Geography: Africa > Western Africa > Ghana
Year: 2023
Produced by: Fiifi Coleman Productions
Creative Team: Original play by Ama Ata Aidoo; production led by Fiifi Coleman
Synopsis: The 2023 production of The Dilemma of a Ghost follows Ato as he returns to Ghana from the United States with his African-American wife, Eulalie. Neither side of the family has been prepared for the marriage. Ghana is an ancestral home connected to the colonial history of enslavement, but Ato still struggles with cultural placement and familiarity. Ato avoids interpreting the expectations of either side, leaving both his wife and relatives to misunderstand one another. The production complicates the language of diaspora return because shared racial history does not create immediate cultural belonging. Eulalie arrives as a descendant of people forcibly removed from Africa and a newcomer. Homecoming is an encounter with difference rather than a manner in which identity is preserved.
Source: MyJoyOnline, production information: https://www.myjoyonline.com/fiifi-coleman-productions-to-stage-the-dilemma-of-a-ghost-play-on-july-2 9/ The Guardian, production review: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/apr/21/theatre