Out of Bounds at Jack Studio Theatre Review
Out of Bounds production image. Photo by Henry Roberts
Written by Penny for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
This production contains strong language, with references to racial and cultural discrimination, adult themes related to identity and family conflict, with references to violence.
Out of Bounds is an award-winning play from South African writer Rajesh Gopie. In the last 13 years it has toured South Africa, the UK, India and the United States. Now it has returned to the London stage for a limited run at the Jack Studio Theatre in Brockley (SE London).
Out of Bounds tells the coming-of-age story of Lall Lalchund, a South African Indian teen. Set against the charged backdrop of 1980s apartheid South Africa, it is an exploration of identity, family and cultural heritage.
The set is simple but effective with a few bits of furniture depicting the various locations in Lall’s story. We are taken to his childhood home through good use of projection that recreates the mango trees that surround the family’s modest property, and then shows us the eruption of violence and disorder that saw the family relocated to a cramped and ugly council flat.
Gopie’s script mixes Indian and South African cultural and folklore references with situations that anybody can relate to. We meet Lall’s relations, living together as a “joint family”, with three generations under the same roof – bickering aunties, posturing uncles, a gaggle of cousins and a grandmother whose wisdom keeps young Lall on the straight and narrow. But as well as taking us through the young man’s formative years including peer pressure, school bullies, a growing interest in girls and first steps at university, the realities of life for people of colour in 1980s South Africa are never far from the surface. For example, a trip to the beach to celebrate Grandmother’s birthday takes a dark turn when the police force the family to leave as this is a “whites only” area. This means that Lall sees the men in his family cower under the aggressive racism of authority figures, their usual swaggering bravado gone in an instant. The escalation to the violence that sees his family split up and relocated is a jarring contrast with the entertaining snapshots of family life that have gone before.
Clare Stopford’s direction strikes a good balance between showing us Lall’s everyday life and the underlying political tensions that threaten the safety of people of colour. We can laugh at Lall trying to impress a bougie college girl by pretending his family is rich enough to live in a white area and the next minute feel horrified at the brutality and discrimination that is the reality for Indian, Mixed Race and Black people in South Africa.
A great part of the success of this production is down to the performance from Jason Sardinha who plays Lall and all of the other characters with whom he comes into contact. He switches deftly between old and young, male and female, family and authority figures. It’s a very confident and engaging performance. He frequently breaks the fourth wall to draw the audience in to Lall’s story and his energy doesn’t drop for the play’s 85 minute running time.
With so many characters introduced at the start of the play, it does take a while to pick out the key players, but Sardinha gives each of them recognisable quirks and traits that help to make individuals quickly stand out. From a Buddy Holly lookalike school principal to Lall’s beloved grandmother, they are brought to life with a simple change in posture, tone or addition of a piece of costume.
At its heart, Out of Bounds is a colourful and entertaining study of family life that explores cultural traditions and typical growing pains, but at the same time gives a clear picture of the discrimination and prejudice experienced by Lall and his contemporaries, adding an extra layer of danger and threat to the experiences of young people growing up in such a charged political climate. It’s well written, directed and performed and well worth a watch.
Out of Bounds, presented by Shooting Star Studios, runs at the Jack Studio Theatre until Saturday 2nd August (no performances Sunday or Monday). Find out more and book tickets here.
★ ★ ★ ★
