Malachi, better known as the Coach, is a DJ on Borough FM, a south London radio station serving the black community that he co-founded with his best mate Jerome. He and Jerome ("the Bossman") make a great double act, storming the late-night airwaves with a mix of music, chat and phone-ins in which the Coach dishes out good advice to the heartsick. But he's not so good at dealing with his own relationships, including his lazy, dopehead brother, Anton, whom he indulges, and his girlfriend, Delisha, a self-centred, emotionally erratic beauty who clearly sports a pea where others have a brain.
Nevertheless, life seems pretty good, and the optimistic Malachi thinks it's about to get better still when the commercial radio station City FM launches a competition to find a new DJ. Malachi is in the running, and it looks as if he will be waving goodbye to Borough FM and moving on. Or selling out, as Jerome puts it, as jealousies and rivalries come to the fore.
Levi David Addai's debut play arrives in Sloane Square as part of Critical Mass, a playwriting initiative aimed at encouraging young black and ethnic minority writers. Goodness knows, 21st-century British playwriting needs to break out of its white ghetto. But, while Addai's play shows genuine promise, it also looks overexposed on the Royal Court stage, even though the actors are having fun with it.
Like its central character, it is quite nice, but it is not going to blow anyone away. The banter between the characters displays real spark at times, but the plotting is heavy-handed and predictable, and the writing is all on the surface. There is no doubt that Addai can cut the mustard as a theatre writer, but the showcasing of this play does him few favours.
· Until Saturday. Box office: 020-7565 5000. Then touring.
