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.