M. NourbeSe Philip mesmerized at McCormack Family Theatre

M. NourbeSe Philip came to the McCormack Family Theatre to perform a reading from her most recent book, Zong! A seasoned and decorated writer of all trades, Philip grew up in Tobago and studied (and subsequently practiced) law at the University of Western Ontario.  Much of her work serves to illuminate racism and injustice, but Zong! does so unconventionally.Philip’s lexical arsenal for writing Zong! consisted solely of the language used in the decision of Gregson v Gilbert (1783), which ruled that the murder by drowning of 133 enslaved people aboard the slave ship Zong, for the purpose of making an insurance claim on lost property, was legal.Described by Literary Arts graduate student Oliver Strand as “a memorial and an ocean," Zong! tells the story behind the case.  Philip employs a fascinating experimental writing style that both confuses and enthralls the reader with fear that has no face, with song, story, chant, shout and scream. Here is what a page of her book looks like:During her performance, Philip, donned in all white, ran, danced, melted and drowned in the words of Zong!, meanwhile recruiting a few interesting props.  A length of strung wooden beads served as a whip, rainmaker, drum beat, and a necklace, while in the rushing pace of the language Philip knelt down to methodically pour a few drops of water on the floor in silence.  Every detail seemed to pull the weight of Philip’s words down more heavily.A particularly effective element of her readings is the way Philip jumps around the text as she reads, and often repeats lines she wants to bring attention to, often forcing the audience to hear something new in a repeating word, sometimes in several languages. According to Philip, she makes no sort of strict preparations for her performances, but instead “the text begins to perform her.” She also incorporates references to more current instantiations of injustice, at one point replacing the names Sade, Wale, and Ade, reoccurring names in Zong! with Trayvon, Sandra, and Michael.Philip finished up by having everyone in the room read a piece, at their own pace, at the same time, allowing the work to come alive in a way more closely resembling the source of its words.Upcoming free events hosted by the Literary Arts Department include appearances by Ethiopian poet Bewketu Seyoum, tomorrow, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., in the McCormack Family Theatre, and Zadie Smith in the Martinos Auditorium of the Granoff Center from 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5th.Image via.