Torn

Studio I:
Natasha, a beautiful 25-year-old Jamaican woman, has been seeing fellow lawyer David, a sensitive and politely spoken young Nigerian. As the latter bellows at his family when finally pushed to the end of his tether, 'What's the fucking problem?' In Femi Oguns' pan-African, tragic-comic take on 'Romeo And Juliet', the answer is the deep seated – if rarely interrogated – bigotry between Africans and Caribbeans in Britain's black community. To Natasha's father, Nigerians are either fraudsters or witchdoctors. To David's equally outspoken older sister, Jamaicans are all slovenly stoners. Decked out like a Diesel denim store with graffitied girders, gauze screens and a loud, hip soundtrack, the round space becomes a gladiatorial ring across which the excellent cast struts its family honour and bellows its insults. Sadly, Oguns loses track entirely in the second act with an interfering plot twist and naff metaphorical ruminations on the nature of love. The heart of his play lies in the quick-fire yet expertly inflected banter of the first act.