Paul Robe­son is a name that would be known to most trade union­ists of the old­er gen­er­a­tion, and to many younger ones well versed in labour and trade union his­to­ry.

One of the most famous artists and activists of the 20th Cen­tu­ry, the African Amer­i­can was an inter­na­tion­al super­star whose name has sad­ly been all but buried from his­to­ry because of the threat he posed (through his words and music) to polit­i­cal and com­mer­cial elites world­wide.

Paul Robe­son had a spe­cial con­nec­tion with Welling­ton water­side work­ers, and was award­ed life mem­ber­ship of the Water­side Work­ers Union, now the Mar­itime Union of New Zealand, dur­ing his vis­it in 1960.

His life sto­ry is to be por­trayed on stage as one of the high­lights of Fringe NZ in an award-win­ning play to be seen in the Thorn­don sub­urb of Welling­ton from Feb­ru­ary 20 to March 1.

Writ­ten and per­formed by UK-based actor/singer Tayo Aluko, Call Mr Robe­son depicts Paul Robeson’s remark­able life, with live piano accom­pa­ni­ment. It fea­tures many of his famous songs, includ­ing the icon­ic Ol’ Man Riv­er, some of his most famous speech­es and his defi­ant tes­ti­mo­ny to McCarthy’s House Un-Amer­i­can Activ­i­ties Com­mit­tee.

Aluko teams up with Welling­ton musi­cal leg­end, Julian Raphael, renowned Musi­cal Direc­tor of many Welling­ton ensem­bles, as piano play­er for this pro­duc­tion.

The writer and per­former of the play, Tayo Aluko is based in Liv­er­pool, Eng­land, and he sent out a request for sup­port to New Zeland Trade Unions. Two — The Mar­itime Union of New Zealand and the Pub­lic Sec­tor Asso­ci­a­tion stepped up to the plate and pro­vid­ed some very nec­es­sary assis­tance for Mr. Aluko’s trip.

Aluko, who has per­formed the play around the UK, USA, Cana­da, Jamaica and Nige­ria but comes to New Zealand for the first time said, “It is quite hum­bling to realise that there are peo­ple round the oth­er side of the world from me who like me con­sid­er Robeson’s sto­ry so impor­tant to be told today that they are will­ing to lend a hand in such a gen­er­ous way. It is a tes­ta­ment to Robeson’s lega­cy that such inter­na­tion­al sol­i­dar­i­ty can be demon­strat­ed to such good effect. I look for­ward to meet­ing MUNZ and PSA mem­bers and oth­er trade union­ists in the com­ing weeks.”

Robeson in New Zealand

Paul Robe­son trav­elled to New Zealand in 1960 and stayed here for two weeks and four days. Dur­ing this time he vis­it­ed dock­side work­ers in Welling­ton and spoke out brave­ly in defence of M?ori and work­ing peo­ple.

Robeson’s vis­it to Welling­ton, the fiery speech­es, and the upflift­ing songs that were exchanged between the great man and the strik­ing dock­side work­ers are still remem­bered vivid­ly by for­mer dock­side work­ers in Welling­ton.

He addressed the Water­side Spe­cial Stop­work Meet­ing and accept­ed life-long mem­ber­ship of the Mar­itime Union. This was to be his last ever con­cert tour.

Reviews and Awards

Call Mr Robe­son received a stand­ing ova­tion at New York’s Carnegie Hall in Feb­ru­ary 2012.

The UK Guardian’s Michael Billing­ton called it ‘First Rate’.

BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends pre­sen­ter Clive Ander­son described it as one of the most mem­o­rable plays he had seen in 2013.

From an inter­na­tion­al field, Call Mr. Robe­son was award­ed Best Musi­cal Per­for­mance at the Atlantic Fringe in Hal­i­fax in Nova Sco­tia, Cana­da in August 2013. It also won Best Solo Show at the Strat­ford-upon-Avon Fringe in 2013 and the Argus Angel Award for Artis­tic Excel­lence and the Best Male Per­former Award at the Brighton Fringe in 2008.

What some crit­ics said:

“First-rate. A fine job” (4 stars) The Guardian

“Sim­ply told but immense­ly pow­er­ful.” (4 stars) The Scots­man

“A thrilling, mov­ing and mar­vel­lous­ly enter­tain­ing musi­cal dra­ma. … total­ly soul­ful and con­vinc­ing” Lat­est 7 Mag­a­zine

“Aluko is a force of nature. Nev­er less than utter­ly believ­able” (5 stars) British The­atre Guide

“A stun­ning piece of musi­cal the­atre” (5 stars) Fringe Review

“A must-see expe­ri­ence. A trea­sure of a show. TOP PICK!” D C The­ater Scene

Listings Information

What:

Call Mr. Robe­son. A Life, With Songs.

Writ­ten and per­formed by Tayo Aluko, with Julian Raphael, Piano.

Direct­ed by Olu­so­la Oyel­eye, Designed by Phil New­man

When:

Fri­day 20 Feb, 8.30pm
Sat­ur­day 21 Feb, 8.30pm
Sun­day 22 Feb, 4.30pm
Thurs­day 26 Feb, 8.30pm
Fri­day 27 Feb, 8.30pm
Sat­ur­day 28 Feb, 8.30pm
Sun­day 1 Mar, 4.30pm

Show length: 80 min­utes (no inter­val)

Where:

The Moor­ings, 31 Glen­bervie Ter­race, Thorn­don 6011, Welling­ton

Age Rec­om­men­da­tion: 12+

Tickets

Avail­able at Fringe Office and Eventfin­da