The Legends of Them, Royal Court review - reaching out for serenity

I live in Brixton, south London. To get to the tube, I have to cross Windrush Square. Since 2021, I go past the Cherry Groce memorial, which honours the woman who was wrongfully shot by the Met in 1985, an event which sparked the riots I remember so well from 40 years ago. Amazingly enough, I have now seen her sister, Sutara Gayle AKA Lorna Gee, performing a gig theatre piece on the main stage at the Royal Court.

The Legends of Them is an autobiographical memory play during the course of which young Lorna grows into Sutara Gayle, told in fragmentary flashbacks which are vivid enough to be powerful, but brief enough to be moreish. As an award-winning reggae pioneer, her show mixes songs with spoken thoughts, snatches of poetry, broken bits of narrative about a difficult early life, and a redemptive present. Beginning with Gayle’s struggles against the sexism of the music industry, the story then goes back to the beginning, childhood stresses and crime, which result in a Holloway prison sentence.

On a bare stage, Gayle stands mic in hand and performs short rap, then more gospel style songs, while acting out the various characters in her life. Her mother had some of her children in Jamaica and some in London, working three jobs at a time to provide for them, and experiencing the pain of separation that is a common factor in such migration situations. The familiar cliché of the mythical attraction of the mother country, streets paved with gold, and its contrast with the brutal realities of racism, gets an airing. But there is also a sense of individual pain, and the upsets of family life segue into childhood trauma.

Gayle is expelled from school more than once, and finishes up in the west of England, in the countryside where she is the only black person for miles around, getting wise words from her educators – but burning with anger against the world. She is the victim of a sexual assault, gets involved in drugs and thieving and suffers the sexism of the music industry. Yet as well as all of these real problems, The Legends of Them is also a tale of emergence from oppression: she comes out as a lesbian to her mother, who reaffirms her love for her, and she eventually finds herself at a retreat in India, where a guru guides her through meditation and acceptance. As the mantra she repeats goes: “Got to find a way.” Reader, she does.

Along this spiritual journey, Gayle pays tribute to the “legends” that have helped create the “blueprint of my life”: her mother Euphemia, who worked so hard to bring up her children with love; her sister Cherry, who was paralysed when the police shot her; their brother Mooji, who acts as a spirit guide; and the Asante Queen Nanny of the Maroons, who led the fight against British colonial tyranny in the early 18th century (being a mythically invincible figure, an inspiration who also features in other plays such as Winsome Pinnock’s Leave Taking). This gig is in parts a deeply emotional tribute to the folk that have made her.

First performed, aptly enough, at Brixton House last year, the show runs for barely 70 minutes, and although keenly felt and written with allusive charm, punctuated by flashes of agony, it is also rather slender. Often humorous, occasionally fraught, sometimes poetic, Gayle has a strong stage presence, and delivers her story of a young woman in search of her identity with passion and energy. There’s a beautifully erotic moment with a stripper, a satirical brief encounter with a child psychologist, a video of her burning her dreads, as well as some attractive songs. The non-linear structure is okay, but I do feel that I could have got more – the brevity of the experience counts against it.

Co-created by Gayle, dramaturg Nina Lyndon and actor-director Jo McInnes (who also directs), The Legends of Them is powerful in its simplicity, even if some bits were a tad confusing. Does that matter? Not really. The equally simple set, which just has a table and a couple of chairs, visible spot lights and a background where disco lights form and reform a temple-like image, works okay. Video by Tyler Forward and Daniel Batters gives some passages a documentary feel, although I would like to know more about Cherry Groce and the riots that followed her shooting (likewise about Gayle’s trip to India). Still, composer Christella Litras and sound designer Elena Peña do good work.

Coproduced with Hackney Showroom, at its best this gig is an example of subtle storytelling and alluring music. It travels back in time to give snapshots of the lives of the Windrush generation, and forward into the present with its message of spiritual healing. The evocation of the place of Brixton in the past decades gives it a gritty urban appeal, and Gayle’s confident performance has an honesty and integrity that power what is a short evening. If the writing could have been deeper and more detailed, her stage presence does a lot to fill the gaps. So: enjoyable, but thin.

• The Legends of Them at the Royal Court until 21 December
• More theatre reviews on theartsdesk

@AleksSierz