Afronauts - Udderbelly Underbelly George Square Gardens - Review

The beauty of the Edinburgh Fringe lies not only in the sheer amount of shows on offer but also in the recommendations of others. Someone may suggest seeing a show that hasn’t even come across your radar, but let me tell you, sometimes a recommendation can lead you to something great. Afronauts was a show that I hadn’t come across in the vast lists of available productions, but upon a recommendation I decided to give it a go, and it was one of the greatest surprises of the fringe for me.

Did you know that in the 1960s, an imaginative innovator called Edward Mukuka Nkoloso really did believe that Zambia could join the space race? Having just gained their independence, Zambia was bold and brave, and Nkoloso formed the Afronauts with the aim of reaching the moon. He put young astronauts through training and planned to send a 16 year old girl, along with 2 cats, to the lunar surface. It sounds laughable, but it happened, and in the famous cow of Underbelly George Square Gardens, Circus Zambia and Wake The Beast have come together to tell this amazing story combining circus, theatre and archive footage.

In modern Zambia, two youngsters discover what is left of Nkoloso’s makeshift space facility and Matha Mwambwa’s diary, learning that she dreamed of the moon and believed that he could send her there. From this, we are taken back in time to see the Afronauts in training against the backdrop of the country’s newly granted independence. Their dreams of space discovery are brought to life through high flying acrobatics, exciting, brave and overflowing with a sense of freedom and wonder.

Archive footage of the real Afronauts is used as a backdrop throughout the production, including a clip from a documentary that branded Nkoloso a ‘crackpot’. This is a thought that is referenced several times as the team of young astronauts are called losers and their dreams are laughed at, with Matha told she can’t go to space because she’s a girl. But instead of this knocking them back, they use it to fight back, to push their dreams further in a powerful message to audiences both young and old that anything is possible.

As well as impressing with their acrobatic skill, the cast also win over the audience with their comedic flair. A gang of sassy attitude filled cats who react dramatically to everything earn many a laugh at every appearance and as the youngsters train and dream, I can’t help but draw comparisons to the training montages of Cool Runnings where people who are told they can’t do something set out to prove that they can.

Walking into Afronauts, I didn’t know that it was based on a true story, so let’s call it a history lesson with one hell of a difference. With spellbinding circus performances, a thrilling story of dreams and discovery, along with several laugh out loud moments, it’s peak family entertainment that thrills and delights.