Singer and hip-hop artist Jacqueline Mapei Cummings, known under the artist name Mapei, recently made her theater debut in the musical monologue RÅTTKUNGEN, currently playing at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Vällingby in Stockholm.

KRULL met up with Mapei who opened up about the process that led to her most intense, intimate and heart wrenching performance.

“Råttkungen is a very emotional performance. It came from an idea I had to create a one woman show about a homeless person. Ever since childhood, I’ve been very interested in the fate of homeless people. Because throughout my life I have had my downs, and been reaching real lows, I used to observe people who were at the pit of their existence and was hoping to never end up there, thinking about how it could happen to anyone. I haven’t been homeless myself, but in the show my character says she belongs with and to the ground. She is one with it.

Ayesha, Riksteatern’s creative director, proposed to make it happen and asked me to write something. I started laying down all my thoughts from when I had been at my lowest, putting words to the dark patterns I couldn’t process. It was a release, but also a devastating process. I was inspired by people whose situation I had observed and also by my own. I questioned what society views as beautiful or not, what wealth means here and around the world. I reminisced being a starving artist, being depressed…  It’s a very devastating story I never thought I’d share with the world, because show business is very superficial and all about keeping up appearances. This piece of work on the other hand is the complete opposite of a bubbly show. It’s a real catharsis. I don’t know what force took me over to write and perform it, but I feel like it’s my best performance and I really put myself out there, exposed and raw. It just all came out in an organic and natural manner.

The musical process and finish product have been different than what I do now. It’s closer to what I released before. There are some 90’s influences, some Jay Z, even some of the world of Amelie from Montmartre, but not the light-hearted parts. I got inspired by some of Saul Williams/DJ Krust words and channeled the feel of it through my own voice.

During the creative process I was very lucky to have complete freedom and be surrounded with extremely talented friends. I stuck to a tarot reading I had prior to setting things in motion whose outcome was that I should only work with friends, not involve any strangers. Also, I had heard about the hierarchical theatre world. It wouldn’t have worked for me. I worked with Selam, a friend of 15 years who is a stylist. Working with my friends turned out to be a success. They respect me, know my vision and worked miracles before. It’s tough to make it in the art world without 15 years of experience or an education to do what you want, so it was very empowering to work with friends that are very talented in what they do and get to choose which way I was going to go. I had the privilege not to have to compromise.

In the African community in general, mental issues are taboo, although nowadays it’s improving thanks to better information and people coming together to help each other . Twenty years ago, I would never freely talk about this because I would be viewed as a weirdo talking about weird things. For Swedes, it’s culturally different. They have the possibility to reach out and an easier time speaking about their mental health, their struggles and ask for help.

I didn’t want to burden people with my issues and as a Black woman you’re expected to be tough, strong and carry your load and others’ on your shoulder without uttering a word of complaint or asking for help. There is this undertone in the show of being out of place in society, just like how people from the African diaspora are. My character is reminiscent of a slave from an African perspective; old, hard working African woman, carrying the world on her shoulders, responding to her master. 

With family and friends however, I had to speak out about my depression at some point, because it was a matter of life or death. People have no clue what you’re going through if they’re not in your skin. It’s been tough but they understood I needed to be helped, to be saved. We handled it with humor. We’d be joking around it, through it, to survive and not get into the pressure of what it all actually meant.

Family and friends, their support through laughter, love and good food, that’s what pulled me through.

RÅTTKUNGEN will play until May 24

photography ANDREA DAVIS KRONLUND

styling & hair SAMANTHA BRAUN

makeup EMELIE WOOD OLSSON

photo assistant RILEY MCKAY

model MAPEI