Stellar Performances towards Integration
“I’m about as European as a fucking dim sum.”
Delroy
Roy Williams’ and Clint Dyers’ Death of England triptych of plays are now appearing @sohoplace. The three plays have had a chequered history reflecting the time they were written in, as the country moved through Brexit and the pandemic. I had reviewed Delroy the middle play in October 2020 when Michael Balogun had stepped into the role meant for Giles Terera with appendicitis, and seen the first play Michael on a screening. The third play Closing Time features two of the women, Carly who is Michael’s sister and Denise who is Delroy’s mother and I will see it @sohoplace in a month’s time.
The three plays are a state of the nation assessment, written about the experience of a black Englishman, Delroy (Paapa Essiedu). In the context of the pandemic and necessary isolation, each of the first two plays has only one actor but the last has two. Both Michael and Delroy are large monologue parts for the actors and remembering the 100 minutes is a considerable achievement. My review of Delroy in 2020 has much of the background to these plays.
Michael the first play sets the scene, the interlacing biographies of the two men. Michael (Thomas Coombes) has inherited his father’s flower stall and much of the play is about coming to terms with his racist and bigoted father, whose opinions he despises but whom he also loved. Football is a very dominant theme in these men’s lives and the penalty shoot out against Italy in the final of the 2021 Euros where three young players missed penalties brought out the worst racism in many of the crowd, including Michael’s father.
Through Michael’s words we meet Delroy as a child at school, Delroy’s mum and Michael’s father meet over a school sign that was removed and which the black child got more blame for than he merited. The bust of Nefertiti, a symbol of Delroy’s beautiful mother appears and as the parental battle builds we hear Ennio Morricone’s music from The Good the Bad and the Ugly.
Ultz and Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey’s set is perfect in Soho Place with the audience on all four sides. A red cross of St George is the playing area, at the circle level are highlighted a DAD funeral wreath, Nefertiti, Carly and other visual aids to what is being discussed. I was fascinated by the twirling down of sycamore wings, precisely spinning, I’m not sure why but they were a distraction.
Every cut scene for the first few minutes has us plunged into darkness and Michael reappears in a different part of the set when the lights go on. He interacts with the audience and on press night was handing out Penguin biscuits to critics. Delroy has a boxing career and Michael says, “We crossed the fucking river for that fight.” Michael’s father dies leaving Michael to explain what happened to his mother, whose voice he conveys for us. The coffin rises from the stage covered in the union flag.
Michael gets very drunk at his father’s funeral and maybe is also taking cocaine. There is a back story of his father’s secret life which I found difficult to compass and Michael will find out things about his father which were well hidden. The play is full of contradictions and confusions as Michael has to face up to life without his father and has issues of his own. Michael is more difficult to warm to than his friend Delroy.
The second play Delroy has us engrossed from the start with the sheer charm and endearing quality of Paapa Essiedu in the role. It also has much gentle humour which everyone was enjoying and Paapa Essiedu was interacting with many of the audience.
Delroy muses on what makes him immediately recognisable as not being white and English, let alone European. Immediately we can see that Delroy is wearing a tag which beeps intermittently. Essiedu’s mastery of the accents of Michael, Carly and Delroy’s Caribbean mother is superb. Carly’s set symbol is of a coloured in Britannia shield and she is Delroy’s long term girlfriend with her father’s imagined response to their relationship.
Delroy’s story arc is the circumstances that delayed him getting to the birth of his baby and the consequences. His appearance in court has dramatic lighting of sections of the audience to search out the reaction of the jury/audience. He falls out with Carly and seeks advice from the audience as to what he should do. We were all rooting for him to get back with Carly and his baby daughter but one seasoned audience member was saying “No!” and waving a negative finger, amusing both the actor and audience.
I fully expect to see Paapa Essiedu nominated for Best Male Performance in this sparkling comedy with a serious commentary on what it feels like to be a young black man in Britain today. It is of course the writing from Roy Williams who has long described black youth in his plays and Clint Dyer who has not only directed, but collaborated with Roy Williams on the writing. It is easier to warm to Delroy than Michael and we know that white working class boys have the least good educational results. You will love Paapa Essiedu here on brilliant form.
Production Notes
Death of England : Michael and Delroy
Written by Roy Williams and Clint Dyer
Directed by Clint Dyer
Cast
Starring:
Thomas Coombes
Paapa Essiedu
Creatives
Director: Clint Dyer
Designer: Ultz and
Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey
Lighting Designer: Jackie Shemesh
Sound Designer: Benjamin Grant, Pete Malkin
Information
Running Time: Each part
One hour 40 minutes without intervals
Booking to 28th September 2024
Theatre:
@sohoplace
4 Soho Place
London W1D 3BG
Tube: Tottenham Court Road
Telephone: 020 384 09611
Access: 0330 3335962
Website: www.sohoplace.org
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge
@sohoplace on 30th July 2024