Loyalty and legacy, privilege and prejudice come into play as the lives of two friends, joined in their love of the basketball star, diverge
. Since this drama about two of his fans was first staged in the US in 2022, James has broken even more records, becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and the oldest active player in the league and, last month, he even appeared alongside his son, Bronny, for the Los Angeles Lakers.
If LBJ’s extraordinary story has grown bigger, Rajiv Joseph’s play has shrunk somewhat for its UK premiere in Hampstead’s downstairs studio. In America, this low-key two-hander was given a supersized production, amping up a sporting atmosphere and adding a beaming DJ, who spun records at the side of the stage, to its cast list. That version, which I saw, was easy to like.
We start out in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in 2004 when a friendship is formed between Cleveland Cavaliers supporters Matt and Shawn, both 21. Matt sells Shawn some tickets after a bit of recognisable and competitively nerdy riffing about who is the bigger fan. With a gently sportive alternation of defence and attack in their conversation, Sam Mitchell and Enyi Okoronkwo swiftly develop a rapport yet also establish an edgy undercurrent.
Despite Matt’s repeated cry “this is the problem with America”, the play is not really about the state of the nation and neither does a clear sense emerge of Cleveland. It is a chamber piece, asking what keeps us rooting for the same people, famous or otherwise, and what we should expect in return. These are questions actively raised by the characters, who repeatedly assess each other’s diction.in the West End.
Joseph skilfully evokes the atmosphere of a game, heightened by Matt Haskins’ lighting and Max Pappenheim’s sound, establishing the dazzling flash of a stadium and its feverish crowd respectively. What the play lacks in specificity about why James and basketball itself are so enthralling to watch, it gains in universality about sporting passion – particularly useful for a UK audience less familiar with the game.
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