…Giving voice to the people
By Flourish Joshua
Bradford’s cultural landscape came alive with theatre, music and storytelling during the Bradford African Festival of Arts (BAFA) 2026, with artists using performance to explore questions of culture, identity and community. Among the festival’s theatrical offerings was The Crown, an immersive production written and directed by Daniel Okezue and produced by Prolific Arts.
Set in a traditional market square, The Crown follows the arrival of a King, played by Debola Akran, amid rumours of increased taxes and levies on market sellers. His appearance is intended to reassure the people of his commitment to their welfare, but the production raises a deeper question about the relationship between power and those who live with its consequences.
Among the performers who gave the market its human character was Adeyinka ‘SuperGirl’ Akinremi, who played a market woman.
Akinremi’s role was central to its social texture. She helped transform the marketplace from a theatrical setting into a living community, a place of work, conversation, anxiety and expectation.
Rather than treating the character as a background figure, Akinremi brought natural energy and immediacy to the role. Her interactions with the other market sellers and her responses to the arrival of the King strengthened the immersive quality of the production.
“I didn’t want to play her as just another character in the background,” Akinremi said in a post-performance conversation.
“I wanted her to feel like someone you could actually meet in the market , someone with a livelihood, opinions, worries and a voice.”
That approach was evident in her performance. Akinremi resisted unnecessary theatrical exaggeration, allowing the character to emerge through physical presence, reaction and interaction. In immersive theatre, where performers share physical space with the audience, such authenticity is particularly important.
The voice of the market
If Akran’s King represented authority, Akinremi’s market woman represented the people whose lives are affected by decisions made by those in power. That contrast gives the role its significance.
The King can offer reassurance, while the market sellers must consider what those assurances mean for their livelihoods. Akinremi captures this tension without turning the character into a political mouthpiece.
“The market women were the heart of the story,” she reflected. “The King has the crown, but we are the people who have to live with whatever happens. That made the role feel much bigger than it looked on paper.”
Her observation captures one of Okezue’s strongest directorial choices: placing the political conflict within an ordinary marketplace. The result is a theatre of proximity, where questions about leadership become questions about everyday life.
Akinremi also worked effectively within the ensemble, alongside Irene Agbo and Issifu Dee Amponsah, who played fellow market sellers. Together, they created the social energy necessary to make the marketplace convincing. Around them, the village chiefs, town criers, chanters and talking drummer contributed to a wider theatrical language rooted in African communal performance traditions.
One of the production’s notable achievements was its use of immersion. The audience was not positioned simply as distant observers; performers occupied a shared environment with them.
Akinremi responded particularly well to this demand.
“What made The Crown special for me was that the audience wasn’t far away. They were right there with us. You could feel their reactions, and that made the market feel like a real community rather than a stage.”
This awareness of audience proximity strengthened her performance. She helped create the impression that the market existed independently of the audience’s attention, an important quality in successful immersive theatre.
Her performance also demonstrated versatility. Known professionally as ‘SuperGirl’, Akinremi is accustomed to the energy of public performance, but The Crown required her to place that personality in service of character. She successfully shifted from performer-as-personality to performer-as-character, demonstrating a more restrained and character-driven theatrical approach.
The strength of Adeyinka ‘SuperGirl’ Akinremi’s performance lies in her understanding that theatre is an ensemble art.
She did not attempt to dominate the production. Instead, she strengthened it. Her character helped establish the emotional reality of the marketplace, supported the immersive environment and embodied the ordinary citizen at the centre of the play’s political questions.
Written and directed by Daniel Okezue and produced by Prolific Arts, The Crown used African performance traditions, communal storytelling and immersive staging to examine leadership, responsibility and public trust.
Within that framework, Akinremi’s contribution was both subtle and significant.
The King may have worn the crown, but the market woman reminded the audience who ultimately gives that crown its meaning, the people.
Through a believable, energetic and socially grounded performance, Adeyinka ‘SuperGirl’ Akinremi demonstrated that a role can carry considerable artistic weight when approached with discipline, character insight and an understanding of the wider theatrical vision.