LOYALTIES are stretched to the limit in Levi David Addai’s first play, developed under the Royal Court Young Writers Programme.
Set at a community radio station in South London,93.2FM looks at what happens when your identity is bound up with the people and places that surround you. Dawn Walton’s production is stylish and sparky. Malachi and Jerome are the founders of 9.32 Borough FM; Anton is Malachi’s rebellious, weed-smoking brother. Malachi and Patricia, a presenter and single mother, are like surrogate parents to the temperamental Jerome and to Anton, who conceal a child-like refusal to assume responsibility for their lives behind slightly ridiculous sexual braggadocio.
Throw in Malachi’s precocious 15-year-old sister Keisha and his high-maintenance girlfriend Delisha, and they make one happy-ish family. But they are more dysfunctional than they appear.
Malachi’s shot at a job with a national station exposes jealousies and insecurities, as he is accused by Jerome and Anton, who regard themselves as “married to the streets”, of betraying his background.
The dangers of falling in love with a mythologised “ghetto” are underlined, in Soutra Gilmour’s design, by a poster of the murdered rapper Tupac Shakur on the studio door.
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Anton and Jerome may not be in danger of getting shot, but their reliance on an image of themselves as “players” and their equating of manhood with aggression rather than achievement makes it difficult for them to grow up and develop, either emotionally or professionally. Their refusal to try to succeed in the wider world is partly motivated by fear: jealous as they are of Malachi’s chance to move on, dread of failure prevents them seeking similar opportunities.
There is also enormous generosity in Addai’s writing. He shows us the caring, supportive side of community, and Ofo Uhiara’s gentle Malachi is genuinely touching. Addai also points up the pervasive appeal of black urban culture in the laughable attempts of a white DJ (Will Beer) to tap into black credibility.
From Emmanuel Idowu’s posturing Anton, hand permanently stuck down his waistband, to Richie Campbell’s bright but bitter Jerome, Ashley Madekwe’s shrill Delisha, Lorna Brown’s wise, sassy Patricia and Seroca Davis’s irrepressibly feisty Keisha, Walton’s production is acted with wit and warmth. The play’s ideas aren’t as big as its heart, but this is a memorable and decidedly promising debut.
Box office: 020-7565 5000. To September 16, then touring