'Little Baby Jesus' review

OUR VERDICT

What is “Little Baby Jesus”? The notes in the script I was given say that it is about ‘life-changing moments when people grew up’. Well, yes, that is true, but this only tells a small part of the evening.  

The first half feels a little bit like having three stand up ‘confessional’ comics competing in an arena. The dialogue fizzes and pops like Kate Tempest on speed, and the whole is brilliantly choreographed by the director, Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu; winner of the JMK Award 2019.

The three characters are looking back on their school days at what we assume is an inner-city comprehensive.  The Orange Tree Theatre is a wonderfully intimate venue, and by the interval, I felt slightly beaten up by the intensity and energy of the performers – ‘beaten up’ – as in challenged and taken out of my comfort zone. In fact, in the second half, I moved upstairs: to try and get some distance on what I was seeing.

Where to start? Rachel Nwokoro as the feisty Joanne grabs you in her first monologue and never lets you go. She is totally aware of her sassiness, even once having a dig at one of the audience for laughing in an inappropriate place…"Why are you laughing?” 

Such is the ferocity of Rachel’s performance that both Anyebe Godwin as Kehinde, and Khai Shaw as Rugrat, have to battle manfully to compete. But they are both excellent, and all three characters collide and bounce off each other like tag-team wrestlers. The physical direction is totally compelling. 

How about the play itself? The first half anecdotes about the rivalries and difficulties of school and sex and fighting and so on are absolutely convincing.

Then, after the interval, the tone darkens. I was less comfortable with this sudden switch in tone, and I wasn’t convinced by some of the events described.  

Also, the language of the play; I loved the energy of the dialogue as I have mentioned. It feels accurate and it’s funny. Only, sometimes, I felt that the writer, Arinze Kene, was straining for seriousness. Sometimes it felt too consciously poetic – with both classical and Biblical references peppering the brilliance and honesty of the street talk. Would the Joanne character really say, ‘Come like Cyclops Polyphemus the way he be watching me’?

Also, the didactic ending. It was a bit like having the characters recite Rudyard Kipling’s “If”. It didn’t feel right, and was too self consciously ‘theatrical’, in a heavy-handed way.

But these are small quibbles. Overall the evening had me on the edge of my seat and laughing, engrossed and confronted. 

Venue: The Orange Tree Theatre

Dates: 24 October - 16 November, 2.30pm & 7.30 pm

Ticket prices: from £15 (click here to book)