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London,
Fiona Mountford's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Bijan Sheibani.
Cast: Daniel Francis, Tunji Kasim, Anthony Welsh
Description: Bijan Sheibani directs Tarell Alvin McCraney's drama, which mingles Nigerian Yoruba myth with Louisiana life in the present day to tell the story of two very different brothers.
Trains: Tube/BR: Waterloo 
Phone: 0207922 2922
Website: www.youngvic.org
Commendable: Ogun (Daniel Francis)
There can be no doubt of the newest, hottest name on the playwriting block. Unfortunately, it’s not that of a British author. Tarell Alvin McCraney, a young American, currently has not one but two plays on at the Young Vic, with another due at the Royal Court next month. In the Red and Brown Water, showing in the main house, is his latest offering, whereas the Maria Studio presents a revival of the fizzing piece that justifiably brought him to public attention last year.
McCraney acknowledges the influence of West African Yoruba mythology in his work, and there is undeniably a powerful sense of an ages-old ritual underscoring the action here, both in the writing and in Bijan Sheibani’s outstanding production. At the beginning, the actors mark out the confines of their playing space by simply drawing a chalk circle. From here, with no props or set to impede them, these three commendable performers launch passionately into a narrative set near the Louisiana bayou in the “distant present” but that could with a minimum of tweaking just as easily hark back to Biblical times.
There are two Brothers Size, Ogun (Daniel Francis) and Oshoosi (Tunji Kasim). Hard-working Ogun owns a car-repair shop but his younger sibling is just out of prison and trailed by his dubious former cell-mate Elegba (Anthony Welsh). All the brotherly love in the world might not be enough to save Oshoosi and we learn through McCraney’s striking juxtaposition of staccato dialogue with occasional poetic monologues, how Ogun has been both mother and father to him.
McCraney’s distinctive dramatic voice — one device is to have actors speak their own stage directions, which adds to the sense of heightened realism — takes a while to get used to but is compellingly worth the effort. Pleasingly, he’s no stranger to humour, and the interlude where the Sizes duet in friendly rivalry on Try a Little Tenderness is delightful.
Until Nov 8 (020 7922 2922,
www.youngvic.org)
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
