Review: KING JAMES, Hampstead Theatre

We all know that sport is easily the most straightforward gateway for male friendships. Whether it’s watching any sort of match or meeting up for a five-a-side game, so many men only bond when they’re supporting the same team. Rajiv Joseph builds King James at the intersection between the human need to be social and healthy sportsmanship. Matt and Shawn meet when the former desperately needs to sell a season package for his adored Cleveland Cavaliers in order to repay some debts. We follow the pair along with LeBron James’s affiliation with the Cleveland Cavaliers in a sweet story of affection and basketball.

Alice Hamilton’s direction firms up the focus on the ups and down of the two friends, but it’s clear that Joseph is a huge fan of the sport. While there’s a lot of lingo, the show doesn’t feel weighed down by it. Even the laymen will find something in it. This is, after all, a play about men growing up with a deep sense of ill-fitting inside of them. They share a moody friendship, fluctuating in nature, but always intense. Sam Mitchell and Ényì Okoronkwo are a tight unit, sparring with the dialogue, moving it around with generosity.

Designer duo Good Teeth builds a gorgeous set, recreating Matt’s bar first and then his parents’ kooky business with detail and curiosity. It gives Hamilton and her performers the perfect pitch to play in, entertaining any wandering eye with charm and quirk. Mitchell and Okoronkwo are loose and at ease with Joseph’s writing - the real star of the production - as they discuss basketball with terminology so specific and foreign to the regular theatregoer without such an interest that we couldn’t begin to report it or its accuracy here. Between a reference and the other, the socioeconomic backgrounds of the characters spill out, alongside all the inner struggles that come with finding their place in the world. 

Their mercurial lifestyles alter their internal dynamic over the course of the 12-year timeline, offering a different approach with each of the four scenes. Matt’s initial recollections of arguing with his mum and Shawn’s own less than idyllic life give way to slant observations on job insecurities and anxieties. The exchanges are snappy and natural, the vernacular shining with rhythm and flow. For those who are unfamiliar with the jargon and the history of “the Cavs” and therefore won’t pick up on the passing of time by the variations in their team, Hamilton suggests it by adding a series of tech updates in the form of Matt’s phones, going from Motorola Razr to various iPhone models. It's a delightful shortcut.

Discussing matters of the heart and of the court with the same passion and investment brings out their differences, inequalities, and ultimate love and respect for the other. Though it’s being sold as a project about basketball, King James is a strangely heartwarming piece about the male psyche. If anything, it really shows how little some men speak about the major events in their lives to one another and showcases a pair of promising performers with an excellent future ahead. It's definitely worth the trip Downstairs.

King James runs at Hampstead Theatre until 4 January.

Photography by Mark Douet

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