Theatre review: Off the Endz

Even before its opening at the Royal Court Theatre, Bola Agbaje’s third play Off the Endz was under fire. Labelled by Evening Standard columnist Lindsey Johns as “Theatre of the Ghetto” Off the Endz explores the familiar themes of crime, drugs and life on an estate.

David (Ashley Walters) has recently been released from prison and upon realising he needs a place to stay, goes to visit old friends Kojo (Daniel Francis) and his girlfriend Sharon (Lorraine Burroughs). The couple lives in a nice flat complete with all mod cons including flat screen TV and fully fitted IKEA kitchen. The only problem is that it’s ‘in the endz’ and Sharon will do whatever she can to move out of the area and live somewhere better. However, Kojo can’t afford to support her aspirations despite having found the house of her dreams. Indeed he’s spent the deposit they had saved for the house on their ever growing mountain of bills. As Kojo struggles to stay within the system, David refuses to abide by it and seeks to make his money selling drugs to the children on the estate; a partnership he offers Kojo to be part of. With his predicament going from bad to worse Kojo must decide which path to take in order for him to ever make it… off the endz.

Agbaje has an ear for fast-paced, amusing dialogue. However her writing style with Off the Endz was far too obvious (‘free your mind from this place’) and had more in common with a TIE production on the dangers of drug dealing and mixing with the wrong crowd than an engaging piece of drama. Further to that, David, Kojo and Sharon often felt more like shallow stereotypes than well-rounded characters that you could connect and empathize with.

Daniel Francis (Kojo) and Ashley Waters (David) - (c) Johan Persson

That said, Off the Endz is, at times, an entertaining and laugh out loud funny play. The scene where Sharon wakes David who is a sleeping in the living room to reveal him completely and totally naked put a permanent smile on my face. And set designer Ultz has done an extraordinary job transitioning the drama from flat, to office, to basketball court to hospital.

Ashley Walters is without a doubt the most charming and endearing of the actors and his performance as cheeky but likeable David is the strongest. However this is a role that he has played before and has much in common with his character in the Levi David Addai play, Oxford Street that previously ran at the Royal Court Theatre. Actor Daniel Francis had the hardest job as Kojo. The character felt like a mix of themes and ideas rather than an actual person and he failed to convince on any significant level.

I don’t believe it is Agbaje’s intention for Off the Endz to represent the black community as a whole. However it surely is about time that different black experiences began making it to the stage. While Off the Endz did have its strengths it unfortunately didn’t provide any new ideas or perspective. The play in fact proved to be quite unremarkable.

Lorraine Burroughs (Sharon) and Daniel Francis (Kojo) - (c) Johan Persson

Off the Endz
By Bola Agbaje
Directed by Jeremy Herrin
Royal Court Theatre: 11th February – 13th March 2010
Cast includes: Ashley Walters, Daniel Francis, Lorraine Burroughs and Madeline Appiah
Info and booking details

One Response to “Theatre review: Off the Endz”

• I agree with you about the lack of depth of the characters and story.
  However I was really engrossed by the story and laughed a lot! I would go and see it again.

  Muriel says
  February 27, 2010 at 4:14 pm