Brothers in arms: Calvin Demba (Kola) and Fiston Barek (Bashir) navigate the tricky world of immigration and race. Photograph by Johan Persson
Play: Routes
Theatre: Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court
Playwright: Rachel De-lahay
Review by Natalie Gormally
Routes by Jerwood New Playwright Rachel De-lahay is a powerful and topical story of immigration, identity, family and belonging. With a small cast of six, the narrative is cleverly crafted to present two contemporary and interwoven journeys.
We begin with Fami (Peter Bankolé), a Nigerian father and husband, desperate to return to the UK to be reunited with his family. His only route to achieving this goal is to procure a counterfeit passport and student visa. Abiola (Seun Shote), the larger than life Nigerian fixer with an ironic reluctance for his fellow men who he feels are abandoning their flourishing country for one that is sinking, decides to help Fami in his quest to re-enter the UK.
As the story segues into its second plotline, we meet Bashir (Fiston Barek) and Kola (E4’s Youngers star Calvin Demba). Bashir is a young Somali-born English-raised man who, after the unfortunate death of his parents, finds himself in an indeterminate state, having never acquired full British citizenship. Kola, a mixed raced teenager, is also partially ostracised, both by society as a young offender and his parents who appear to have washed their hands of their troubled teenager.
The two meet at a youth offenders hostel. Immediately, the British-born Kola shows a disdain and prejudice towards Bashir because he is Somali. “They’re all just mental, aren’t they?” Yet, they soon develop a close bond as they realise the similarities in their personal situations.
Kola’s mother Lisa, an immigration officer, played by the excellent Claire Lams, provides the physical link between the two stories. Lisa’s routine job leaves her wary and desensitised to the whole immigration process. Her unwillingness to let her son move back home signals her own hypocrisy, a fact that she fails to see as she repeats Fami’s earlier lines: “No good comes from anyone left on their own.”
De-lahay script uses both Lisa and Anka (Anamaria Marinca), the polish charity worker helping to alleviate Bashir’s plight, to highlight the inflexibility of the UK’s immigration system. A system which fails to take into account an individual’s circumstances and which can leave people imprisoned for more than nine years while their fate is being decided.
Fiston Barek gives a stand out performance as Bashir, anxiously awaiting his destiny, alone and isolated in one of the more challenging immigration centres. “I don’t understand. I’m British,” Bashir cries. “Technically, you’re not,” Anka responds.
Simon Godwin’s direction ensures the unremitting 70-minute piece is packed with stylish transitioning from one story to the next. The dialogue, especially between the two boys and where Demba particularly shines, is quick, funny and realistic.
The low-centred staging is enclosed inside a fragmented cube, beautifully epitomising the displacement that the characters find themselves in. At the heart of the story is the need to belong. Both boys crave love, need their mothers and long for a real home.
Routes leaves the audience with plenty to think about as an emotional and profound piece of theatre.
Routes runs at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court until 12 October 2013.