Ethiopian playwright Banna Desta releases audio drama set in the Aksumite Empire

Playwright Banna Desta has resurrected an often overlooked African civilization in her latest work – a vivid drama about a tyrannical queen on the rise and her twin sons.

“Besides wanting to make the audience happy – because the show is fun – I wanted to add another dimension to people’s understanding of Africa,” Desta told the BBC.

“I wanted to write about a time when the rest of the world didn’t suffer from colonialism and there were prosperous communities,” he says.

The Abyssinians were established in the 5th Century in the Aksumite Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Aksum.

Aksum was a rich and famous rising empire in what is now northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, southern Saudi Arabia and western Yemen. It lasted about 1,000 years, from about 100BC to AD960.

It was there that Christianity first arrived in Africa and the continent’s first coins were made.

It was at the center of trade between India and the Mediterranean and its ships controlled the Red Sea trade through the port of Adulis and the North East African routes.

In the third century, it was considered one of the four great world powers, along with Persia, Rome and China.

“I feel like Aksum is not being taken out of the picture. Ethiopia is the beginning of civilization – and yet I feel it has never been included in our understanding of world history,” says Desta.

He chose that part of the world and that period of history because of its connection. He was born in the US to a mother from Tigray in northern Ethiopia and a father from Eritrea – regions that were at the heart of the ancient Aksumite Empire.

“The goal was just to learn more about the colonial era – and I thought a good place to start would be my heritage and my ancestral line.”

The Abyssinians, released by Audible and directed by Shariffa Al, is Desta’s first audio drama. It’s a complex that mixes history with the author’s imagination.

The play is “also about how people hold on to their identity in a time of great change,” says Desta.

It tells the story of a monarchy at the crossroads of history.

Queen Yodit must decide which of her twin sons – Kaleb or Negus – should be on the throne, as she struggles with social and economic upheaval and conflicting beliefs on religion and freedom. There is also love.

“Queen Yodit is … complex, controlling, cunning, raw, sensual and compelling,” says Danielle Deadwyler – the Bafta-nominated film star who played her.

The character of Yodit was loosely inspired by the real Queen Yodit – or Judith – who ruled in a different era than the one in which the play is set.

He is a mysterious figure due to the lack of history and conflicting legends about who he was.

Some see him as a dictator and instrumental in the fall of Aksum, says Desta – who traveled to Ethiopia as part of his research for the play.

“I thought it was a good jumping off point for that kind of thing,” Desta says.

“I think a lot of times the appearance of female leaders should be ‘out there’ – and I like the idea of ​​a woman being a tyrant in this period of history.”

Author James Baldwin once said that artists are “historical or spiritual experts” – and that phrase resonated with Desta when he was writing this play.

“I wanted to explore the emotions of the characters – the private feelings of the characters, the things they struggle with as people that are not related to their roles in society,” he told the BBC.

Princess Yodit was the person Desta felt had no love in her life.

“A lot of what he does in the world comes from a place of not being appreciated as a friend and not feeling like he has a place or that he’s chosen to be a leader,” Desta says.

Another female character they wrote to overcome their feelings is Makeda, played by Arsema Thomas of Bridgerton fame as Queen Charlotte.

He was sent to work in the palace to repay his father’s debts. But he is also a “self-centered, larger-than-life and global thinker”.

Although set in an ancient world, the dialogue and dry humor in The Abyssinians make it modern and relevant.

Queen Yodit, in particular, likes to drop a comment in the center every now and then.

The production features an original Ethio-jazz score by DA Mekonnen, an Ethiopian-American musician, and Andrew Orkin – and features Ethiopian-born multi-instrumentalist Kibrom Birhane.

Desta said: “The scores are in line with each other and the tone of the play because I feel like a lot of Ethiopian music has a very old quality and jazz is modern music.”

Tony-winner André De Shields described being in The Abyssinians as “a chance to return to the past” and a metaphor for “the power of art to change lives”.

It was very important to Desta that black actors were playing the characters.

The singers also include Zainab Jah, who in 2021 won the prize for the best performance of Farewell Amor at Fespaco, the leading festival in Africa.

Chukwudi Iwuji, who began his acting career with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK, and Phillip James Brannon, best known for his Broadway roles and the movie Contagion, also starred.

“The talent was amazing,” says Desta, “I know that doesn’t really happen to a lot of early stage writers, so I’m very grateful.”

Desta’s next goal is to get The Abyssinians on stage with, he hopes, the same players.