The streets of Peckham are home in Bola Agbaje’s 2007 play, which recently became a GCSE set text. This new production directed by Monique Touko has a fresh and boisterous energy even if the script never properly digs into its themes of identity.
The central relationship is between teenage Yemi (Jerome Scott) and his Yoruba-speaking brother, Ikudayisi (Dalumuzi Moyo), who has come to live in London after being brought up in Nigeria. Over the course of one day, their differences expand so much that they can barely find a language in which to communicate.
On the Peckham estate, they face unjust police force, suspicion from a shopkeeper and hostility within their peer group. Keeping up appearances and fitting in is key to getting by. But these brothers are from two different worlds. Naive and unassuming, Ikudayisi bounds into his new life in Britain while Yemi is desperate to prove his worth by force on the estate. It erupts into a battle to decide whose way is the right one.
But rather than sticking to the brothers’ story tightly, Agbaje brings other characters into the story too obviously to present new debate, leading to a cluster of sluggish arguments rather than a united, moving story.
There’s the bolshie, loud mixed-raced teen Armani (Keziah Campbell-Golding) who encourages her peers to fight to protect her honour. Blazer (Richard Adetunji) is the elder figure who teaches others to embrace their roots and show respect. The play becomes most compelling when it scratches at ideas of assimilation, colourism and Britain as a “free country”. If developed a little further, these moments could have helped the play grow into a timely survey of modern multiculturalism.
This co-production by the National Youth Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East is pumped with vitality from its cast. The standout is Moyo as the earnest, wholly lovable Ikudayisi. With the help of Touko’s punchy direction, the humour in the play is instinctive and crackles. All of it is raw and exciting – we can look forward to what the stars of this young company do next.
At Theatre Royal Stratford East, London, until 1 April
