The king in this new American play is basketball legend LeBron James who this month made headlines as his sport’s first active player to become a billionaire. If you don’t know what made James a four-time NBA champ and MVP – or what any of these initials mean – that’s no hindrance to Rajiv Joseph’s drama, a co-production with Chicago’s Steppenwolf company, which uses sporting fandom to consider home-town and national pride and prejudice.
Structured in four sections like a basketball game, it begins with ebullient DJ Khloe Janel at the side of the stage spinning Bruno Mars and Timbaland. Searchlights roam among the audience in the breaks between each quarter, accompanied by blazing rap tunes, giving a big-game atmosphere and bounce to what is an otherwise straightforward two-hander.
