Bydd My Father and Other Superheroes yn ein Stiwdio Weston ar 24 Hydref - dyma berfformiad un dyn am Spider-Man, Batman, Luke Skywalker a’r hyn sydd ei angen i ddarganfod yr arwr y tu mewn i ni gyd.
What inspired My Father and Other Superheroes?
The piece was originally called Milestones and it came into being as I looked at the big events in my life. The biggest event for me, easily, was having my daughter and I realised that while I was now a dad, I had no idea how to do that job because my father wasn’t around when I was growing up.
The show represents a true story about my own childhood; there’s very little that’s been tweaked. In many ways it’s a gift to my daughter; she’s the source of the story so it’s something to show her how much she means to me.
What’s been the most challenging aspect of creating and performing something so deeply personal?
I had to have a call of reconciliation with my dad, something I’d been avoiding for years. The first conversation had a lot of blame in it, but ultimately I had to forgive him – that’s what’s at the heart of the play. Part of being a man, a real man, is having the capacity for forgiveness. It’s a logical lesson but for me it was also an emotional and spiritual lesson that I had to go through to really appreciate.
In the show, you have conversations with a lot of superheroes… Superman, Batman, etc. Which do you most identify with and why?There are four main heroes in the play and each one represents something different to me. Their external or extrovert powers are amazing, but their real power for me is through their quieter alter egos; that’s where I felt a real connection as a boy, for different reasons.
As Clark Kent, Superman is an exile from another planet trying to fit in. Luke Skywalker is a farm boy unaware of his royal heritage, wanting to see what life is like outside his small world. Bruce Wayne, Batman, is a man trying to keep the legacy of his father alive. The Hulk's Bruce Banner is a nomadic doctor to find solace and connection with humans.
If I had to pick one hero, it’d have to be Superman…though I always call him Kal-El!
You obviously read a lot of comic books growing up. Are you still a fan now of comics and graphic novels?
Yes. I have a few collectables stashed away. Comics are modern folklore. They are an excellent way to grab the imagination of a reader. And for people who don’t like to read, comics and graphic novels are a great way into language and literature.
My Father and Other Superheroes is, at its core, a work of performance poetry. Why is poetry important to you?
Poetry has always been there to help me understand my feelings and how I look at the world. I have two early recollections of writing poetry. One of them was at school when I was six years old. I was told to write a poem about a butterfly and my mum had it framed. I’ve stolen it now as it reminds me that this journey started when I was very young. I wrote another poem a few years later when I was at boarding school in Kenya and a maths teacher, who was almost like a father figure to me, died suddenly of a heart attack. That was a big trauma, but my first instinct was to explore it through writing poetry.
It’s always been said that the best thing you can do is to do something you love and do it well. Poetry is what I love to do. When you have a child, you do everything you can for them and I work hard for her. What I hope she can say one day is that she saw her dad go for his dreams and that helped her realise she could go for her dreams, too. Whether I crash or burn, fall or reach for the highest heights, what I want her to know is there’s nothing like pursuing your passion in life – I think that’s one of the gifts I can give her.
As the play describes, you had an amazingly international childhood. How does that affect your writing, and your thinking?I think that when you grow up in one place, you see the world through just that keyhole. I’ve seen the world through at least four. I was part of a programme a few years ago called The Complete Works where someone told me I wrote like a writer in exile. When I understood what the term meant, it helped me realise that I’ve always had the voice of someone who doesn’t quite belong…that’s definitely how I’ve always felt.
Along with writing and performing, you also work extensively with young people through community groups and schools. What do you think My Father and Other Superheroes has to say to them?
There are plenty of boys, and girls, who don’t have a father figure and I see how it affects them, their confidence and sense of self-worth. I am not telling this story for me. If anything I want it to belong to the world. I’d love people to find their own truth in it.
Every audience member gets a free graphic novel of the show drawn by Marvel/DC comics illustrator Mike Collins. For more about Nick and the show, visit fathersuperhero.com
Bydd pob aelod o’r gynulleidfa yn cael nofel graffig am ddim o’r sioe sydd wedi’i lunio gan y darlunydd comics i Marvel/DC, Mike Collins. I gael rhagor o wybodaeth, ewch i fathersuperhero.com
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