Patricia (Suzette Llewellyn) and her son Daniel (Raphel Famotibe) get along, up to a point, in Dexter Flanders’ Foxes.
Foxes, set in a Black Caribbean community in London, is a sly and thoughtful exploration of a series of taboo subjects. Meera (Nemide May), who is from a Muslim family, tells her boyfriend Daniel (Raphel Famotibe), who is from a Caribbean Christian family, that she is pregnant. That creates a big problem: how will these two young people, from different cultural and religious backgrounds, work it out? They are also at the beginning of their young adult life, trying to determine their future. Daniel is planning on going to university, or “uni,” as the Brits call it.
Daniel (Famotibe) and Leon (Bayo Gbadamosi) share a forbidden moment.
Just as quickly, this bombshell dissolves, and playwright Dexter Flanders zooms in on Daniel’s family. Daniel’s mother, Patricia (Suzette Llewellyn), is a hardworking and deeply religious single mom. When her husband died a few years earlier, the church became a refuge. Daniel and his sister Deena (Tosin Alabi, who brings an earthy energy to the role) still live at home, and at first the family dynamics seem typical: mom is always after Daniel to clean up and to attend church instead of playing football (“soccer” in American terms). Deena, on the other hand, accompanies their mother to church, works and goes to school, and is serious about her career path: throughout the play she has an impending interview with JP Morgan.
Like an onion, each scene reveals another complication. One day Leon (Bayo Gbadamosi), Daniel’s best friend since childhood, makes a pass at him. Daniel’s reaction is a slow simmer—he doesn’t know how he feels about it at first. Then he works up the courage to tell Leon: “That moment you kissed me ... I’ve never felt so alive. ... It was like I was flying ... and pissed with myself for the way you made me feel.” Honesty comes with a price, and the feelings of shame run deep in this play.
“At first the family dynamics seem typical: mom is always after Daniel to clean up and to attend church instead of playing football.”
Driven by an optimistic honesty, Daniel tells his mother. Knowing it’s going to be difficult, he prefaces his revelation with: “Remember, I love you, and I am still your son.” She reacts with uncontrollable rage, quoting the Bible, and tells him to get out. The theme of family and the ties that bind make the opening and closing of doors on these young people even more painful. Deena, full of compassion but with a firmer grip on the modern world, yells at their mother: “In his time of need, when he most needs you, you’re gonna turn your back? In life we are either heading into a storm, in the body of a storm or just coming out a storm, mum, and right now we’re in one.”
Conflict rarely unfolds neatly, and the external world is well captured by the jaunty British Caribbean patois and James Hillier’s direction (which feels uneven at times, but in the end serves to capture the fragmented feelings around the play’s themes). The internal world of the characters is expressed in dreamlike staged movements that occur between dramatic scenes (Gerrard Martin) and enhance the feeling of discordance between the external reality and internal feelings. The compact stage and a simple set serve as both Daniel’s and his family’s house, and as Leon’s bedsit, and are differentiated by separate entryways and Will Monks’s lighting. Doubling the space heightens the tension and drives home Daniel’s confusion: he does not know which world he belongs in. Scenes are enhanced through clever video projections which are used as a backdrop and also create an immersive experience (video by Monks).
Deena (Tosin Alabi) and Meera (Nemide May) have a heart to heart. Photographs by Carol Rosegg.
When Daniel is ready to embrace his sexuality fully, he hits another obstacle. Leon knows the dangers involved of being a gay man in this community and chooses to be closeted. He explains: “Think how many others there are like me, hiding in the shadows, operating in the night like foxes, for fear of rejection and a life of ridicule.”
Layers harden with time, and to chip away at them will make the whole structure crumble. Patricia doesn’t want to choose between her own, carefully constructed story and Daniel’s reality. Leon chooses his community over his identity. What place does any man (or woman) who deviates from the prescribed norms have here? In the play, as in life, Foxes confirms that there are no clear roadmaps on this bumpy road called life.
Dexter Flanders’s Foxes, part of the Brits Off Broadway festival, runs through July 1 at 59E59’s Theater A (59 East 59th St.). Evening performances are at 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; matinees are at 2 p.m. Saturday, but there will be no performance on June 15, 20, or 29. For tickets and more information, visit 59e59.org.
Playwright: Dexter Flanders
Direction: James Hillier
Scenic Design: Erin Guan
Costume Design: Renzo Allen
Lighting & Projections Design: Will Monks
Sound Design: Josh Anio Grigg
