Anders Lustgarten is an ambitious political playwright whose last foray into agitprop brought his caustic brand of activism to the main stage at the Royal Court. Here he tackles the horrors of contemporary Zimbabwe, and is smartly served by director David Mercatali, who has previously shown a particular aptitude for interpreting the visionary weirdness of Philip Ridley.
Set in the near future, Lustgarten's play has a feverish intensity. The Black Jesus of the title is a militia leader otherwise known as Gabriel ("like the angel"). He’s being interviewed by Eunice (Debbie Korley), who works for the new Truth and Justice Commission. He earned his nickname while deciding who should be saved as his army of Green Bombers cut a swathe through the countryside, and in the hands of the excellent Paapa Essiedu he has a deeply malign menace.
Also in the mix are Moyo, a civil servant lent a creepy suavity by Cyril Nri, and the Commission's boss Rob (Alexander Gatehouse). Their tussles with businesslike Eunice disclose the nature of a country where the recent past is murky and unpleasant compromises are inevitable.
The production has a tight focus, thanks in part to the oppressive intimacy of Max Dorey’s set. Though Lustgarten at times sacrifices plausible characterisation in favour of polemic, Black Jesus is absorbing and strikingly succinct.
Until October 26 (0844 847 1652, finboroughtheatre.co.uk)
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