Who was Boi Boi? An African jazz trumpeter claimed to be the equal of Hugh Masekela, an addict, an absent father and someone who loved women – a lot. But now his mortal remains have returned to the township of his birth and the chickens of a complex and colourful life have come home to roost.
Zodwa Nyoni is a young performance poet and playwright who was born in Zimbabwe and now lives in Leeds. There are aspects of her first full-length drama that suggest she is still a talent-in-development, but the play – written on a Channel 4-sponsored residency at the Playhouse and co-produced with Tiata Fahodzi and the Watford Palace – is a beguiling study of family recrimination amplified by grief. At the heart of the drama is Miriam (Angela Wynter), Boi Boi’s final and most faithful companion. But the equanimity of her mourning is shattered by the arrival of Stella (Lynette Clarke), an extremely vocal vocalist from one of Boi Boi’s old touring bands, whose prior claims are legitimised by a wedding ring that he rather thoughtlessly failed to take back.
The domestic conflict is given a highly stylised treatment by director Lucian Msamati, with a blazing orange backdrop shaded by simple cut-out silhouettes. Michael Henry’s music adds a highly evocative extra dimension – the stand-out moment comes when Stella’s daughter, beautifully played by Debbie Korley, unleashes a talent that could well surpass her parents’. Yet Nyoni’s decision to include Boi Boi as a jazz-riffing commentator on his own demise remains puzzling. Jack Benjamin blows superbly, but his sporadic spoken contributions reveal so little about Boi Boi’s life and character that he is neither a complete enigma nor an entirely convincing presence. Boi Boi may be dead, and I cannot claim to have got to know him that well.
• Until 7 March. Box office: 0113-213 7700. Venue: West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds.
