Theatre review: G

Teenagers Kai (Selorm Adonu,) his half-brother Khaleem (Ebenezer Gyau) and their friend Joy (Kadiesha Belgrave) have grown up knowing there's one part of their neighbourhood where they have to show utmost respect: A pair of pristine white trainers have hung from a power line over the road for the last 20 years, and the story goes that they belonged to a young black boy from their school, mistaken for a convenience store robber, who was run over by a car while fleeing police. His ghost, known as Baitface, wants revenge on the real criminal, so no young black boy should ever walk under the trainers without a balaclava on, in case the spirit should think he's the robber and destroy him - Joy's heard a rumour that Daniel Kaluuya recently walked under the trainers, and got retrospectively wiped from every film he ever made.

The trio have recently started getting into an uncharacteristic amount of trouble at school and, more seriously, are suspected by the police of having committed an unspecified crime. It turns out that on "the night in question" (which is how the event is always described,) Khaleem briefly took down the trainers to impress a girl.

Tife Kusoro's G is told out of order, and though I was happy with the way the action got resolved and explained at the end, along the way it can feel a bit hard to follow - especially in the scenes where the cast recreate jerky, corrupted CCTV footage. But the metaphor is clear and for the most part subtly presented - I liked an understated thread in which Joy, who uses he/him pronouns, is briefly convinced to go back to wearing skirts: The implication being that a black girl is slightly less likely to be instantly suspected than a black boy.

With the story based around an urban legend about a black man who died in possibly racially motivated circumstances and now attacks the living, there's obvious similarities to the Candyman franchise, and if there's a big disappointment in Monique Touko's production it's that it doesn't embrace the opportunity for horror: Baitface (Dani Harris-Walters, but voiced by Khalil Madovi) appears stalking the teenagers, but apart from a couple of early moments of creepiness he mostly dances quite gently around them.

Although the direction the story will take is perhaps not entirely unpredictable, it does feel like Touko could have tried a bit more of a bait-and-switch here. Still, if Kusoro's play doesn't hit the horror notes the premise might have suggested, an energetic cast does help it hit those of comedy and drama, and eventually quite an emotionally affecting ending. (Plus, a running joke about "Shackles" by Mary Mary means this is the first time in a long time that a show about teenagers has referenced a song I'm familiar with.)

G by Tife Kusoro is booking until the 21st of September at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.

Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Isha Shah.