Liam O'Dell

Everyone else in the audience seemed to enjoy the Bush Theatre’s latest production, My Father’s Fable by Faith Omole. Howls of laughter suggested outrageous humour is contained within the script; a standing ovation at the end indicated it was just over two hours of good theatre. And yet, I left the auditorium exhausted, wondering half the time what cast members were actually saying, and if there was anything of importance contained within the first act.

Sure, it doesn’t hang about with introducing the premise. Peace’s (Tiwa Lade) half-brother Bolu (Theo Ogundipe) is coming to visit her and her partner Roy (Gabriel Akuwudike), much to the frustration of her mother Favour (Rakie Ayola), who’s staying put in the house too. Except, nothing feels significant in terms of details which only seek to establish the characters – such as Peace’s work stresses as a teacher and Roy considering a job which takes him out of the country – when we all know the real issue here is Favour’s barbed animosity towards Bolu (very well done from Ayola).

The lack of projection from certain actors – Akuwudike being a notable exception – robs dialogue of its weight, to the extent director Rebekah Murrell oversees an opening act full of tedious, inconsequential dialogue. Indeed, the central, aforementioned conflict only really gains prominence just before the interval, and while the second act feels tighter with revelation after revelation, an unimpressive first half means I wasn’t experiencing the same level of shock more engrossed audience members were displaying. Peace is supposed to be our protagonist, yet isn’t present for a large part of the narrative.

And thus, I am left disappointed two hours later, and the optimist in me wants to believe a better seat for this Deaf theatre critic could have yielded a better reaction and a lengthier review, but even then, I suspect the stuffed dialogue still would have made it difficult to be engaged, even if cast projection was no longer an issue.

★★

My Father’s Fable is now playing at the Bush Theatre until 27 July.

The show will be relaxed on 29 June and 18 July, captioned on 4 and 20 July, and audio described on 6 and 11 July.

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Production Images: Manuel Harlan.

Disclaimer: I was invited to watch ‘My Father’s Fable’ for free in exchange for a review of the performance as a member of the press. I did not receive payment for this article and all opinions stated above are honest and my own.

Due to being seated far back in a corner of the auditorium, and poor projection from cast members, I was unable to fully and effectively hear and process this production. As such, the above review is based on my limited understanding and perception of the play – as well as further re-reads of the playtext – and should be read with this in mind.