‘Unusual, timely and important migration story’ ★★★★

This is an unusual play. And “timely” is an understatement.

It is the personal story of a man who travels from his home in Guinea and eventually, after many trials, arrives in Spain where he meets and became friends with Basque writer, Amets Arzallus Antia. Together they write his story, now adapted by Timberlake Wertenbaker. It’s an intensely powerful, deeply moving narrative which puts a much needed human face on the migration “issue”.

Natalie Johnson’s simple but ingenious set comprises pink-flushed cinnamon coloured steps with a hint of Islamic decoration over the door. It stands for the desert, various villages, shops, an inflatable boat and more as we travel thousands of miles through Africa. It’s a true-life quest story along the lines of The Odyssey or Pilgrim’s Progress although the ultimate destination shifts.

Ibrahima (Blair Gyabaah) doesn’t really want to be a migrant. He has to work from age 13 to support his mother and siblings, particularly after the sudden death of his shoemaker father. Then his younger brother disappears and Ibrahima follows him, with many a hindrance on the way, to the terrors of Libya only to discover eventually that his brother was a passenger on a  lost, overloaded migrant boat. Gyabaah gives us a finely judged account of a brave, hard working determined young man who cares very much about his family. He gets exploited but he also has a heart-warming gift for friendship.

The play is structured around Ibrahima and a strong, versatile ensemble of four who, between them play dozens of support roles. Mo Sesay, for example, is Ibrahima’s kindly father and unkind uncle along with various employers and fixers, each differently voiced and skilfully nuanced. Ivan Oyik finds plenty of childlike playfulness in the titular little brother, among other characters, and Whitney Kehinde plays the mother and all female roles with sensitivity.

Youness Bouzinab presents the story teller who works with Ibrahima in what is effectively a framing device. He also – with the versatility which characterises this production – plays a whole string of other parts and is especially chilling as a Libyan guard with scarf over his face and Kalashnikov over his shoulder.

At the end Bouzinab departs briefly from the script (it’s published by Faber) to tell us that Ibrahima was invited to London to see ‘Little Brother’. Then a week before it opened the Home Office cancelled his visa although he has a residence permit which enables him to work as a motor mechanic in Madrid and now has a passport which has allowed him to visit his family back in Guinea.

The inhumane vindictiveness seems never to end. And that’s why this is an important play.

Photos by Steve Gregson

LITTLE BROTHER by Amets Arzallus Antia and Ibrahima Balde

Adapted by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Directed by Stella Powell-Jones

Jermyn Street Theatre

15 MAY – 21 JUNE 2025

BOX OFFICE https://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/little-brother/

This review was first published by London Pub Theatres: https://www.londonpubtheatres.com/review-little-brother-at-jermyn-street-theatre-until-21-june-2025