G
Image credit: Isha Shah
“Do you man ever feel like you're being followed?”
There are almost one million CCTV cameras in London, so it’s easy to feel like your life is constantly under surveillance, your every step monitored and scrutinised.
For the characters of Tife Kusuros’s thrilling G, this is true not just because they live in the surveillance capital: it’s because the spirit of Baitface the Gullyman walks beside them on the roads they take to school, mostly unseen and unheard, but with a presence that is heavily felt.
As the lights dim in the Jerwood Theatre upstairs, directly underneath a pair of gleaming white Air Forces hanging from telephone wires, Baitface (Dani Harris-Walters) emerges from a hole in the ground. As his body contorts in a way that feels unnatural, immediately the energy of the room has shifted and you know that something chilling is afoot.
Not long after, we meet Kai (Selorm Adonu), Joy (Kadiesha Belgrave) and Khaleem (Ebenezer Gyau), a trio of black teens who, despite being duly frightened by Baitface — legend has it that twenty years ago a black boy was killed by the police from a crime he didn’t commit and has been looking for the trainers he lost ever since — accidentally summon him. The belief is that any black boy who walks under Baitface’s shoes will have their life taken over by the supernatural being. When a string of unlucky and unexplainable events keep tripping up the trio, they have no choice but to believe that they got caught by Baitface.
The play shifts between the present, and an eerie otherworldly night sequence where on a certain night, a crime committed by three unknown suspects takes place. Adam King’s lighting design engulfs the space in ominous light, as Baitface lurks around the stage, pressing his body into a mesh wall at one end and pacing up and down an elevated platform at the other, We watch CCTV footage of what supposedly happened, but nothing is clear to us, nor is it clear to the apparent perpetrators. The play bends the rules of time as we rock between both worlds and slowly piece together the truth.
The trio are perfect. All three deliver these characters with endless charm and charisma, so much heart, and a chemistry that is palpable. Each actor’s take on the characters was precise, and their individual quirks were merged seamlessly. With the combination of Harris-Walters as the white-bally’d Baitface, Kloé Dean choreographs a masterpiece, and each performer shows off immense skill, strength and expression.
Baitface’s powers include stealing the identities of his victims, and rendering them faceless. At a point, Kai loses control of his body and actions and is forced to mimic his half-brother. Scenes like this brought home the importance of preserving black boyhood, and allowing them to express themselves in all facets. We eventually learn that Baitface’s aim is to protect black boys from getting “baitfaced” by CCTV cameras. When simply presenting as a black boy makes you culpable for offenses and events you weren’t even aware of, donning a balaclava means you get to define yourself on your own terms,
Bringing together the thrill of urban myths and afro-futurism, G incorporates the dangers of over surveillance, the intricacies of navigating gender identity as black teen in a fast-paced, horror-story that deserves a much longer run. Khalil Madovi’s score takes us into a darker, riskerier version of the city we are in, with a soundscape that is familiar and terrifying.
The play’s end does feel slightly off-piste with the rest of the story, and it would’ve been nice to keep some of the mystery and fear that Baitface instilled in both the characters and the audience, but this doesn’t take much from the play.
Overall, Kusoro’s play is innovative and atmospheric. A truly brilliant and exhilarating watch that everyone should see.
G is showing at the Royal Court until 21 September.
★★★★☆