Review: PLAYFIGHT, Seven Dials Playhouse

As an audience member, there is something truly empowering about leaving the theatre knowing you are more educated than you were upon arrival. With this, Orisun Productions’ PlayFight truly delivers. Following a shorter run at The Pleasance Theatre, PlayFight has transferred to the Seven Dial’s Playhouse for an undeniably deserved longer summer run.

Nine LED boxes light up the stage as we are introduced to Kai (Iain Gordon), TJ (Landry Adelard) , and Zara (Carla Garratt). They’re 15 – which shocks us from the start as they are immediately acutely aware of the struggles they have, and will, experience due to their race. Up until now, they have enjoyed life in their neighbourhood, ditching school and getting takeaways from their local chicken shop.  Soon we sense, as they do, that this is a community in danger and things are about to change.

When an altercation at school receives disciplinary action, heavily exacerbated by microaggressions and stereotypes, the three are forced to diverge from their paths – navigating new journeys where they are made to grow up faster than they ever expected. When their lives are at stake, they must confront what society expects from them as they realise, to survive, this expectation must be defied.

It takes great skill to sensitively convey the experiences of a community in 85 minutes, but Christina Alagaratnam’s script triumphs. At first, she teases us with lighthearted banter and comedy where the dynamic between the characters shines. However, we are soon forced to sit up from our comfortable positions as her writing exposes our society.

A society where black men are allowed to be black ‘boys’ for but a moment and where marginalised students “never get a chance”. It is in the scene that takes place in heaven between one dead and one alive – a scene usually fantastical in theatre – that we truly realise how discrimination and prejudice play with the lives of those around us. The choice of life or death for those in marginalised communities is not an age-old question, it is not fantasy. Here, it is the everyday battle.

Alagaratnam’s script is further complimented by Leian John-Baptiste’s subtle, yet highly effective, direction and the incredibly clever sound design. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is harshly remixed throughout scene changes conveying the theft of these teenagers’ youth. And each time the song dies down, scene after scene, the three actors deliver powerhouse performances. As Kai, Iain Gordon is sensational; his development from schoolboy to one of the men who must ‘be their own man’ is heartbreaking. As his closest friends, Landry Adelard and Carla Garratt are equally masterful in their portrayal. It is a privilege to watch these actors represent their communities on stage.

It is in one particular scene, moments after Kai warns TJ that “we should never cry”, that I look to my left and see a man in the audience wiping a tear – and I am assured in my thoughts that Play Fight is a show that not only this community, but the entire industry, needs.

Playfight is at Seven Dials Theatre until 5 August

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