A heartwarming story of a refugee boy finding his place in an English classroom delights young audiences and old reviewers alike at The Grand Theatre this week.
The Boy at the Back of the Class is an award-winning children’s book by Onjali Q Raúf adapted for the stage by Nick Ahed. It is written for children but its message of acceptance and tolerance in a world of discrimination and prejudice is equally appropriate for adults, and director, Monique Touko, has added theatrical touches that ensures that there is plenty to be enjoyed by all ages.
Told from the point of view of nine-year olds, it tells the story of a refugee boy from Syria, Ahmet (Farsid Rokey), newly arrived in England. Only speaking Kurdish and with no friends, it is he who finds himself at the back of the class. His arrival is met with hostility from some members of the school community, including the class bully, some of the parents at the school gate and one of the older teachers.
However, Alexa (Sasha Desouza-Willock) and her gang, Josie (Petra Joan-Athene), Michael (Abdul-Malik Janneh) and Tom (Gordan Millar), whose main occupation up until this point is competing for gold stars, not only welcome him, but set about trying to locate the rest of his family, which culminates in an adventurous trip to Buckingham Palace to petition the Queen.
The cast of children are all played by adults in a very convincing manner, particularly Sasha Desouza-Wilcock as Alexa who tells the story of Ahmet (until he can speak for himself) and Abdul-Malik Janneh, who got the mannerisms of a nine-year-old boy down to a tee before deftly switching to an adult character in the form of Stan, the cockney cab driver.
Ahmet finding his voice allowed him to tell us his backstory including the trauma of losing his young sister who drowned crossing the sea.
It was some of the adult characters that were a little too stereotypical for my liking, particularly the ignorant older teacher who, attired in a mortar board, would not have been out of place in a 1960’s edition of the Beano’s Bash Street Kids. However, he was the much-needed villain of the story and gave the young audience someone to jeer when he finally got the sack.
The first act lacked a bit of pace and I found the delivery rather laboured by some of the actors. There was too much reported drama in Act One and not enough shown which, despite the best efforts of Desouza-Wilcock who has the main job of narrating it, made the interest dip in places.
In Act Two, however, it completely changed pace and the real storytelling began. This, in part, was helped by Ahmet finding his voice and being able to tell us his backstory including the trauma of losing his young sister who drowned crossing the sea.
Lily Arnold’s set, basically a set of wall bars similar to ones that you would find in primary schools up and down the country, were used to maximum effect with the cast climbing on them and sometimes hanging off them (upside down on occasions!) as well as being swiftly moved into different positions to depict the various scenes. The lighting plot was also very inventive, and I particularly liked the hoop which lit up and showed the passing of time. The atmospheric music which played constantly in the background during most of the scenes was at best unnecessary and sometimes projected an inappropriate mood for the action on the stage.
But this was a heartwarming story with an important message which was told with empathy and humour and I’m sure will be talked about by the classes of school children and their teachers, who have booked to see it, for a long tome to come. It gets a gold star from me!
The Boy at the Back of the Class is at the Grand Theatre until Saturday 11th May. Book here.
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