Palm Wine & Stout: The Stage

With Segun Lee-French's semi-autobiographical story about a young mixed parentage Englishman, Taiye, searching for his identity in Africa, Eastern Angles breaks with its tradition of staging plays with a local regional theme. And to fine effect.

The familiar EA components are there - sparse set, intimate atmosphere, economic use of props such as a set of suitcases being transformed into a bed or madly careering taxi. The setting, however, is steamy, confrontational Nigeria, not Norwich. It's a tale of pride and tenderness, money and mourning- warm, sharp, funny and refreshingly challenging.

Joe Jacobs is nicely naturalistic as Taiye, whose joy at meeting up with his father and brother gradually turns into exasperation at the cultural differences, then grief at the loss of a father he has only just met.

Jacobs, who possesses a lovely, evocative singing voice, is the only single-character performer, the three other actors tackling a range of personae and managing it with talent to spare. Helen Grady swaps easily from playing Taiye's beautifully measured mother Jane into tribal villager mode, while the lithe Antoinette Marie Tagoe brings firecracker energy and tension into her roles, primarily widow Stella.

Most impressive is Zackary Momoh, a young actor whose ability to effortlessly morph from one voice, physique and emotion to another was a privilege to watch. In the latter stages of the play, when the plot gets just a little convoluted and the pace loses a touch of its rhythm, Momoh still manages to bring focus with a carefully honed mix of forcefulness and vulnerability in the shape of father Abraham and brother Femi.

Ben Sharratt