The Meaning of Zong
stage play
The Meaning of Zong is a play by Giles Terera about the massacre on board the slave ship Zong, its impact on the anti-slavery movement and its importance in the modern world. The play was first performed in Bristol, England in 2022.
Setting
The main locations are a present-day bookshop, London's Westminster Hall in 1783, and the slave ship Zong sailing from West Africa to Jamaica in 1781.
Characters
Olaudah Equiano, also known as Gustavus Vassa, a barber and abolitionist
Granville Sharp, a music teacher and abolitionist
Ottobah Cugoano, an abolitionist
Annie Greenwood, a teacher and shorthand writer
Ama, Riba and Joyi, women from West Africa who are enslaved on the Zong
James Kelsall, first mate of the Zong
Robert Stubbs, a passenger on the Zong and former slave ship captain
William Woodfall, a publisher
Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of Great Britain
Sir John Lee and Arthur Pigott, lawyers
Synopsis
The play opens with an argument about how to categorise a book on slavery. The abolitionist Olaudah Equiano connects this to the shocking story of the slave ship Zong, whose crew threw 132 slaves overboard, ostensibly to avoid a water shortage, and whose owners then claimed insurance for their loss. When the insurers appeal, Equiano persuades the abolitionist movement to bring a criminal prosecution, documenting the insurance trial as evidence. Equiano feels an empathetic connection with the experience of three women enslaved aboard the Zong, and in particular with the one who survived after being thrown into the sea. He is forced to confront his own personal journey, and in so doing brings the story back to the audience in the present day.
Interpretation
The play follows an African tradition of storytelling, in which the writer and performer are one and the same and engage the audience directly. In the opening production, the writer Giles Terera played the part of Equiano, while the onstage musical director Sidiki Dembele used traditional instruments and involved both cast and audience.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q113555089. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2022, 1783 and 1781.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Meaning of Zong” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.