AEROPLANE MAN. To 11 May.

London

AEROPLANE MAN
by Jonzi D

Theatre Royal Stratford East To 11 May 2002
8pm Mat 11 May 3pm
Runs 2hr 30min One interval
Signed 8 May
Audio described 9 May

TICKETS 020 8534 0310
Review Timothy Ramsden 1 May

Personal flights turned into high-voltage entertainment.Hip-hop, rap and b-boy dancer Jonzi D went searching for his roots and culture after his loved cockney world of fish and chips, pie and mash and – O.K., it's an acquired taste – jellied eels soured when washed down with the chip shop bloke's accompanying vinegar of comments about how he thought Jonzi'd prefer mango juice to tea. That's tea – (hear it drawn out with the labour of one what finks he's funny) black or white? And, if there's doubt, plenty of shadowy white figures loom with bent authority. Teacher, policeman, judge – these stage stereotypes are how the uninformed world appears to bow-bells born Jonzi.

Back to parent-land, Grenada, then via more calls to the aeroplane man, flights to Jamaica, hip-hop happy New York and finally South Africa. But nowhere is quite home. Jamaican? More JaFakan. New York? Man, the MCs there don't want to share their glory with the new boy visiting, and when he out-verbals them at the hand-mikes, they get physical soon enough. Even idyllic South Africa leaps on the tourist in the shape of downtrodden miners ever-ready to extract his belongings and vestments - right down to the union flag boxers.

Through it all Jonzi D, playing himself, is a likeable, energetic performer but as a character stays strangely anonymous. That matters because it makes the experiences wash off him and keeps events neutralised.

What's left is the performances along the way. And they're pretty terrific. It's worth walking through the door at E15 just to see the Bronx scene's breakdance sequence. The cast is lithe, sexy and sassie. There's not a lot of deep acting goes on – there's not any, in truth - but when the sounds start up, with rap or song, or when the limbs and torsos begin vibrating, Jonzi's roots-tour turns into a party on stage.

And anyone worrying themselves over whether theatre can still attract a diverse, youthful audience should have heard the whoopings in the stalls. That-wise, leastways, Jonzi's pulled it off.

Performers:
Jonzi D
Alan 'Paradigmz' Miller
Banksy
Curtis James
'Elle-L' Lorna Lindsay
'Face' Vevine Walsh
Jane Sekonya
Richard Cassell aka Wylee Kyat
Susan 'Bustah' Reynolds

MCs:
Rudie classic
Snagga K.I.D

DJ:
DJ Excalibah

Directors: Kerry michael/Benji Reid
Designer: Bob Bailey
Lighting: Zerlina Hughes

2002-05-02 10:03:25