Where to begin with this play……
It's amazing!! There is a small cast, but it mainly focuses on one main performer played by Arinzé Kene. Not only is Kene the star of this play but he has also written it. What this play does is blend together theatre with comedy, performance art, comedy and rap. This is done really well and makes a very enjoyable performance to watch. Along with that, you are blown away from Kene as he is doing so much on stage. He is an amazing actor and performer.
The staging for this play is very simple; the stage is very are, with two huge screens ajar to one another. On a couple of occasions, the two musicians who are positioned either side of the stage provide live music and enter behind the main screen to play his friends, a chef and a school teacher. These two characters disapprove of Kene's latest production as they believe he is becoming another artist who is successful as he is writing stuff that is palatable and pleasing to a white mainstream. They claim he is selling out by writing a narrative with black people that white people want to hear. With that being said we don't see any of the white characters in person, like the producer or agent, we only hear their voices. This play is about how the stories black men are allowed to tell and it is done well.
The main plot of this play is a story of a fight on a night bus and it suggests London is a body and its inhabitants are blood cells; it is implied that black people are viruses; yet in a twist at the end it turns out white people are the virus’s. Everything is performed by Kene. The performance can be considered gig theatre as all songs are original and create during the rehearsal process with Kene and Shiloh Coke and Adrian McLeod. All the songs are different, but they are mostly rap but all the songs give an important message.
Throughout the performance an orange balloon is used and appears to be the thing Kene is fighting against. In a Q&A after Kene said that the balloon has different meanings for everyone. For me the balloon showed the inner struggle Kene was going through as he wanted to write what he wanted but people intervened as they want to make it how they wanted instead. Kene blows up balloons, wrestles with balloons and finally gets trapped inside one. This is a representation of his struggle to tell this story how he wants to. However, he keeps trying to tell the story he wants which is inspired by his friend Lucas.
Along with original raps/songs, there is lots of humour which brings moments of relief at the right time from the powerful music and poetic monologues. This play breaks the fourth wall with Kene talking and engaging with the audience and people working in the theatre.
There is so much going on in this play, so you can never say you got bored whilst watching this play. I found it interesting and very enjoyable to watch; I had a lot of respect for Kene as his role was physically very demanding from singing to running around the stage. The message trying to get across in this play is to right and perform what you want; at the end of the day you can't please everyone with everything you write. You aren’t sure what is going to happen at the end and the final rap/song called 'jungle shit' is dramatic and makes you listen to every word he says. Within this whole play you listen to every word being said and there is no surprise that at the end everyone was up on their feet to give a standing ovation. This was an amazing play to watch and I’m happy I got to witness something special in theatre.
