This play by Nathan Powell, appointed creative director at Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse last year after Suba Das’s departure, is not a tightly structured, slick affair. But, directed by Amanda Huxtable, it is enormous fun, full of heart and undeniably entertaining. If this first play is a measure of his ambition, Powell intends to be a crowd-pleaser. Takeaway wouldn’t be out of place in the unabashedly popular Royal Court across town.
The title refers to Hyltons, a community-loved, family-run Caribbean cafe headed up by matriarch Carol (Phina Oruche) and her two “British pickney” adult daughters, Browning (Adi Alfa) and Shelly (Bene Sebuyange). At the heart of Toxteth, “Toccy” to the locals, the takeaway is set to become a victim of gentrification, a change against which local young people are either rioting or leading an uprising, depending on which character’s point of view you agree with. Either way, the local football pitches are being set ablaze and the offices of the would-be property developers are under attack.
This is the background to a family drama of intergenerational tensions, as anglicised youngest daughter Shelly attempts to step out of her mother’s shadow and do things differently to her parent who came to Britain from Jamaica when she was nine years old. The friction will be keenly felt by those who have a similar background.
Audiences who grew up with sitcoms such as Desmond’s, The Real McCoy and Goodness Gracious Me will recognise the milieu. They will also appreciate the condensed and very funny retelling of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing by the takeaway’s chef, a joyfully scene-stealing performance from Wayne Rollins.
Like a lighter, funnier mirror version of Elmina’s Kitchen by Kwame Kwei-Armah, it’s on the nose and loses its way as it races towards its denouement in a second act lasting a little over half an hour. But Powell has set out his stall with a piece that is guaranteed to raise a smile.
• At Liverpool Everyman until 17 May
