Tree, currently playing at The Young Vic,
elicited a lot of excitement when it was first advertised, not least because it
is a collaboration between Idris Elba and the now Artistic Director
of the theatre, Kwame Kwei-Armah.
In 2013, Elba returned to South Africa and created the album ‘me Mandela’
inspired by his time in the country playing Mandela and as a dedication to his
late father. His long-time friend, Kwame,
inspired by the music, decided to collaborate with him to make a story about
the ambition to heal, and to tell it through a combination of movement, music
and drama. Following on from the initial buzz, the project then had a bout of
negative publicity when Sarah Henley and Tori Allen-Martin made a claim that
they conceived the project and were consequently removed from it. And so it was that I expected much from my
latest trip to The Young Vic.
Whilst there is
much to be admired about Tree, it doesn’t quite live up to my
expectations. Certainly, it’s a very
exciting experience, with Director Kwame Kwei-Armah and Designer Jon
Bausor, turning the space into a pulsating disco, with the majority of the
audience standing (or should I say dancing, at least at the start) around a
large protruding stage. For the
remainder of the play, the actors effortlessly weave in and out of the audience
and often seek their help with various props, helping to make the play a truly
immersive piece of theatre. As a result,
the two men’s vision of creating a different kind of theatrical experience
works a treat. What it lacks, at least
for me, is a strong dramatic narrative and the presence of the ushers,
directing the crowd, whilst necessary, is rather distracting.
The story is
based around Kaelo (the excellent Alfred Enoch), a Londoner born to an
Afrikaner mother and black father. On
the death of his mother Cezanne (Lucy Briggs-Owen) Kaelo decides to visit
South Africa (the land of her birth) to scatter her ashes, discover his roots
and learn the truth about his father. He
stays with his tough Afrikaner grand-mother (Sinead Cusack at her
belligerent best), meets up with his ferocious half-sister, Ofentse (a very
sparky Joan Iyiola) and finds out how he, as a mixed-race man is viewed
in a country that has known much violence and many divisions.
What helps to make
the piece very affecting is the excellence of the choreography by Gregory
Maqoma, the visuals by Projection Designer Duncan McLean and the
attendant music by Michael ‘Mikey’ J’ Asante. And the final flourish of the erection of the
symbolic tree is spot on. It’s just a
shame that there isn’t even more music and that the script doesn’t quite match
the visuals. One wonders about the
quality of the two beleaguered women’s narrative …..
