My Father’s Fable, Bush Theatre review — family tensions seethe in sizzling new play

A worrying crack slithers across the ceiling of Peace’s tidy kitchen (design by TK Hay) in this debut production of Faith Omole’s sizzling new play, My Father’s Fable at the Bush Theatre in London. But that’s nothing compared with the fissures running through her family, which will crack open as the drama unfolds.

It starts, as so many tricky encounters do, with an arrival. In this case the newcomer is Bolu, Peace’s Nigerian half-brother — son of the father Peace is still grieving and a man whose acquaintance she made only recently via Facebook. Bolu is, as the play opens, on his way to stay with her in England — and to describe the atmosphere as tense would be to do it a disservice. Questions bubble in the air: what is he like, why is he coming, what does he want?

When Peace’s overbearing mother Favour also arrives — ostensibly to fix her daughter’s disastrous jollof rice, but with a suspicious amount of luggage in tow — tensions crank up another notch. Soon Peace is at the centre of a battle over the family’s past, while her long-suffering boyfriend, Roy, finds himself camping on the sofa. Roy’s own ambition of taking a job abroad is being frustrated by Peace’s curious reluctance to accompany him and her fear of flying (which will prove to have sinister origins).

Omole, already a talented actor and singer, also proves to be a writer to watch. Her play inches forward like a thriller, with hints and revelations dropped into conversation, and the dialogue — snappy and credible — has an actor’s ear. Favour’s tart opening line (“So you have ruined the rice?”) is just one of many laugh-out-loud moments in Rebekah Murrell’s production.

There are flaws. In places, the play feels overloaded: the struggle that Peace, a teacher, is having with a Black student who objects to the history curriculum, is thematically relevant but feels engineered. The ending veers too close to melodrama.

But Omole creates nuanced, believable characters and they are deftly drawn in Murrell’s staging. Theo Ogundipe’s Bolu has a reserved, mysterious quality, so deepening the play’s air of uncertainty. There are lovely performances from Tiwa Lade (Peace) and Gabriel Akuwudike (Roy), two warm, recognisable individuals struggling with torn loyalties. The standout is Rakie Ayola as Favour. Her zinging delivery of passive-aggressive put-downs could kill at 20 paces, but she also conveys the desperate loneliness that drives her behaviour.

★★★★☆

To July 27, bushtheatre.co.uk