Programme Index

Discover 11,128,835 listings and 279,940 playable programmes from the BBC

Friday Drama

Ob'owa

Duration: 58 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW

Ob'owa is the story of when eight-year-old Francesca and her brother six-year-old Joseph are kidnapped by their father to their parents' homeland of Nigeria, life is very different to they one they had in Peckham. Thirty years later, it's time to return to Nigeria.

As Francesca reveals the story of their kidnap and life at their Grandfather's house in Benin City with his three wives and his many children, it's clear many adjustments had to be made to survive in a world where everyone looks like you but are so very foreign. Peckham could not have prepared the children for the mosquitoes, lizards and sweltering heat of sub-Saharan Africa; the slaughter of animals in the backyard; a diet consisting of yam, yam and more yam and the painful ritual of tribal markings carved with a razor blade into young flesh.

Ob'owa is inspired by real events. Created by Director, Christiana Ebohon and Writer, Moya O'Shea. The play examines themes of belonging and home. Is home the place where your family originates or where you were born? It is told in present day, with flashbacks to the 70s and that fateful trip to Nigeria.

The cast stars Rhiannon Baccus, Jayden Jean-Paul-Denis, Tracey Ifeachor (Welcome to Thebes), Nonso Anozie (Death and the King's Horseman), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Death and the King's Horseman), May Owen, Susan Agbabi, Isobel Akpobire, Abi Enola and Lorcan Bolger.

The play was partly recorded on location in Lagos, Nigeria

Producer: Frank Stirling
An Unique production for BBC Radio 4. Show less

About this data

This data is drawn from the data stream that informs BBC's iPlayer and Sounds. The information shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was/is subject to change and may not be accurate. More