An interview with Siana Bangura: An immersive dive into the world of Swim, Aunty, Swim!

After a busy day on campus amid the chaos of exam season, I got the delightful opportunity to chat with Siana Bangura, the writer of the play Swim, Aunty, Swim!, which is set to find its sea legs at The Belgrade Theatre in Coventry from 20 May to the 1 June. Our conversations ranged from the true meaning of Swim!, the title Bangura colloquially calls the play, the importance of the play’s Coventry roots, and our shared passion for all things history!

Water flows through everything

I opened our discussion about Swim, Aunty, Swim! by asking Bangura what the plot was truly about, from the actual writer’s perspective. Bangura made it clear that the play’s title creates a sense of nuance and exploration. On the surface, Swim! does what it says on the tin – following the story of three West African aunties who learn how to swim, trained by a Coventry lad upon the backdrop of the West Midlands. However, as stated by Bangura, “this play is far more than just learning to swim”. Bangura highlights the spiritual resonance of water throughout cultures, especially within the context of West Africa, with water depicted as a natural healer for the wider play’s woes of grief and loss. Nevertheless, surrounding these quite dark themes, Bangura emphasises that water equally brings lightness and relief, with Swim! equally being a play about joy, laughter, and the importance of sisterhood.

‘Water flows through everything’ felt like a highly nuanced statement within the context of Swim!, with Bangura enlightening me on the play’s spiritual resonance with the African water deity, Mami Wata (Mother Water). Within West African traditions, Mami Wata is presented as a feminine goddess, protecting fertility and good fortune, but also as a symbol of darkness and light. Bangura considered the contemporary re-emergence of Mami Wata in the context of the Atlantic Slave Trade, rumoured to snatch colonisers and punish them in the underworld. The presence of Mami Wata is poetically described as a ‘thread’ within Swim!, allowing the women within the story to find peace through ageing, and the enjoyment of swimming as a sense of relief, fortune and freedom.

Snippets of Coventry are interwoven into every aspect of the plot

The water in Swim! is a poetic figment of the imagination, with Bangura suggesting that the audience must suspend their disbelief to imagine the presence of water throughout the show. Obviously, through the practicality of theatre, a working swimming pool cannot feature on the stage, yet she hints that a swimming pool is brought to life through certain set design nuances and tricks of light.  As a writer, theatricalising such a world, Bangura suggests that you have to let go of what is exactly envisaged in your mind and trust the creative team and process with how they elevate your story.

Location is key when considering the story of Swim!, with the story being built around the Coventry area. Bangura resonated on the theatrical term of ‘show, not tell’, stating that snippets of Coventry are interwoven into every aspect of the plot. Referring to herself as an ‘adopted Coventrian’ and ‘local Midland’s babe’, Coventry has been Bangura’s home for the past twelve years, with her original home being South East London. The three women presented in Swim! have made their way from Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, with different paths in their lives leading them to Coventry. Bangura praises the volume of diasporas and cultures in Coventry, with the Coventry area being a solid hub for the West African identity, and providing a strong base for the storytelling surrounding Swim!

In 2019, Bangura got stuck into the world of theatre through a natural progression, writing her play Layila!

Bangura’s creative background, prior to playwriting, resided in poetry, journalism, and producing. Finding her feet in the production space, both in film and theatre, Bangura’s post-university career resulted in producing Kathryn Griffith’s Fierce at the Camden People’s Theatre in 2014. Bangura relishes in the sense of ‘organised chaos’ when producing, being able to get things done, all whilst delivering a piece with a certain ‘gusto’ and ‘flair’. Her career transitioned into the world of performance poetry and documentary-making, using her work to campaign against police violence and deaths in police custody, presented in her film, 1500 & Counting.

In 2019, Bangura got stuck into the world of theatre through a natural progression, writing her play Layila!, which follows the story of a young Sierra Leonean-British girl living in South London. Layila! was first performed on stage at the Birmingham Rep Theatre in June 2019, truly inaugurating Bangura’s career in the theatre world.

Moving to the present, Bangura accounts of the ‘real journey’ and experience needed when presenting Swim! to theatres, with the final stage edition being the seventeenth draft of its original form. Bangura states the importance of research and development in bringing a play to life, being able to look at her characters with certain nuances after they are played by different actors in different ways.

The core themes of Swim! hold a ‘universal language’ of human resonance

Bangura worships the cast presented in Swim!, with two of her four cast members, Sam Baker-Jones (Danny) and Anni Domingo (Aunty Fatu), being an integral part of the production from its infancy. Bangura loves the ‘magic’ of the audition stage, praising the process for finding her Evelyn Duah (Aunty Ama) and Karlina Grace-Paseda (Aunty Blessing), who perfectly present their characters.

Looking into the future, with the hindsight of bringing Swim! to the world of theatre, Bangura has found so much joy and respect in exploring wider art-forms, finding true appreciation in the spaciousness of a novel. To many readers, the transition from a play to a novel feels quite unorthodox, yet, Bangura wants to ‘pull out the world’ further within the Swim! universe and explore it more. Bangura also holds strong ambition for an international tour, taking Swim! to Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone so that many diasporas can truly appreciate and find resonance in the story. The core themes of Swim! have a ‘universal language’ of human resonance, in the words of Bangura, stating that grief, joy, and laughter can all resonate with someone in the play to a degree, and anyone can find themselves in the certain nuances of the characters.

Bangura closes by saying that the world of Swim! is not over, and will return and be remoulded into certain shapes and forms. It is only the start for Siana Bangura’s career, and the future seems bright for the world of Swim, Aunty, Swim!

Swim, Aunty, Swim! is showing at The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, from the 20 May to the 1 June 2024.