crazyblackmuthaf***in'self. To 11 January.
London
crazyblackmutha***in'self
by DeObia Oparei
Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs To 11 January 2003
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 4pm
Runs 2hr 20min One interval
TICKETS 020 7565 5000
Review Timothy Ramsden 4 January
A play of ramshackle construction that somehow holds together.This is the Royal Court's alternative alternative Christmas show. Downstairs for the progressive masses Anthony Neilson's The Lying Kind stirs black brimstone into a traditional British Christmas. Upstairs we're treated to a piece that would be PC heaven if it weren't so funny. But, this being the Court, of course it does underlying serious too.
The title tells all. The mood is CRA-ZEE, the language living up to its asterisks. And in Josie Rourke's production it has a moment or two to contend with Christopher Shinn for the Sloane Square Explicit Gay Sex Scene of the year award.
Yet, it's part of Oparei's quirkily light touch - the play's good humour is amazing – that the most explicit piece of intercourse in a gay play comes between a man and a woman. Jewish Daniel has chased betrayed, runaway girlfriend Asian Kareema (strong on the ethnic – we're not even at Oparei's own central Black character yet) to Femi's flat only to find his own male identity there by having her shove a sizeable prosthetic penis up his posterior (if Oparei lacks PC anywhere it's on disability, but after Daniel's experienced the Kareema-assisted insertion he's probably in line for a rupture or two).
It's a happy-go-lucky script. With a car stuck apparently at one end of his living-room, Femi's story takes some unlikely turns, jolts along with kangaroo-jumps at times and has some awkwardly executed gear-shifts. But you can't say it's a ride that goes nowhere.
Acting as agent along the way for various people to find their real selves, Femi's crazy journey eventually brings him to a sense of self, with love breaking triumphantly through restless sex. The production can be clumsy and doesn't disguise the play's construction faults but it allows the laughs full rein and is beautifully played, by Oparei himself and, notably, Jo Stone-Fewings as an actor outing da rappa in himself plus Paul Ready as a Scouse drag-queen with a strong sense of emotional morality.
Femi: DeObia Oparei
Mr Wilson-Dixon/Cyril: Philip Grout
Kareema: Nathalie Armin
Dominic: Paul Hickey
Hermione: Sophie Dix
Raef: Jo Stone-Fewings
Olunde: Clive Wedderburn
Danny: Nitzan Sharron
Colin: Paul Ready
Djeme Player: Slemy Di
Director: Josie Rourke
Designer: Rae Smith
Lighting: Chris Davey
Sound: Ian Dickinson
Composer: Siemy Di
Urban Music consultant: DJ Merran
Dialect coach: William Conacher
Company voice work: Patsy Rodenburg
2003-01-05 17:22:29