Review: BEFORE I GO, Brixton House

Before I Go, first seen during the Brixton House's Housemates Festival in summer 2023, is a one hour work written by Tobi King Bakare that centres on Ajani, a young, black man who has issues with communication when it really matters.

Social interaction isn’t an obstacle, but anything at a deeper level proves problematic, until Ajani is forced to reevaluate his current approach in relation to a life or death style decision. 

On opening night Ajani was played by Bakare himself, and joined by drummer Nathan Griffith and saxophonist Taurean Antoine-Chagar. The work is more than a conventional play as it includes elements of dance and live music, and it's all woven together by Bakare's brave and honest performance of verse, prose, movement and song.

Ajani is a young man of two halves; the popular party thrower, and stifled victim of years of generational repression. The work is divided in a similar fashion, with the first section platforming festive Ajani and his mischievous ease, and the second half, a lost individual who's willing to learn, and use different forms of expression to get himself where he wants and needs to be.

The production shifts between the two dimensions with simplistic power, and the diverse role really allows Bakare's spectrum of talent to shine. The prose includes a large amount of vernacular, but Bakare's generous performance enables all to feel included on Ajani’s cathartic journey.

There's no mention of a Dramaturg or Choreographer in the creative team listing, and I'm not suggesting that Bakare is in desperate need of either, but at the same time one wonders where his authentic talent could go with even more support from the right kind of people.

The auditorium was full and mixed, though I'd say the majority of the crowd were made up of his peers, and they were with him throughout. Laughing when Ajani’s tomfoolery demanded it, but as things got serious and profound they became even more engaged with the work's content.

Bakare is a consummate performer and a playwright with something to say. It takes a lot of courage to step outside of a situation, analyse it, and then go back in, in order to further understand what needs readdressing, and use art as the medium for communication. Bakare has done just this, and in the process takes Ajani on a life-changing voyage as well as anybody else who might recognise what they’re watching in themselves and their own realities. That's important work right there.

Before I Go runs at Brixton House till 27 July

Main photo: Tobi King Bakare

Photo Credits: Ali Painter

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