truly is. Worse still, the audience she is being presented to wants to turn her in to the authorities (under the fugitive slave law of the time citizens were legally obliged to turn in a runaway slave anywhere in the US). Once again, Moj finds herself down and out.

Still disguised as a white man, she enlists as a crewmember on the serendipitously named Lady May and makes her way across the Atlantic to Liverpool and then down to London. She finds herself in a pub in the British capital where she makes a fortuitous encounter with a transvestite sailor just like herself. In a thick Scottish accent, the latter tells Moj about her stint in the Royal Navy and how the seamen she sailed her were ?highly satisfied? with her services. More importantly, she expounds on the joys of sea travel and the beauty of Antarctica where whalers ply their bloody trade. Moj is won over by her message and sets sail for Antarctica. The story ends there.

<B>The power of theatre</B>

It?s worth noting that all through the play beautiful footage of Mojisola Adebayo?s own journey to the world?s southernmost continent (she is the only African woman to have performed in Antarctica) was projected as a backdrop to what the British Council describes as an exploration of ?the ancient connection between Africa and Antarctica and the modern impact of climate change on these sister continents. This innovative total theatre piece incorporates video, text, dance, music, storytelling, song and stunning original photography shot on location in Antarctica?.

It?s not every day (not to say downright rare) that Mauritians are treated to a play of such exquisite lyricism and poignancy. Moj of the Antarctic, which was performed on Sunday and Monday, was a timely reminder of the power of theatre and its ability to deal creatively with serious issues like climate change and slavery. The British Council should be lauded for having offered theatergoers the opportunity to watch an incredible performer at the peak of her powers. Mauritius? cultural landscape is all the richer for it.