{"id":1928,"date":"2019-11-06T08:25:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/?p=1928"},"modified":"2019-11-06T08:31:18","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:31:18","slug":"propwatch-the-invisible-magnets-in-little-baby-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/2019\/11\/propwatch-the-invisible-magnets-in-little-baby-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Propwatch: the invisible magnets in Little Baby Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most props, most props, you could hold them in your hand.\nA suitcase. A tooth. A (shudders) doll. They\u2019re part of the pleasure of\ntheatre, the imagination made palpable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sometimes, sometimes they stay imaginary. In the stonkingly vivid production of Little Baby Jesus<\/a> <\/em>by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, who won this year\u2019s JMK award<\/a> for emerging directors, the props are imaginary but so real you\u2019d swear you\u2019d seen them. Arinz\u00e9 Kene\u2019s 2011 play immerses us in the lives of three north London teenagers, stuttering their way from being goofballs and rude gals to something like grown ups. They reach out and grab you, creating word pictures with weight and sharp edges. They may not hold physical objects, but they evoke them so fully they might as well be there on the eyeball-intimate Orange Tree stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see them all: the football that gets lobbed over the\nschool fence, igniting a year 11 scandal. The stones that bounce off a girl\u2019s\nback \u2013 and worse \u2013 when she\u2019s hounded by a taunting gang. And the magnets that\nare an irresistible running image of attraction, repulsion and unquenchable\ncuriosity about the world, you surely see them in Rachel Nwokoro\u2019s nimble,\nquesting fingers, testing the ferromagnetic frisson in every surface she\nencounters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"

Anyebe Godwin, Rachel Nwokoro and Khai Shaw (also above). Photos by Ali Wright<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first half is a bunsen whoosh of energy, every speech\nflaring with youngblood fun and fervour. Later, that energy eddies and stills,\nas consequences bite, and the three stumble into unforeseen connections. It\u2019s\nall in the words of Kene\u2019s play \u2013 and what words. The woman next to me, when\nnot yelping with laughter, was muttering choice phrases as if to commit them to\nmemory. It\u2019s language and thoughts and swift currents of feeling that make up\nthis story, and that help construct the way we imagine our place in the world.\nReal talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tara Usher\u2019s design is all but unfurnished \u2013 just two plastic chairs and a halo of light tilting above the stage. Down below, Fynn-Aiduenu announces himself as a director who builds a rapport with actors. It\u2019s delicious to see how he\u2019s worked with this dauntless trio (Nwokoro, Anyebe Godwin and Khai Shaw). Each has bounce to burn, pockets full of cheek, access to a whole pantone spectrum of nuance from hilarity to heartbreak. And whatever movement consultant DK Fashola<\/a> has done is some kind of magic \u2013 each of them owns their swagger in a school blazer, but can stumble like a toddler losing their balance. It\u2019s a world made real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow David on Twitter: @mrdavidjays<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most props, most props, you could hold them in your hand. A suitcase. A tooth. A (shudders) doll. They\u2019re part of the pleasure of theatre, the imagination made palpable. But sometimes, sometimes they stay imaginary. In the stonkingly vivid production of Little Baby Jesus by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, who won this year\u2019s JMK award for emerging […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[731,727,729,734,730,726,697,322,321,728,732,733],"class_list":{"0":"post-1928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-anyebe-godwin","9":"tag-arinze-kene","10":"tag-dk-fashola","11":"tag-jmk-award","12":"tag-kai-shaw","13":"tag-little-baby-jesus","14":"tag-orange-tree","15":"tag-props","16":"tag-propwatch","17":"tag-rachel-nwokoro","18":"tag-tara-usher","19":"tag-tristan-fynn-aiduenu","20":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1928"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1933,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928\/revisions\/1933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}