Inua Ellams - The 14th Tale

Inua Ellams is a word and graphic artist based in London. He was born in Nigeria in 1984 and moved to London as a teenager.

The 14th Tale is his condensed autobiography of sorts. He merges poetry and theatre to tell the tale of growing up in Nigeria, London and then Dublin.

Inua was awarded a Fringe First Award at Edinburgh Festival for The 14th Tale.

The play is a 55 minute monologue where Innua tells us tales of the mischief maker that he was, while growing up in 3 very different cities. While the stories are funny on the surface, there is a poignancy to the tales that he tells.

The narrative has a poetic rhythm to it. But since its a series of episodes that he narrates, it doesn't flow like a story but feels more like a chat with a friend over a cup of coffee.

The only props used were a simple cloth backdrop, a folding chair and a torch. So its relatively easy for him to travel and stage this performance in various cities. The British Council sponsored his performances in Gujarat and the play is supposed to move to Surat from Ahmedabad.