Tree - MIF / Young Vic.

Well, having seen this today, first things first. Yes, to my shame I did get involved in the rave dancing pre and post show, unfortunately no video footage is available of me participating in this activity, sorry folks! Though with the pre show rave, the cast are there to meet you and encourage you to shake your booty if that’s your thing. There were plenty of people who certainly didn’t need any encouragement to get up on that stage and show off their dance moves.

A word of warning, this is a loud production as the music blares out over the 90 minutes. Also, as an audience member you may be called upon to get involved in proceedings. This may be, as in my case holding up a placard or saying a few lines on stage as in the case of one lady. Certainly audience participation is a large component of this production. On the taking of photos and video, there didn’t seem to be any issues and certainly, people were doing that pre and post show (with a few naughty people doing it during the performance). There is also use of a revolve during proceedings.

As to the show itself. I’d certainly not classify this as a piece of musical theatre rather a play with music included. The music is piped in from a sound desk rather than being generated from any kind of band. The use of the rave / dance music for me didn’t really marry up with the telling of the narrative and honestly I think the music element could of been dropped and more focus given in providing a stronger narrative. I think as a piece of physical theatre, it certainly has merit.

Moving on the narrative and the characters of the piece. The narrative, whilst it does not shy away from looking honestly at a post apartheid South Africa and the issues of mixed race relationships and the reclamation of farm land from the white South Africans (the violence and turmoil in the country are played out right in front of you both on stage and in video footage used), the rest of it for me was lacking any kind of emotional depth and the characters really on the whole felt very flat and there weren’t really many who you could empathise with during the piece. It does make me wonder what the original writers idea was for this piece because the beside the political aspect (which were the strongest and most interesting part of me)I really felt this could of been a much better piece of theatre than what I watched. In contrast, when I went to watch Small Island at the NT in May, I knew I was watching something special develop on stage as well as learning something about the subject, here Tree just left me feeling like I hadn’t in both these respects.

Cast wise, Sinead Cusack was the standout here and actually gave some depth to the character. While Alfred Enoch I felt was very monotone in his delivery of the lines and really didn’t provide much emotion in the role I hope was performances progress this improves and he can find a bit more depth to his character.

Overall, an interesting afternoon and my first immersive theatrical experience, but I think that while there are some interesting ideas explored in this production, overall I came out thinking I was wanting to see something with a bit more depth and emotional impact.

I think giving this a rating I’d flit between 2-3 ⭐️. It’s certainly not something I’d say rush out and get a ticket for unfortunately.

I did notice a few professional camera’s dotted around the auditorium. I just hope they weren’t recording me. I’m just glad  Crimewatch isn’t being shown on the BBC anymore, the footage would of ended on there no doubt for criminal choreography.

Ear plugs are definitely a good investment. I could do with a pair. I’ll have a look in Boots.

Saw this tonight. This is not a musical, more a DJ set, where the DJ plays big beats, pulsating music, infused by pop, disco and the spirit of Africa. In my view, Idris Elba's music is thrilling, in that I wanted to move and move, and as I was one of the very few lazy punters who bought a seated ticket, I just ended up bouncing up and down on my seat. And boy did I have room to do so, as there were but 4 people seated on my row, which stretched the length of the whole auditorium.

The seats are superb, as there are no tall people's heads to block your view of the full kaleidoscope of stage and audience, and you can easily follow the actors, whether on stage, or moving through and interacting with the audience.

My verdict: Kwame the director is terrific, Kwame the writer, less so.

As director, he brought vivid life to the proceedings: the dynamism of Alfred Enoch's movements through the audience, the connection he established with those audience members, the permanent golden hour of orange light bouncing off surrounding projections creating a feel of earth, blood, warmth, dust and place, the wonderfully designed "Tree" of the title, all elements that ever threatened to move the production into revelatory territory.

Yet the writing let the piece down. One can compare Lucy Kirkwood's "Chimerica" usefully, another story in which a character also pursues a quest in a foreign clime, and see how she turned exposition into mystery, backstory into intrigue, how she infused the whole with interesting characters, and how she placed obstacles in the paths of those characters.

Here, we have the opposite, as Enoch's character bumbles from one episode to the next with no defined objective, how rather than encounter obstacles, he passively witnesses others recite reams of backstory, how his character is never much defined, nor is any other beyond types, bar Sinead Cusack's compelling matriarch, which exception proves the rule.

And if Enoch's character is peripheral by intention, like Fitzgerald's Nick Carraway, in Gatsby, for instance, a kind of foreign observer of an alien world, then he fails to comment and critique on the world he witnesses the way Carraway so usefully does. Enoch, an actor so electric in "Red," where he had the giant obstacle of Alfred Molina to spark off, here has so little to work with that he feels a little wasted.

What we have here is a deluge of visual and aural and immersive excellence, which in themselves are wonderful, but which are threaded around a story that should be compelling, but isn't, because it isn't compellingly told, consisting of exposition, backstory, thin characterisation, passive characterisation and yet more backstory.

I believe Armah when he says he did not ever WANT to write this himself, as it simply isn't his best work and feels rushed.

That said, the music is thrilling, the topics addressed are interesting, the direction is terrific, all of which serve to disguise the flaws in the writing, and I was bopping in my seat with pure pleasure.

3 and a half stars.