★★★

“a successful ode to community strength and resilience in the face of larger forces”

Deptford Baby is an anarchic, freewheeling, and joyous expression of local pride in the face of the rising tide of gentrification, inflected with the language of Southeast London’s community, returning following a 2022 debut in Deptford’s Matchstick Piehouse.

The performance begins before the play proper starts, with DJ Tommy Tappah playing a selection of UK garage and house tunes to the audience as they enter, setting the scene of Deptford High Street on a balmy summer’s evening, with people milling around on the street, enjoying a drink and soaking up the sun. Tommy Tappah’s call and response interplay – ‘when I say Deptford, you say baby’; ‘when I say Chino, you say Igwe’ – helping to create a party atmosphere that, in a room without seats, would certainly have resulted in dancing.

Writer-performer Chukwudi Onwere plays Chino Igwe, a Deptford local and aspiring novelist, who is walking down the High Street on the way to submit his Master’s thesis on Black British History, when suddenly the area is hit by an earthquake and then a tidal wave, catalysing a series of picaresque encounters with a love interest, giant fish, elderly relatives. Culminating in a climactic battle by the residents of Deptford and beyond, led by Chino, to defend their neighbourhood. ‘See it, fight it, restore your community’ is a refrain throughout the piece, and above all Deptford Baby is a celebration of locality, of the people and places that make an area special, and the need to fight to protect it.

These events are visually rendered by Carey Chomsoonthorn’s spectacular lighting design, which makes the most of the sparse staging, using flashing and coloured lights to evoke earthquakes, floods, and giant fish. Onwere’s performance is strong, and his portrayal of Chino’s Nigerian father and aunty are very well received by the audience. He throws himself around the small space, victim of many of misfortunes, and in this is well directed by Marc Pouni. Tommy Tappah’s mimed interventions and reactions to the action on stage provide an enjoyable interplay with the main action, and suggest that, should he want to, he’s ready to step out from behind the decks and into centre stage.

The rapid-fire nature of the play is one of its strengths. We are repeatedly told that Chino thrills the Deptford community with his adventure stories, and Deptford Baby’s structure surely echoes this, running through many floridly described, outlandish situations that act as an allegory for the external pressures of gentrification bearing down on Deptford. While I feel that some topics could have been broached differently, knife crime for example is touched on as a comedic example of his grandfather’s bravery, whose traumatic past is likewise dealt with as a sort of footnote, overall Deptford Baby is a successful ode to community strength and resilience in the face of larger forces, that is both thought-provoking and funny.

CARLOS ACOSTA’S CARMEN at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“a spectacular fusion of the traditional and modern, of classical opera and Cuban flavour”

Carlos Acosta’s Carmen is the choreographer and dance legend’s second adaption of Bizet’s classic opera, following a one-act production in 2015, and it sparkles with life, featuring the original music and additional compositions by Martin Yates, Yhovani Duarte and Denis Paralta. The Acosta Danza company, formed by Acosta to highlight the dancers of his native Cuba, deliver a spellbinding and tightly choreographed performance, led by the spectacular and emotive dancing of twin leads, Laura Rodríguez as the coquettish Carmen and Alejandro Silva as Don José, a soldier who falls madly in love with her.

The piece opens with a still scene, a man is crouched weeping over the body of a woman; other people stand around in shock, including the resplendently dressed Escamillo, a matador. From the large circular opening at the back of the stage, its circumference illuminated in orange and the centre a dusky blue, enters Acosta as the Bull – a character added by the choreographer that symbolises fate. In silence, the Bull drags Carmen and José to the front of the stage, stands them up, and places them into the positions that led to the death: José stabbing Carmen in a fit of jealousy over her relationship with Escamillo. This action will be repeated three times throughout the performance, emphasising the predestined nature of the event. In this way, the choreographer and company leader takes the role of on-stage director, reminiscent of the many hours of practice behind the final work.

The choreography throughout is elegant and the interplay between Carmen and José is wonderful. Scenes of flirtation, rage, entrapment and hesitancy are all vividly enacted as Rodríguez alternately draws in and repels Silva, the latter’s frustration becoming ever more pronounced until the piece’s climatic act of violence that brings us back to striking opening tableau. The contrast between this tumultuous entanglement and the simplicity of Carmen’s relationship with the matador is clearly evoked in both choreography and Tim Hartley’s staging. Gone is the dynamic between an aloof Carmen and beseeching José and gone is the comparatively elaborate set of José’s ornately designed bedroom. Carmen and the torero, performed by Enrique Corrales, dance together passionately, giving themselves to one another in a set devoid of other distractions, the unadorned nature of the scene reflective of their uncomplicated mutual desire.

Throughout, the staging is effective. The aforementioned circular opening evoking the burning Andalusian sun of the piece’s setting, with different projections within it, such as olive trees, adding further detail. A simple cage of bars stands in for a prison, and a set of tables and chairs with projected barrels behind becomes a bar. Working within this space, the dance corps are excellent. The flamenco influenced variation that opens the second act with an explosion is especially riotous and exuberant, exhibiting the skill of all the members of the group, with Zeleidy Crespo distinguishing herself.

This production of Carmen is a spectacular fusion of the traditional and modern, of classical opera and Cuban flavour and is a stunning showcase for the versatile Danza Acosta dance corps.

Tag Archives: Rob Tomlinson

DEPTFORD BABY

★★★

Jack Studio Theatre

DEPTFORD BABY at Jack Studio Theatre

★★★

“a successful ode to community strength and resilience in the face of larger forces”

DEPTFORD BABY at Jack Studio Theatre

Reviewed on 25th July 2024

by Rob Tomlinson

Photography by Back On Films

Previously reviewed at this venue:

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING | ★★★ | August 2022

RICHARD II | ★★★★★ | February 2022

HOLST: THE MUSIC IN THE SPHERES | ★★★★★ | January 2022

PAYNE: THE STARS ARE FIRE | ★★★ | January 2022

TRESTLE | ★★★ | June 2021

DEPTFORD BABY

DEPTFORD BABY

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CARLOS ACOSTA’S CARMEN

★★★★

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

CARLOS ACOSTA’S CARMEN at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“a spectacular fusion of the traditional and modern, of classical opera and Cuban flavour”