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The Review - THEATRE by DAN FRANKLIN
Published: 24 January 2008

Maria (Lydia Leonard) is chastised by her boss, Alfred (Joseph Marcell)

When two immigrant lives entwine

LET THERE BE LOVE
Tricyle Theatre

KWEI-Armah skilfully weaves Alfred’s immigrant narrative with Maria’s, who Alfred offers to accommodate in order to escape the violence of her boyfriend, echoing the abuses he has meted out in his own life.
The play’s comic vitality stems from their interaction; Marcell’s fiercely articulate, frequently crude invective and gentle misanthropy make him resemble a West Indian Victor Meldrew.
The perfectly pitched dialogue lets him hang himself with his own proclamations, such as upbraiding Maria for daring to recommend a traditional West Indian remedy to him.
It allows us to savour the paradox of Alfred accusing Maria (as an emblem of Polish people, even referring to her as “the Polish”) of thieving “our” English jobs, even though he flatly refuses to call himself “English”.
Even in more obvious moments, such as when Maria takes childlike glee doing the UK citizenship test, Kwei-Armah deftly questions self-made notions of identity and inheritance.
If anything, the play informs us we are all equal in our prejudices. But it also examines the universal dysfunctions of family: Alfred despairs that he made his children but not their minds, and Maria struggles to justify running abroad to clear up other people’s excrement when she left her own incontinent father in Poland.
Tackling issues with such deftness and humour, even making a rehearsed suicide uproariously funny, Kwei-Armah invites us to ask ourselves what our lives share with Alfred’s and, more chillingly, whether his final self-serving act can redeem him.
Until February 1
020 7226 1916

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