SHIFTERS BY BENEDICT LOMBE REVIEW

5-Star theatre show, by an industry trailblazer.

Giddy, tearful and deeply heartfelt love that connected me as a black woman. The Shifters' name felt very fitting for what it is, because it shifted something for me.

I know my review is late to the party, but over the last few months, I've been developing new work for the stage and have been so inspired since watching Shifters late last year, at the Duke of York's Theatre. I had an incomplete play and big dreams of having my work in the West End. But writer's block. So, I needed to watch something to spark my writing flame within me, and Shifters was the medicine I needed. So let's talk about it.

Would you open doors of what if again? Do your relationships of the past fill you with pain, contempt or unmet closure? Did this make you feel that you needed to text your ex again? The themes of love, heartbreak, growth, and the identity of the black female experience were ever-present in this theatre show. That collectively left the audience interacting with the show, with cheers of support and cries of letting go and not looking back.

Meet Dre Tosin Cole and Des Heather Agyepong, who became friends (kinda) through the school debating society and met again years later at a family funeral. With a mouth filled with puff puff, Des is startled, and Dre is struck, as we step into their complicated love story. After many years following their breakup, we unfold the reasons why their relationship became estranged and is now complicated. Des is engaged, and Dre has a kid. He's Nigerian and she's Congolese, the daughter of a neurologist.

She is living out her artistic dreams, and his career in running his own food business is gently taking flight. And now this awkward interaction is opening old wounds that probably should have stayed closed and not been rekindled by their shared past.

This beautiful piece was written by Benedict Lombe, who also won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2022 for her debut of, Lava. Nevertheless, Shifters constructs its distinctive universe and intrinsically incorporates themes of abuse, grief, and family trauma. Something I adored was the stage design, simplistic. So that their complicated dynamic would fill the stage instead. And the lighting, impeccable, absolutely award-winning. There were no changes in clothes or extreme shifting to the set to point to a different period in time, and the lighting made that ever so seamless.

Shifters was directed by Lynette Linton, who will also be directing 'Not your Superwoman' by Emma Dennis-Edwards later this year at the Bush Theatre. Linton handled this piece with care and great control regarding pacing, as there was no interval and the peaks of intensity came at just the right time.

Des and Dre capture the vulnerability and naivety of young love. With romantic tension, shyness, and guilt. Maybe some chapters are better left closed, and I felt that their chapter was one of them.