GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Little Baby Jesus, Orange Tree Theatre Richmond
Early work by Arinze Kene disappoints
Excelling: The cast of Little Baby Jesus
[Ali Wright]
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an excellently crafted new musical that explores the life and death of Ruth Ellis
PAUL DONOVAN is tickled by the excruciating take-downs of one of the funniest, wittiest, political writers around.
RON JACOBS points out, via a transcription of Kissinger’s secret recordings, that Trump could never have existed without Nixon and Kissinger
ELLIS RAE is persuaded that the advantages of the ‘talking cure’ are superior to the treatment of mental illness with drugs
JOHN GREEN, MICHAL BONCZA and BELLA KATZ review The Good Boy, Broken English, and Don't Be Prey
ALTHOUGH the award-winning Misty was Arinze Kene’s fifth professionally staged play in a remarkable career for someone aged just 32, it felt like a breakthrough moment for him when it burst — quite literally — onto the stage of London’s Bush Theatre last spring.
Its raw power may have been the catalyst for Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu’s decision to direct Kene’s 2011 play Little Baby Jesus. Sadly, it’s a bad choice.
A pulsating nostalgia trip of a first half yanks the audience into the world of three North London teenagers, Kehinde (Anyebe Godwin), Joanne (Rachel Nwokoro) and Rugrat (Khai Shaw). It’s one in which adolescent angst, bravado and unfiltered piss-taking contrasts with intricate racial prejudices and the mental health issues of multiple family members.
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