By Michael Bademosi
‘The Wright Brothers’
"A story of friendship, laughter and love, join Samantha on a journey to find a date for her sister’s wedding, she’s not been interested in meeting anyone since her last relationship ended, but with only 3 weeks till the wedding she has to find a date! Enter 3 brothers with very different characteristics, money; looks and personality, which one will win her over!"
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Wow where do I even start, The Wright Brothers did EVERYTHING (and see I put 'everything' in capitals) that the the packaging said it would do, AND MORE. In terms of delivering realism, quality and attention to detail within a theatre production of its kind. I honestly went in to the theatre expecting it to be good already because I am already aware of how good of writers and directors Tyrone-Lee Davis and Kieran Shekoni are, from working with them on House Party UK. But then I also expected it to be another cliche London type of romance that tries to emulate a Tyler Perry film but ends in an 'Urban London Way' somebody getting shot or stabbed. Within the first 5 minutes I knew I had not come to watch a London version of a Tyler Perry film on stage, but I had come to see something great.
For me the thing I enjoyed the most about the production was the level of characterization, it was so well done you could tell which kind of person each character was without them giving anything away. As soon as I saw the wright brothers I began to write notes on my observations about how they were. The first brother that caught my attention was 'Michael Wright' (Tyrone Lee-Davis) the smart book worm, the reject out of the brothers and the person oblivious to image and life outside of education, it seemed like he was the youngest brother, apart from that he was very funny even when he wasn't trying to be and this really allowed the audience to warm to him. The second brother that caught my attention was 'Dean Wright' (Samuel Akinpelu) dressed in pricey branded attire, very confident with a cockney accent and an erratic gestures that suggested he was the one with the money and ego on top of that his P.A/Sidekick 'Marcus' (Kieron Langman) he always asked to do things, made him look even more important. The last brother that caught my attention was 'Ricardo Wright' (Kieran Shekoni) out of all the brothers he was the only one that didn't seem like he had insecurities within himself in the way he behaved. He was very suave and seemed like he was the ladies man and if this was a competition between the brothers he was the one to beat.
As the scenes progress the story develops and we go to find out that 'Samantha Thornton' (Gerri Hinds) is the girl the wright brothers are in this 'love' square with, we see scenes where she meets up with Ricardo, bumps into Michael and is pestered by Dean. It gets to a point where you think there is going to be a climax that will almost give a hint or leak what direction the play is going. The first half was so good I could not leave my seat it had me in that much excitement I started asking myself questions and trying to predict what would happen in the second half. "Will there be any emotional Or serious scenes of betrayal or conflict? Will the brothers end up falling out with each other? Will they fight? Who is going to get Samantha in the end?Will they end up with totally different girls than the 1st half suggested?
Will it end in total drama or will it be a happy ending?"
At some points I felt like It was a spoken word event and the actors were these poets because some of the reality in the lines and the way the lines were delivered were almost poetic and had the crowd going wild giving standing ovations at certain parts, and you could tell most of the crowd could relate and it triggered a switch turning on that light in their room of memories. The point that stood out for me was when Samantha's friend 'Shaney' (Elisha Myton) is telling Dean Wright about himself, about how he is insecure at that point all the females in the crowd were cheering and some were shouting and hollering things like "You go girl". As the play progressed we began to learn more about the characters and you felt part of their journey, Out of all the characters the audience, especially the females warmed to Michael the most and as the play went on he began to come out of his shell and became to look like the likely candidate for Samantha (See what i done there Candi-date LOL). Anyway as I sat in my seat waiting for what I thought would happen to take place, The brother I thought was most likely to go out with Samantha (Ricardo) ends up being told by Samantha he is just a friend to her and on top of that Ricardo talks about his love for 'Jasmine' (Sade Stewart). Within one scene the play went in a different direction to what I thought it was going!
I feel like I'm rambling on now but it shows how much I want to share with you and how much I enjoyed it, let me rap it up slowly but nice lol so yeah as the play drew near to the end everything started to make sense to me and the avenues of which the play and characters would end up on became so clear. Dean and Ricardo find out they both know Samantha and Dean becomes nice unlike before where he would insult her and forget his respect for women. The moment Michael grasped Samantha and finally escaped from his shell was when he recited his poem he wrote about her, the words did not only grasp Samantha but everybody in the crowd it got a good 20 seconds of applause it was like seeing your little brother grow up to win a trophy for the football team. The romance blossomed in a scene between Ricardo and Jasmine this scene was one of the best in terms of the suspense and the reality you could tell there was a lot of tension and they really wanted each other. One of my best scenes I could relate lol.
So here's how it goes.....we see Samantha with Michael as her date as her sisters wedding. We also witnessed the icebreaker between Ricardo and Jasmine so that leaves an idea of how the play will end, but I was telling myself theres going to be another surprise this is not a predictable play! The lights go off and there's silence....I'm telling myself "ahh I hope it aint finished I wanna find out who gets who man dont do this to me!! it cant end like THIS!!" But out comes the narrator (Davina Cole) and she goes on to say "lets see how they are doing now" (At this point I was standing up like i was watching a penalty shoot out lool I was too into it). We see that Ricardo and Jasmine are together, Michael gets Samantha In the end and the shock of the play for me was Dean and who he ended up being with, Shanay, Samanthas friend who disliked dean so much you would never think they would get together.
Seriously I could go on for hours about the story, but there are times you come across a piece of art that changes your view on certain situations you have been through. Everything The Wright Brothers represents ticks all the boxes for what you call a Romantic Comedy. It had me laughing from start to finish, every single person could relate to the characters and the story and it had a very good message behind it, it literally felt like you was watching film on stage and their world was at arms reach, the acting was so on point and the actors and actresses in the cast all contributed to the execution of the play. This play proves attention to detail is key in art and its the small things that count, all the small things in the play that wouldn't normally get noticed made this play better than many I have seen like the use of the narrator and the crowd interaction. Like the comedy club scene when 'Snapz The Comedian' (Michael Carpenter) made a cameo role and left the crowd in stitches. People that know me know I speak my mind and I can honestly say The Wright Brothers is one of the best theatre productions I have seen in a long time, it is just real.
This is definatly one to look out for I hope it gets commissioned/ funded and goes on tour because ALOT of people NEEEEED this in there life no matter who you are. I actually have NOTHING bad to say about it...actually I think I should be in the next 1 LOL. But On A serious note, to Tyrone Lee Davis, Kieran Shekoni, The Cast and Opus Dreams well done 5/5, I'm looking forward to what the future holds.
"Dont leave the one you love for the one you like, coz the one you like will leave you for the one they love" (Michael Wright)
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