Following an acclaimed run at the Bush Theatre (the hub for new British writing), Benedict Lombe’s play Shifters has made a triumphant transfer to the West End, marking only the third time this has happened for a Black British female writer in history. Directed by Lynette Linton (Blues for an Alabama Sky, National Theatre) and with Tosin Cole and Heather Agyepong reprising their roles, that Shifters is backed by the star power of producers Idris Elba, Maya Jama and Little Simz must be enough indicate to its quality.
I was gifted a ticket in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Shifters
Cast
- Dre: Tosin Cole
- Des: Heather Agyepong
Rating: ★★★★
What is Shifters about?
32 year-olds Dre and Des reunite eight years after their breakup at his grandmother’s wake. From there, the play shifts between the past and present as it reveals different stages of their will-they-won’t-they relationship from meeting at their school’s debate team as teens to pursuing their dreams as an artist and chef.
What are my thoughts on Shifters?
While having brush strokes of Nick Payne’s Constellations as a two-hander love story told in a non-linear narrative, Lombe’s writing feels like a tapestry as it fleshes out its two leads with themes of memory, trauma and that one first love running through the play’s core. Laugh out loud hilarious one minute and heartbreakingly tearjerking the next, Linton’s tender direction and Lombe’s writing feel striking in Shifters because of their universality. Even if we haven’t experienced Des and Dre’s circumstances, everyone can relate to the rollercoaster of feelings they go through from the euphoric highs to the deepest of pains.
More importantly Shifters interweaves how Des and Dre’s Black British identities affect themselves both within their relationship and as individuals (Lombe mentions in the programme how little roles there are written for dark-skinned Black British actors to be part of tender love stories). These range from a flirty debate about Nigerian vs. Congolese music that made the audience erupt with laughter at press night to a Ngai Ngai recipe bringing back Des’ back memories of her deceased mother.
Running for a solid 100 minutes, occasional pacing issues can lead to the final third feeling rushed as it quickly goes through their breakup before returning to the present. What aids these though is Neil Austin’s moody lighting featuring rods that change colour to indicate time frames and the nature of Des and Dre’s relationship, and Shelly Maxwell’s fluid movement direction seamlessly going through the narrative with such delicacy and intimacy.
What’s the cast like?
Tosin Cole (Doctor Who) and Heather Agyepong (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play) return from the Bush Theatre run and have the mammoth task of shifting Dre and Des’ personalities, ages and perspectives in a short amount on time, and they nail it with such tenderness and humour. Having an intense chemistry that palpitates in the auditorium, they feel like two real individuals who go through 16 years of joys and hardships that come with that first love. I really hope they reprise their roles for the upcoming BBC TV adaptation.
Cole’s Dre immediately falls in love with Des and goes through life with an easygoing charm to hide the pain of the grief for his brother and not being with his mother in Nigeria, while Agyepong’s Des takes time to put her walls down while ironically not believing in destiny. Her scenes of a panic attack and a monologue about how Black British girls are raised to act like women from a young age in particular cut you like a knife.
What are my overall thoughts?
A beautifully tender and hilarious rom-com told through the Black British lens, Shifters that highlights emotional highs that come with love told by two of the strongest leads in the West End at the moment. There should be more room for Black British stories to be told in the still white upper middle class-centric West End, and I hope writers like Benedict Lombe inspire other Black British female writers to let their voices be seen and heard (and more importantly, producers to listen to and have faith in them).
Shifters runs at the Duke of York’s Theatre until October 12th.
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