Theatre review: Tree

It’s meant to be something of a party but the Young Vic’s Tree will likely be remembered as the show where Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah Milkshake Ducked, after the controversy over how much of the show they’re credited with creating actually owes to writers Tori Allen-Martin and Sarah Henley. The latter two are credited in the programme notes as having “helped Elba along the way” – in his personal list of thanks, not the official acknowledgements – and under the circumstances it’s interesting to note that there’s no specific writing credit anywhere. But obviously I have no way of judging who’s in the right so all I can say is what the finished article is like. I can say that from an audience point of view it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster figuring out if the show would give me backache – I booked when it went on sale back in November 2018 before the configuration had been finalised, and a couple of months ago the website blurb announced that Tree was meant to be experienced standing, with only a handful of seated tickets available for those with access issues.

A couple of attempts to figure out what to expect from the box office informed me that I would be standing, there would be nowhere for the audience to lean on and no seats were available to move to, and my reminder email a couple of days before the show also said I’d be standing. Then I turned up to collect my tickets which turned out to be seated.

I guess these are the restricted view Balcony seats that are now being advertised; the show is set up as if in a club, with the audience as a crowd dancing both before and after the action, but to be honest as well as not being in discomfort my seat probably gave me a better view of the action than being stuck in a crowd behind someone taller might have done. Which finally brings me to the show itself, in which Londoner Kaelo (Startled Giraffe Alfred Enoch) makes his first visit to his parents’ homeland of South Africa after his mother’s death, to carry out her final wish of having her ashes scattered over his father’s grave. But finding the latter will prove a mission in itself, as well as a lesson in both Apartheid-era South Africa and the present-day tensions that remain: We see flashbacks to 1985 and the impossibility of his father Lundi (Kurt Egyiawan) and mother Cezanne (Lucy Briggs-Owen) trying to have a relationship while in the middle of a race war.

Perhaps the lack of credited writers is why there’s a lot that’s muddled about Tree itself: Kaelo doesn’t seem to be intended to be an idiot but he’s certainly ill-informed about South Africa (to the point of not understanding how the seasons work in the Southern Hemisphere) and all he really knows is that Nelson Mandela was a great man – something his half-sister Ofentse (Joan Iyiola) is quick to disabuse him of, her generation wondering where the land Mandela promised to black South Africans 25 years earlier is. It is, of course, still in the hands of people like Kaelo’s maternal grandmother Elzebe (Sinéad Cusack,) who owns a vast swathe of it that he will someday inherit. And while Ofentse accuses her brother of cultural tourism, the same sometimes feels true of the show as a whole. The chorus of Ancestors in particular feels like it’s been ticked off a list of African tropes, especially as it doesn’t contribute much to the story. (Neither does a scene of Kaelo and his flatmate, whose sole purpose seems to be to show off how buff Stefan Sinclair is, but I’m neither in any position to criticise that or particularly inclined to.)

Also muddled is exactly how literally we’re meant to take the supernatural elements to the story – the location of Lundi’s grave is finally revealed to Kaelo in a dream, and when he wakes up from it the vaguely mystical gardener Gweki (Patrice Naiambana) seems to be aware of what he’s just seen. But if it’s not as deep as it would like to be the show makes up for it in style and entertainment value: Michael 'Mikey J' Asante’s music and Gregory Maqoma’s choreography lend atmosphere at times but mostly the party energy the show runs on, Jon Bausor’s set brings the action right into the audience – even those of us sitting in the Balcony not feeling too distant from it – and the wickerwork screen surrounding the stage gives a unique backdrop for Duncan McLean’s fire-themed video projection. Given the quality cast assembled it’s no surprise if they carry the show confidently; it’s Kwei-Armah’s production that’s the hit here rather than his and Elba’s play itself.

Tree by Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah is booking until the 24th of August at the Young Vic.

Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner.