Deptford Baby
Written and performed by Chukwudi Onwere
Jack Studio Theatre
Star rating: 3
Chukwudi Onwere is a highly talented actor. In what is effectively a one-man show, he multi-roles
and moves with both muscularity and delicacy. It’s very physical and I wasn’t surprised to learn that
he trained at East 15. The voice he uses for his main character is RP with a Deptford twang and it
contrasts well with an exaggerated Nigerian accent for the young man’s father and high pitched
gentle Scouse for the girl he fancies – among other colours and timbres. It’s convincing, well observed and
entertaining.
The narrative presents a British Nigerian, a loyal Deptford native, en route to hand in his degree
thesis at Goldsmiths and dreaming of being a successful novelist, when suddenly there’s rumbling,
flooding, a giant fish which temporarily swallows him like Jonah and a massive serpent which has to
be slain. It’s quite literally an “overcoming the monster” story in which the monster seems to be a
symbol of gentrification and the threatened destruction of community. It is, one infers, meant to be
a parable and as such I didn’t warm to it much, although it’s very funny in places. “Shaking like a
dithering politician” is rather good, for example. Other audience members were chuckling at jokes
about yams and other stereotypes some of which passed me by probably because I was in an ethnic
minority. It’s also a bit obviously didactic in places, explaining to the audience what the Biafran War
was, for instance, or telling us that Christopher Marlowe was murdered in Deptford in 1593.
DJ Tommy Tappah who also designed the sound, acts as on-stage stage manager, sound controller
and occasional support actor and he’s very good at all that. His turn as the Deptford Cat which sees
off a Pit Bull attacking a little girl is masterly. I could have done, however, without his laboured
attempts to “warm up” the audience as we found our seats and sat down. Being encouraged to
shout back like a nursery class at a pantomime clearly appeals to some people but it isn’t my
theatrical cup of tea.
