A Good House by Amy Jephta. The Royal Court Theatre, Jerwood Downstairs, Sloane Square, London until 08 February 2025, 4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

Photo Credit: Camilla Greenwell.

A Good House by Amy Jephta. The Royal Court Theatre, Jerwood Downstairs, Sloane Square, London until 08 February 2025,

4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Provocative and funny.”

Very fuuny and pulling no punches Amy Jephta's comedy about not in my back yard behaviour is set in Stillwater is a new housing development somewhere in South Africa although it could be anywhere. Resident Chris has decided to ask the black man in the street, who seems to be involved in what is happening across the road where new people have moved in, to remove the parked truck which he cannot get past. He is not hostile, just treating the man as a workman, except that the man is actually Sihile, the new owner of the house and, as we soon discover, he and his wife Bonolo are infinitely more travelled and better off than their new neighbours. They are accepted as harmless but not invited in to the community which is predominantly white – but eventually Chris and Lynette, his wife, an estate agent who has been selling property on the estate, turn up for drinks, and then another couple, Andrew and Jess. younger and coping with the fact that they are struggling to afford their house, join in the social gatherings. The problem is that on a vacant site a shack has appeared built by nobody knows who and what follows is the attempt by the white residents to get the coloured couple to sign the necessary papers to set in motion the attempt to have it removed in the course of which just what being good neighbours is exposed. Sihile and Bonolo are inclined to sign – they too have bettered themselves, have left their origins behind, and aware of how that escape can be endangered - until suddenly Chris reveals that the neighbours have been discussing the shack on the estate whatsap – that it exists is news to Sihile. There are limits to neighbourliness. The confrontations between the three sets of couples are carefully constructed and the destruction of the surface friendliness, the we are all neighbours together myth, hits home with great effect. This could be anybody's street where the residents aspire to be upwardly mobile, where the price of one's home matters and what is in one's back yard matters most of all. The performances by the entire cast are nicely judged with Sifiso Mazibuko impressive as Sihile and Kai Luke Brummer revealing the racism beneath the apparently pleasant Andrew, who runs a sandwich shop and has gone too far upwardly mobile, to shocking effect. The shack which destroys the apparently idyllic world of Stillwater designer ULZ has created rises at the rear of the set on cue. The play makes one reflect on what those for sale boards may mean for the contentment of one's own street crammed with “good neighbours” and did bring Bruce Norris' Clybourne Park to mind as it dealt with similar themes.

Cast

Kai Luke Brummer – Andrew.

Olivia Darnley – Lynette.

Mimi M Khayisa – Bonolo.

Sifiso Mazibuko – Sihile.

Robyn Rainsford – Jess.

Scott Sparrow – Christopher.

Creatives

Director – Nancy Medina.

Designer – ULTZ.

Lighting Designer – Christ Davey.

Composer – Ferni Ternowo.

Sound Designer – Elena Pena.

Voice & Dialiect Coach – Hazel Holder.

Dramatherapist – Samantha Adams

Theatre, play 17 January 2025.

Photo Credit - Camilla Greenwell.