Every year, the Black British Theatre Awards recognize excellence on stage. This year, one of the esteemed recognitions went to a Sierra Leonean playwright, Siana Bangura. 

Hailing from South East London, via Freetown Sierra Leone, her gifts as a storyteller were nurtured from an early age. At secondary school, her favourite subjects included English Literature and History. She would later go on to read History at the prestigious University of Cambridge. 

Just as her passion for storytelling was clear from early on, so too was her spirit for social justice. It is this passion that she pours into the stories she tells through her work. 

Bangura started as a playwright in 2018 after participating in several writer development courses in the East and West Midlands. During one such course, she began writing the script for what would later be her award-winning play, Swim, Aunty, Swim! 

Bangura’s critically-acclaimed play is a profound, poetic tale of friendship, loss, sisterhood, motherhood, ageing, starting again, and the sublime power of water.  The warm comedy-drama is about a trio of women “in their prime”, a pool, an instructor and a challenge that leads them into deep, fast-flowing waters. 

The play opens in a swimming pool.

Aunty Ama (Evelyn Duah) determinedly tries to persuade her two friends, Aunty Blessing (Karlina Grace-Paseda) and Aunty Fatu (Anni Domingo) that they could go beyond the shallow end of the local baths to participate in a wild-water relay contest.

Reaction to Her Win

The award couldn’t have been presented to Bangura in a better fashion than amid family, friends and colleagues. The jubilant support group cheered the playwright on as her hard work got recognised. 

“Writing, developing, and staging ‘Swim, Aunty, Swim!’, a story centering the lives of older West African women, including a Sierra Leonean character, is my proudest achievement to date,” Bangura told SwitSalone. 

“I’ve had some beautiful wins over my career so far and this is a major highlight for sure.”

Swim Aunty Swim, by Siana Bangura (Anni Domingo, Karlina Grace-Paseda, Evelyn Duah by Nicola Young Photography)

A Selection of “Gorgeous Reviews” for Bangura’s Swim Aunty Swim

The cherry on the cake so far for “Swim Aunty Swim!” is the award. But before that the play received reviews which Bangura described as “gorgeous”.

Clare Brennan wrote in the Guardian: Bangura’s writing offers a buoyant combination of naturalism and symbolism, social commentary and sharp characterisation, familiar from Chekhov and Ibsen….

Anette Kinsella wrote: 

The themes of life and death, birth and rebirth were dealt with sensitively and compassionately and with a healthy dose of humour – the overall tone was less Steel Magnolias and more Golden Girls.

Benjamin Bailey reviewed: Bangura’s writing is brilliant. The story moves at a  pleasing pace and we learn more about our three main characters. (We also learn) the supporting role of Danny, the swim instructor (Sam Baker-Jones), in each scene and in a steady trickle.

Siana Bangura’s Journey

Bangura’s writing journey has been “long and winding” in her own words. “I’ve always wanted to write since I was a child,” she said. 

She has lived this dream for about a decade now as a professional writer in different spaces.  Between 2014 and 2015 she transitioned from being a journalist in a newsroom to being a freelance writer, theatre producer and documentary filmmaker, producing impactful work investigating the state of race relations in Britain.

In 2019 Bangura was an artist-in-residence at a major theatre in Birmingham, working on her first play, ‘Layila!’, another work exploring Sierra Leonean and diasporan identity. And although she began writing ‘Swim!’ in 2018, it would be during the 2020 global pandemic that she’d have more dedicated time and space to focus on the development of the script, persevering with the journey through to the play hitting the stage at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre, charming audiences with her groundbreaking tale of resilient African women in their more seasoned years.

Bangura’s storytelling has been driven by her quest to centre voices and experiences of those most often underserved and overlooked, particularly Black women. As an African diasporan, she understands the underrepresentation of minoritised groups. She believes that there are a lot of important stories to share from these groups that others can learn from.

“It is clear that there are so many untold, marginalised, hidden stories that need telling, especially those from underserved and underrepresented communities such as Black communities and the African diaspora,” Bangura said. “We need to see ourselves.”

What’s Next?

“The aim is to tour ‘Swim, Aunty, Swim!’ across the UK and internationally” said Bangura. She also looks forward to sharing more of her theatre work and writing with audiences across the world. 

Her work has strongly resonated with  African and Caribbean communities across the UK, and Sierra Leonean, Nigerian and Ghanaian communities across the Midlands. This ongoing impact, she notes, “means the world” to her and she plans on taking it further.

Swim Aunty Swim, by Siana Bangura (Anni Domingo by Nicola Young Photography)

About Siana Bangura 

Siana Bangura is a multi-award winning playwright, writer, producer, and creative practitioner proudly hailing from South East London. She lives, works and creates between London and the West Midlands, UK. 

Bangura’s artistry creates a foundation for supporting the communities she serves. Working and campaigning on issues of race, class, gender and their intersections, Bangura is currently undertaking projects that focus on climate change, the arms trade, and state violence.

Storytelling leads her approach in empowering and prioritising marginalised voices, communities of the global south, Black women, and young people from all backgrounds.

Bangura is the founder and former editor of Black British Feminist platform, No Fly on the WALL. 

She is also the author of critically acclaimed debut collection, ‘Elephant’, a book of poetry meditating on Black British womanhood and life growing up in London and co-founder and co-curator of the Sierra Leone Arts & Culture Festival (SLACfest).